Dry Breading Alternatives

So in response to a question on my last entry, I will write about different types of dry breadings.  I don't have a huge amount of experience with a lot of different things, but I will share what I do know.   A big part of choosing the type of breading you want is in personal tastes, and for me- what I have on hand. 

Flour-  I really don't care for a plain flour breading.  It doesn't have much substance to it and it doesn't hold much of a crunch.  It's true that you can double dip it, but it still doesn't have much crunch to it.  You can add a good bit of flavor to this type of breading, but you can also impart that flavor to other breadings, so to me, there is really just no point in doing plain flour.

Cornmeal- You can get a bit more of a crunch and some of that flavor that is unique to fried corn if you bread in cornmeal.  It is however, easy to burn.  When it gets over cooked, it just has a bad, greasy flavor to it.  A good thing with cornmeal is to mix it with something else.  For instance. if you enjoy the lighter flour breading but want a little more crunch, mix your breading as 3 parts flour to one part cornmeal.  It does also give the breading a different texture. 

Cornflakes-  Plain old corn flakes make a great breading for fried foods.  The give a little of that corn flavor and a little nuttiness to what ever you are making.  Make sure you crush your cornflakes well, I prefer to put them in a large ziploc bag with the air all squeezed out and use a rolling pin (or a can of what evers handy!)  You want the pieces to be mostly uniform so that the coating browns evenly and doesn't burn. Also, make sure you do add a little flour to the mix with your seasonings.  A tablespoon or two should do it, unless you are making a huge batch of fried food.    The purpose is to just fill in those tiny gaps that the cornflakes don't cover.  Also, you don't want to use the pre-sweetened corn flakes.  The sugar on them will scortch and burn!

Pretzels-  This is a really good use for stale pretzels.  Grind them up just like you would cornflakes and add some seasoning to it (ground tumeric is a favorite), don't forget a touch of flour and coat away!  I particularly enjoy a pretzel coating on pork chops.  You do want to make sure that the pretzels are crushed well.  While a few pea sized pieces of cornflake will work ok, it just doesn't work the same with pretzels.

Crackers-  This will vary some depending on the type of cracker that you have on hand.  Again, a good use for stale crackers so that they aren't wasted in the garbage.  Literally any kind of cracker can work for a breading, it is just going to depend on what you are using it for, how fine you crush it and what you are serving with it.  Try them all out and see what fits your style and taste the best.  Using the Sociable type cracker will give an herbier flavor to your food and with something like a Triscuit, you will get a nuttier flavor.   Plain saltines work well and provide a great crunchy coating without changing the flavor of the meat much.  Ritz crackers work well too! Again, if you aren't getting a good even coating or have gaps, either crunch your crackers up finer or add a tablespoon of flour.

Stuffing mix- Yep, plain old stuffing mix.  You can use the Pepperidge Farms that you make at Thanksgiving, StoveTop or anything that you have on hand.  The key to this is that you have to start with the hard, dry bits of bread and grind them down to a more manageable size.  You may or may not have to add a bit of flour with this coating, depending on how much of the seasoning mix at the bottom of the package you get with the bits.

Panko-  I haven't used panko with a lot of things, but I am getting more experience with it.  I do really enjoy it as a breading for fried foods because it gives a wonderful crunch and, even though I don't use a butter flavored shortening, the foods have a rich, buttery taste to them when I use panko.  Also, if you double dip with panko- WOW talk about a super crunch coating!!!

A note on the wash:  a lot of people use just plain milk to dampen the skin of whatever meat they are frying up.  I prefer to use mostly eggs.  I do put a little milk in it, but the point is to moisten the outside of the meat so that the breading will stick to it and bind with it to make the coating.  My experience is that the more viscous mixture that is mostly eggs makes more of the breading stick to the meat.  I suppose that if you are just using flour or cornmeal that you could use just milk, but for the heavier coatings, make sure that you do use egg.  It's stronger and will hold it better!

Now, to wrap it up!  The key thing with a dry breading on fried foods is that you can use almost any kind of dry grain product.  Experiment around and see what tastes the best to you and your family.  If you want to fry something but don't know how to bread it, look around your cabinets and see what you have that's stale or old.  Use it instead of trashing it!  I hate to throw out food!  Or simply think about the flavor of what that random grain product is and what it would taste like as a breading!

Good luck, and I hope you have learned something and decided to be a little brave!