The restaurant’s closed when James Bond and Ebbie Heritage arrive at the Newpark Hotel in Kilkenny in John Gardner’s No Deals, Mr Bond (1987), but luckily the chef’s still around and is able to knock up escalope Holstein, french fries, a green salad and a fruit salad for the hungry couple.

Escalope Holstein is a variation of the traditional Austrian dish wiener schnitzel and comprises fried breadcrumb-coated escalopes of veal or pork, topped with a fried egg, anchovy fillets and capers. When preparing the dish, I happened to have a packet of quick-cook turkey steaks in the fridge, and so I have specified those in the recipe below.

Serves two

• 2 escalopes of turkey (or veal or pork)
• Vegetable oil for frying

For the coating

• 40-50g breadcrumbs (approx. 1 slice of bread)
• 1-2 eggs, whisked
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp black pepper

For the rest

• 2 eggs
• 4 anchovy fillets
• 2 tsp capers, coarsely chopped
• 1 tsp finely chopped parsley

Put the flour, whisked egg and breadcrumbs in three separate bowls. Mix the mustard, pepper and paprika into the flour. Bash the escalopes with a meat tenderiser or rolling pin to flatten them if they’re on the thick side. 

Pour enough oil in a large frying pan to cover the base; the layer of oil should be about half a centimetre thick. Heat the oil (if a breadcrumb sizzles when dropped into the pan, the oil’s hot enough). 

Take an escalope, coat it first in the flour mixture, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs, making sure the meat is well covered and shaking off any excess. Lay the escalope in the pan, and as it’s cooking, coat the other steak and put that in the pan. Cook the escalopes for 3-4 minutes on each side. When cooked, remove the escalopes from the pan, place them on a dish lined with an absorbent paper towel and keep them warm.

As the meat is resting, fry the eggs (you can use the same pan, or if preferred heat some oil in another pan and fry the eggs in that). When the eggs are nearly ready, move the escalopes to individual plates, then place an egg on each. Lay two anchovy fillets in the form of a cross over each yolk, and sprinkle the capers and parsley over the top. Serve with french fries and a green salad (I actually cooked some peas).