Breadcrumbs are used to give cutlets, fish and other dishes an appetizing crust. It makes them more tasty and attractive in appearance. It seems that without breading, dishes will not be the same. However, it is not uncommon for breadcrumbs to disappear not only from the kitchen cupboard, but also from all nearby stores. So what should I do? You just need to find a suitable replacement for them.

First you need to understand what breadcrumbs are. In its simplest form, it is wheat bread. Only it is pre-dried to the state of a cracker, and then crushed into crumbs.

That's all! Often, to make life easier for the housewife, manufacturers add various seasonings, salt and seeds to the breading mixture. Usually the packaging contains information about the composition and what is recommended to be breaded in it.

Thus, it is obvious that with a little effort you can prepare such a mixture yourself. And if you don’t have time for this, you can, after some reflection, find a suitable replacement for it. But first things first.

Method one - cook it yourself

To prepare, you need to take wheat bread or a loaf. It's best if it's from yesterday. Cut into small cubes. Sprinkle with vegetable oil on all sides. You can pre-mix it with chopped garlic, salt and dried herbs to taste. Fry in the oven at +180°C until crispy.

Then cool and grind, turning through a meat grinder. You can also grate it or grind it with a blender using the butterfly attachment in the “pulse” mode.

It is important to make crumbs out of crackers, and not turn them into a homogeneous mass.

This is, of course, the most “correct” replacement option. But it takes time. By the way, you can make breadcrumbs this way for future use.

Method two - bread, flour and semolina

• If you’re pressed for time or it’s not possible to run to the store to buy everything you need, you can simply choose an option from those available in the kitchen:
• Of course, any stale bread will do. It just needs to be crushed to the desired state.
• No bread? No problem. Can be replaced with flour. Moreover, it is desirable that it be coarsely ground. This breading is suitable for fish or cutlets. It is recommended to dip them in an egg first. You can use absolutely any flour: wheat, corn, chickpeas, oatmeal, etc.
• For a thicker crust, it is recommended to use semolina.

It is suitable for almost any dish that requires frying. At the same time, the taste is more delicate than with breadcrumbs. Many housewives prefer semolina to breadcrumbs. The same can be said about corn grits, which is great for breading fish and meat dishes.

Method three - original

Dishes breaded in flakes are no less tasty. They can be pre-chopped, although this is not necessary. Any ones found in the kitchen cabinet will do. They will give the dish not only a special taste, but also an aroma. In addition, they can replace breadcrumbs in baking (for example, when preparing strudel filling).

At worst, you can use crushed nuts.

They are suitable for breading fish, meat and poultry. Of course, they can be added to baked goods (however, you should not add walnuts to the dough, as they contain a lot of oil). The result will be a very original and flavorful crust.

Those who are not afraid of experiments can use chips, corn sticks, saltine crackers and even dry cookies instead of crackers. They just need to be crushed first, and the original breading is ready. You can even make a batter from eggs, grated cheese and herbs. True, the latter option is more suitable for breading vegetables.

Obviously, the housewife can always find something to replace breadcrumbs from the available products in the kitchen.

Therefore, there is no need to worry that they may end at the most inopportune moment. You can always come up with an alternative to store-bought crackers, and no less tasty.

Breadings are products that are used to treat the surfaces of culinary products before frying, that is, for breading. Breading is necessary to maintain the juiciness of the product. This procedure dries the surface of a piece of meat, poultry, fish or even vegetables and fruits, promotes the formation of an appetizing crust, protects the product from extreme heat and from the absorption of fats.

The most common type of breading is dry bread crumbs. Translated from French, “paner” means “to roll in breadcrumbs.” Bread coating is very popular. On sale you can find not only regular breadcrumbs, but also flavored ones, designed specifically for breading meat or fish, with the addition of appropriate spices. Many people prepare breadcrumbs on their own, fortunately it is not difficult: you just need to grate a stale wheat loaf. Sometimes not very stale bread, cut into thin slices, is used: such breading is not only tasty, but also gives the product a very original look.

Despite their prevalence, breadcrumbs are far from the best option when preparing many dishes. They often burn, and in addition, they cannot always completely protect the product. But crushed dried bread is often used to absorb excess moisture in the fillings of pies, strudels, and casseroles.

In second place in popularity is flour breading. Wheat flour is most often used. But before frying, you can roll pieces of meat, fish or vegetables in rice, corn, oatmeal, chickpea and buckwheat flour. Depending on what type of flour is used, the taste and appearance of the finished product changes. The type of flour used is also of great importance. For example, semolina breading produces a denser, grainier, and crispier crust than conventional flour breading.

Wheat flour breading enhances the taste of products and improves their appearance. Rice breading makes the products very tender and contributes to the formation of a golden crust. Frying vegetables, meat, fish or poultry in rice breading is a pleasure: the dishes turn out not only tasty, but also beautiful. The situation is different with chickpea flour - it is more suitable not for breading, but for making batter - batter. Cornmeal is essential to create a delicious golden yellow crust. Oatmeal breading changes the taste of the product and gives dishes a piquant aroma.

You can bread food in chopped nuts - this will not only enrich the taste, but also make the dishes more nutritious. Sesame breading is ideal for oriental dishes. Wheat, rice or millet flakes used as breading will give the dish a special taste and aroma. Finally, crushed chips or popcorn are also suitable for breading - the food will have an original taste and bright aroma.

Culinary magic

You can prepare completely different fried dishes from the same product if you use different types of breading and different seasonings. What can you add to the breading?

How to bread food

The easiest way is to use flour breading: you just need to roll the food in flour. In other cases, in order for the breading to reliably envelop the pieces, the food is first moistened in oil, beaten eggs or a mixture of eggs and dairy products. The most common is egg lezon, since egg whites coagulate at high temperatures and form a thin film that reliably protects products from loss of juiciness.

You just need to beat the eggs, adding salt, spices, and lemon juice, depending on the recipe. The products are thoroughly moistened in this mixture, after which they are breaded in breadcrumbs, nuts, crushed flakes and any other breading mixtures. Sometimes only egg yolks or only whites are used, sometimes the mixture is whipped, and sometimes it is simply stirred, sometimes cream, milk, sour cream or vegetable oil are added to the eggs - there are many options.

If it is necessary to obtain a dense, appetizing crust or if coarsely ground products are used for breading, then the breading can be double or even triple. First, the product is rolled in flour, then dipped in beaten egg, and only then thoroughly breaded in breadcrumbs. If necessary, repeat the procedure.

Breaded products are usually fried in a large amount of oil. You can also bake them in the oven or fry them in a dry frying pan with a non-stick coating, and although with this method of cooking the crust will not be as appetizing, the calorie content of the dish will be significantly reduced.

Maria Bykova

Recently, due to a number of family circumstances, there has been very little time for cooking. And I want to eat delicious food!!! Thanks to this, I once again discovered such a simple way of preparing various dishes as breaded frying. Of course, eating fried food every day is not very healthy, but sometimes it saves you. At the same time, breaded dishes retain their juiciness and turn out very tasty.

Ingredients for breading:

breadcrumbs

Use of breading in cooking:

The essence of using breading is very simple. Any product can be taken: meat, poultry, fish. vegetables, seafood. Maintain at room temperature. And then they are fried in breading. I've been buying chilled food a lot lately. Of course, they are easy to prepare using this method.

Breading in semolina:

There are small children at home, so I always have semolina. It’s delicious to bread vegetables in semolina. To do this, just beat the egg. Dip vegetables in egg, roll in semolina and fry over medium heat in vegetable oil.

Breading in flour:

You can bread everything in flour. Plus, you can add cutlets to the listed products. The technology is just as simple. Dip the product in beaten egg, roll in flour and fry. In the case of flour, you can double bread it, it’s tastier. First, roll the desired dish in flour, then dip in the egg. And roll in flour again. Then move on to frying.

Alternatively, you can take not ordinary flour, but flour for making pancakes. This flour contains milk powder and egg powder. And from such a breading it turns out to be full-fledged.

Breadcrumb coating:

This is my favorite type of breading. Its only drawback is that the crackers run out quickly, which is why I often use the methods listed above. In this case, take flour, egg and breadcrumbs. The product is first rolled in flour, then dipped in beaten egg, then rolled in. And onto the frying pan.

You can also use double breading in breadcrumbs. To do this, after rolling your dish in breadcrumbs for the first time, dip it in the egg again and roll it in breadcrumbs again.

And one more little secret that I’ve been using lately. After frying, I put my dish on a napkin so that it absorbs the remaining vegetable oil. This way, it turns out to maintain a crispy crust and reduce the amount of vegetable oil in the final product. Bon appetit!!!

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I think I mentioned before that Food Lab by Kenji Lopez-Alta is one of my favorite cookbooks of recent times. It’s thick—I’ve been reading it for years now, and I’ll probably finish it by the time Kenji releases his second book—and very informative: it’s not a collection of recipes, but a manual written in simple and understandable language for those who have already mastered the basics of cooking and wants to understand it at the advanced user level. The other day Kenji posted an excerpt from the book in his column on the Serious Eats website, and I decided to translate it for you.

Why do you need batter?

Have you ever deep-fried skinless, unbreaded chicken breasts? I strongly recommend not to do this. The moment the chicken enters a container of oil heated to 200 degrees, two things begin to happen. First, the water contained in the meat quickly turns into steam, escaping like a geyser, and the outer tissues of the chicken become dry.

At the same time, the soft network of interconnected proteins in its muscle tissue denatures and hardens, making the meat tough and squeezing out the juices. Take it out a minute or two later and you'll find it has become tough, with a layer of dried out meat half a centimeter deep. At this point you will quite rightly say: “Yes, I would rather use batter.”

How to make batter or breading

The batter is made by combining flour—usually wheat, although cornstarch and rice flour are also used—with a liquid and optional ingredients to thicken or hold the dough better, such as eggs or baking powder. The batter envelops the food in a thick, viscous layer. Breading consists of many layers. Typically, products are first rolled in flour to make their surface dry and uneven, and then the second layer - the liquid binder - will stick as it should. This layer usually consists of beaten eggs or some kind of dairy product. The final layer gives the food texture. It may consist of ground grains (flour or corn grits, which is commonly used to bread chicken), ground nuts, or a mixture of toasted and ground bread and similar products, such as crackers, crackers, or breakfast cereals.

No matter what your breading or batter is made of, they still serve the same function: to add a “protective layer” to the product that the oil will not easily penetrate during frying, so it will take most of the heat. All the thermal energy that is transferred to the food must pass through a thick coating riddled with microscopic air bubbles. Just as a layer of air in the walls of your home mitigates the effects of cold air outside, batters and breadings help the food hidden underneath them cook more delicately and evenly, without burning or drying out under the influence of hot oil.

What does batter do during frying?

Of course, while foods are cooked slowly and delicately, the exact opposite happens with batters or breadings: they dry out and become harder. Frying is essentially a drying process. The batter is designed to dry in a particularly pleasant way. Instead of burning or turning to rubber, it turns into a crispy, dense foam filled with lots of air bubbles that provides both flavor and texture.

Breading works in a similar way, but unlike foamy batter, it has a brittle, crunchy texture. The dimples and bumps of a good breadcrumb increase the surface area of ​​the product, giving us more crunch in every bite. In an ideal world, the batter or breading becomes perfectly crispy while the food underneath, be it onion rings or a piece of fish, is cooked to perfection. Achieving this balance is the mark of a good chef.

5 types of batter and breading: pros and cons

Flour breading

How to make breading from flour: Pieces of food soaked in brine or marinade (whey is often used for this) are rolled in flour with spices and fried.
Behind: Properly prepared, the flour coating turns into a very crispy, dark brown crust.
Against: It gets dirty (by the end of frying, your fingers will be breaded too). Oil spoils very quickly.
Classic recipes: Southern Fried Chicken, Breaded Schnitzel
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Breaded breadcrumbs

How to make breadcrumbs: The products are rolled in flour, dipped in beaten egg, and then rolled in breadcrumbs.
Behind: Very easy to prepare, although you will need a few vessels. The result is a very crispy, firm, dense crust that goes well with sauces.
Against: Breadcrumbs sometimes have too strong a flavor that overpowers the flavor of the food itself. Regular crackers soften quite quickly. Oil spoils relatively quickly.
Classic recipes: Parmesan-breaded chicken, breaded schnitzel.
Crispness level (from 1 to 10): 5

Panko breadcrumb coating

How to make panko breadcrumbs: As with regular breadcrumbs, the food is dredged in flour, then beaten egg, then panko breadcrumbs.
Behind: Panko bread crumbs have a very large surface area, which creates an incredibly crispy crust.
Against: Sometimes panko breadcrumbs can be hard to find. A thick crust means the food underneath must have a strong flavor.
Classic recipes: Tonkatsu is Japanese pork or chicken chops.
Crispness level (from 1 to 10): 9

Beer batter

How to make beer batter: Flour and spices (and sometimes baking powder) are mixed with beer (and sometimes eggs) to create a thick batter similar to pancake batter. Beer helps achieve a golden color, and its bubbles make the batter lighter. Beer-battered foods can be additionally dredged in flour for extra crunch.
Behind: Great taste. Beer batter is thick and therefore protects delicate foods such as fish well. Easy to prepare, does not separate after mixing. Without additional breading in flour it spoils very slowly.
Against: Doesn't give the same crunch as other batters. You need quite a lot of ingredients. Once you prepare the batter, you need to use it quickly. Without additional breading in flour, the crust will quickly soften. If you bread it in flour, the butter will spoil quickly.
Classic recipes:, onion rings.
Crispness level (from 1 to 10): 5

Thin tempura batter

How to make tempura batter: A high-starch, low-protein flour (such as a mixture of wheat flour and cornstarch) is combined with ice water (sometimes soda water) or an egg and stirred quickly, leaving lumps in the batter. Immediately after this, the products are dipped in batter and immediately fried.
Behind: Very crispy batter, large surface area contributes to the formation of crispy pieces. Due to the low protein content, the batter does not fry as much and does not hide the taste of more delicate foods, such as shrimp or vegetables. Oil deteriorates relatively slowly.
Against: It is difficult to prepare the batter correctly (it is easy to over- or under-beat). Prepared tempura batter should be used immediately.
Classic recipes:, Korean fried chicken.

A recipe for breadcrumbs should be in every housewife's cookbook: breading is the finishing touch in preparing various dishes from meat, fish and vegetables.
Without the breading, the patties are not right and the nuggets taste unfinished.
Of course, you can buy breadcrumbs in the store, but, firstly, they will never compare with those made with your own hands, and secondly, there are various circumstances when there are simply no breadcrumbs. And stale bread will find a worthy use.

Breadcrumbs recipe.

What you will need:

• Baking tray
• Food processor
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Butter
• Seasonings

Breadcrumb recipe

1 Preheat the oven to 150 0 C. Carefully place the slices and crusts of bread in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn the bread over to the other side and continue baking for another 10 minutes. If using a double-sided cooking rack or airing rack, adjust the cooking time.

2 Cut the bread into 10-15 cm pieces. Place the cut pieces in a food processor. But just don't stuff it too much. Grind to desired degree.

3 For taste, mix bread crumbs with olive oil and add salt to taste (about ¼ cup olive oil for 4 cups breadcrumbs).

4 Fry the crumbs over high heat in a saucepan until they become richly flavoured.

5 Add a few cloves of garlic to the heated oil before adding the crumbs. For Italian breadcrumbs, add garlic and basil.

6 Store delicious breadcrumbs in a separate container and keep it on hand for preparing your favorite dishes.

The type of bread greatly affects the taste of bread crumbs; for example, bread crumbs made from black bread have a richer taste than those made from white bread. But the crumb turns out darker (sometimes this makes a difference).

You can mix different types of bread in a food processor.

Until you have the required number of bread crusts or pieces of stale bread, store them in the refrigerator in a container.

Before grinding bread crumbs, decide what you will use them for. For chicken and fish, coarse breadcrumbs are useful; for chicken fillet, finely ground crumbs are used.