Monday, September 08, 2008

How to Crumb Chicken

This method of crumbing can be used for chicken or other meat (including fish), or vegetables. Finely grated parmesan cheese, finely chopped herbs, spices etc. can be added to the breadcrumbs to vary the flavour.

When making crumbed chicken, we often use chicken tenderloins. Because tenderloins are thin and have a fairly uniform thickness, they don't require cutting and pounding in order to cook quickly and evenly. If using tenderloins, remove white tendons.

If using chicken thigh fillets, place on a chopping board, cover with a freezer bag, and then lightly pound with the flat side of a meat mallet to a uniform thickness.

If using chicken breast, place on a chopping board and cut each fillet in half horizontally. Then pound as above for chicken thighs.

We use a 20ml tablespoon and 250ml measuring cup for all of our recipes.

For each 500g of thin chicken fillet pieces, we use
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon (20ml) milk
50g (1/3 cup) plain flour
200g (about 1 3/4 cups) packaged dry breadcrumbs
about 125ml (1/2 cup) oil for pan-frying

In a medium bowl, beat eggs and milk together using a fork or whisk.

Spread flour on a large plate or in a large shallow, flat-bottomed dish. Spread the breadcrumbs in a second similar dish. Arrange the dish of flour, bowl of egg mixture, and dish of breadcrumbs in a line.

When crumbing the chicken, use one of your hands to coat the chicken with dry ingredients (flour and breadcrumbs) and the other to turn the chicken in the egg mixture. This helps prevent your fingers from becoming coated with a thick layer of breadcrumb mixture.

Using one hand (this will be your 'dry ingredients hand'), place one piece of chicken in the flour. Turn the chicken over a couple of times, gently patting the flour onto the chicken to lightly but completely coat.

Shake the chicken above the plate to remove any excess flour, and then place the flour-coated chicken in the egg mixture.

Using the fingertips of your 'wet ingredients hand', turn the chicken over in the egg mixture a couple of times. The breadcrumbs won't adhere well to parts of the chicken that have not been coated with egg mixture, so make sure the chicken is completely coated. Lift the chicken out of the egg mixture, hold it above the bowl for a couple of seconds to allow the excess egg mixture to drip off, and then place the chicken on the breadcrumbs. © exclusivelyfood.com.au

Using your 'dry ingredients hand', scoop up some of the breadcrumbs and spread them over the piece of chicken. Firmly press the breadcrumbs onto the chicken. Flip the chicken piece over and firmly press the crumbs onto the second side.

Place crumbed chicken on a plate or in a container and repeat the crumbing process with the remaining pieces of chicken.

When all of the chicken has been crumbed, cover chicken with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes. The refrigeration step can be omitted to save time but it does help prevent crumbs falling off in the pan when frying the chicken.

If you will be pan-frying the chicken in batches and wish to keep the first batch warm, preheat your oven to about 130 degrees Celsius (110 degrees Celsius fan-forced).

To pan-fry the chicken, heat oil in a heavy-based frying pan over medium-high heat. We cook the chicken in two batches using 1/4 cup of oil for each batch (the number of batches will be determined by the size of your frying pan and you'll need to divide the oil evenly among the batches). When the oil is hot, add the chicken in a single layer without overcrowding the pan.

Fry until crumbs are golden brown on the first side, and then turn chicken and fry until the chicken is cooked through and golden brown on the second side. Transfer cooked chicken to a plate lined with paper towels to remove excess oil. If desired, place chicken in an ovenproof dish and keep warm in the preheated oven. Wipe the pan out with paper towels between each batch of chicken to remove any crumbs. This prevents overcooked loose crumbs from adhering to the next batch of chicken.
© www.exclusivelyfood.com.au


10 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

healthier option, add melted margarine into egg mixture and bake the chicken...

24/11/08 10:35 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

to make the coating even crispier, put 2-3 slices of white bread into a blender and chop, then use as breadcrumbs, same process. I don't use bought breadcrumbs anymore.

28/11/08 2:54 pm  
Blogger FoxyMoron said...

We put parmesan cheese and garlic powder in the crumbs to make it tastier.

10/12/08 10:18 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Try this added to the breadcrumbs:
- half a teaspoon of curry powder,
- 1/8 cup of Thyme / Basil
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese.

I also recommend baking instead of shallow fry, as it is much healthier.
You will NEVER go back to plain breadcrumbs again !

14/2/09 1:55 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

When ever crumbing steak, chicken or fish it is easier to make a batter of egg, self raising flour and milk as the crumbs will stick better to the meat and is faster to get to the end product.

9/3/09 8:16 pm  
Blogger Mel said...

We always use cornflakes in the food processor for the crumbs, nice flavour and nice and crunchy. I also spray a small amount of olive oil on them rather than frying in oil or butter.

23/6/09 6:15 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I always double dip chicken in the flour and egg combo...

20/2/12 4:46 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Brilliant
Loved the description for the 'wet' and dry 'dry' hands! So helpfull. I added some spices to the bread crumbs - very very cool!

2/3/12 4:57 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Add some nandos sauce or another spicy sauce the egg gives it a really nice taste, i do this with pork steaks.

18/12/12 12:31 am  
Blogger @photorecipe said...

I also use cornflakes in the food processor for the crumbs, very good flavour and crunchy. Thank´s for your recipe and ideas, very helpful.

Regards,

@photorecipe

25/1/13 3:30 am  

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