Technique: Breading

Breaded treats make the world a delightful place. How does one do such a thing? Well, grab a beer and let your friend Hal B. explain.

Breading is using a liquid of some sort to make a bread-like product stick to whatever it is you're breading. What that liquid is, and what you use to bread it are up to you.

The classic technique goes something like this: dust item in flour, submerge in egg wash (one beaten egg plus a few tablespoons of water), and roll in bread crumbs. This works well, but creates a breading too thick for my taste. Plus, that's three dishes to clean!

A slightly thinner breading can be achieved this way: combine flour and milk at a three to one ratio in favor of the milk. Add two pinches of salt, and a pinch of sugar. Submerge your chosen item into mix, then roll in breading. My two favorites are corn flake crumbs and panko. Panko, for the those who don't know, is a coarse Japanese breadcrumb. It's wicked good. The picture at the top was breaded in this method, then deep fried.

The easiest way to bread something is to simply wet with water, then roll in flour or cornstarch. This will produce a very light coat. The drawback to this is that the breading is pretty unstable- it's the most likely to fall off, and the least likely to produce a tasty crunch. Still, it's nice for light dishes- speaking of dishes, this method uses the least, great for cleanup!

If you want to try something a little different, use beer as your liquid. It's good stuff.