Breading

So let’s talk breading. 

Last week in my classes we spent some time breading vegetables, meats, fish, potatoes and even some fruits.  It caused me to reflect on breading and what it does and why we do it.  So for all you who are wondering the same thing, here’s why.

Breading items protects them against harsh cooking methods like frying.  By putting a protective coating on our food we make it so the interior item can stay moist and not get too beat up.  It also adds a unique flavor and texture to the item(s) as well.

Now, the question is how do you bread something? . . . Here’s the most common way.

 

Standard Breading Procedure

When you step into a professional kitchen you are expected to know some “standards.”  Like for example, a standard breading procedure.  That way when the chef says that he wants you to bread something you can say, “OK.”  Anything like, “Ok, but how?”  Does not fly and can be cause for the chef to ask himself, or to you directly (if you have a chef who thinks out loud, like most do), why he hired someone who doesn’t even know the standard breading procedure?  So let’s solve that dilemma. . .

 The standard breading procedure is first flour, second egg wash and third bread crumbs, in that order.  I like to season the flour with some salt and pepper beforehand so that you have some flavor in whatever you are breading. 

 

The egg wash is simply whole eggs beaten and whipped into scrambled eggs. 

The breadcrumbs are what gives you that nice familiar crunchy texture and can also be seasoned with whatever you would like.  If you want it hot put some Tabasco sauce in it, if you want it cheesy, put some grated parmesan cheese in there. 

So you might be asking yourself why do you have to do it in the flour, egg, bread crumb order?

 

The flour aids in making the egg wash stick. 

 

That’s why you put it on before you put the egg wash on.  The egg wash does the same thing for the bread crumbs, by making them stay on too.

 

But wait!  What if the breading isn’t thick enough, then what do I do?  Simple.  Just double bread it.  You just stick your already breaded item(s) back into the mixtures for another go around.  You don’t really need to do the flour again, but if you want to you can.  In fact, if after another coat of egg and bread crumbs you still don’t think its covered enough-do it again!  You can do it as many times as you feel it needs it. . .Just don’t get it too thick.  Very few people like more breading than actual product.

So now that you item(s) is covered with a nice, flavorful breading you can proceed to cook it.

Here we are going to be pan frying.  Pan frying is going to be cooking the item in a decent amount of fat, but not totally submerging it in the fat.  Here we are using a 75% butter and 25% canola oil mix of fat.

Why butter and oil?  Butter, because I want the flavor that butter has.  Oil so that the butter doesn’t burn.  As the fat heats up it has what is called a smoke-point, a point which when reached creates yep, smoke.  Oil has a higher smoke point than butter, so by using a combination of the two, I can get a buttery falvor without burning it.

 

After letting the breaded items hang out in the fat for a minute or two, I flip it over whn its a nice golden brown color to get it to cook evenly on both sides.

So after they have cooked for a few minutes, and have theat nice golden brown color and crisp texture, I pull them out onto a pan.

After it comes out of the frying pan and on to the sheet pan, you can do a couple things.  First, take the internal temperature using a thermometer.  Now, if the temperature is when you want it, in other words if it is as done as you would like it, then you are done.  Go ahead and serve it.  If not, you can always put you item(s) into the oven to finish.

So there you have a first timer’s guide to breading.  Want to know the best way to get really good at this, go out and try it until you get good at it.  Practice, practice, practice.