Breadcrumbs

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Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumb.jpg
Commercially produced breadcrumbs
Main ingredientsDried bread
Variations Panko

Breadcrumbs, also known as breading, consist of crumbled bread of varying dryness, sometimes with seasonings added, used for breading or crumbing foods, topping casseroles, stuffing poultry, thickening stews, adding inexpensive bulk to soups, meatloaves and similar foods, and making a crisp and crunchy covering for fried foods, especially breaded cutlets like tonkatsu and schnitzel. The Japanese variety of breadcrumbs is called "panko".

Contents

Types

Dry

Dry breadcrumbs are made from dry breads which have been baked or toasted to remove most remaining moisture, and may have a sandy or even powdery texture. Breadcrumbs are most easily produced by pulverizing slices of bread in a food processor, using a steel blade to make coarse crumbs, or a grating blade to make fine crumbs. A grater or similar tool will also do.

Fresh

The breads used to make soft or fresh breadcrumbs are not quite as dry, so the crumbs are larger and produce a softer coating, crust, or stuffing. The crumb of breadcrumb also refers to the texture of the soft, inner part of a bread loaf, as distinguished from the crust, or "skin".

Panko

Baked panko-crusted pork with pineapple sauce over udon Baked panko crusted pork with pineapple sauce over udon.jpg
Baked panko-crusted pork with pineapple sauce over udon

Panko ( パン粉 ) is a type of flaky breadcrumbs used in Japanese cuisine as a crunchy coating for fried foods, such as tonkatsu . Panko is made from bread baked by passing electrical current through the dough, which yields a bread without a crust, and then grinding the bread to create fine slivers of crumb. [1] [2] It has a crisper, airier texture than most types of breading found in Western cuisine and maintains its texture baked or deep-fried, resulting in a lighter coating. [3] Outside Japan, its use has become more common in both Asian and non-Asian dishes. It is often used on seafood and is typically available in Asian markets, speciality stores, and many large supermarkets.

Panko is produced worldwide, particularly in Asian countries, including Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, China, and Vietnam.

Etymology

The Japanese first learned to make baked bread from Europeans. The word パン粉 (panko) is derived from pan, giving the word for bread in Japanese (derived from the Portuguese word "pão" for bread), and -粉 (-ko), a Japanese kanji indicating "flour", "coating", "crumb", or "powder" on occasion, when used as a suffix (as in komeko, "rice powder", sobako, "buckwheat flour", and komugiko, "wheat flour"). [4]

Breading

Seasoned breading mixture 971027-I'ANS-ATN-IMG 8790.jpg
Seasoned breading mixture

Breading (also known as crumbing) is a dry grain-derived food coating for a piece of food made from breadcrumbs or a breading mixture with seasonings. Breading is well suited for frying as it lends itself to creating a crisp coating around the food. Breading mixtures can be made of breadcrumb, flour, cornmeal, and seasoning that the item to be breaded is dredged in before cooking. If the item to be breaded is too dry for the coating to stick, the item may first be moistened with buttermilk, raw egg, egg wash or other liquid.

Breading contrasts with batter, which is a grain-based liquid coating for food that produces a smoother and finer texture, but which can be softer overall.

In the fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel", breadcrumbs are used by Hansel and Gretel to track their footpath. However, the breadcrumbs were eventually eaten by birds, subsequently leading them to become lost in the woods. The popularity of breadcrumbs in the fairy tale led to the use of the word breadcrumb as a navigation element that allows users to keep track of their locations within programs or documents. [5]

Related Research Articles

<i>Tonkatsu</i> Japanese dish of deep-fried pork

Tonkatsu is a Japanese dish that consists of a breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet. It involves coating slices of pork with panko, and then frying them in oil. The two main types are fillet and loin. Tonkatsu is also the basis of other dishes such as katsukarē and katsudon.

<i>Tempura</i> Japanese dish of battered, deep-fried fish or vegetables

Tempura is a typical Japanese dish that usually consists of seafood and vegetables that have been coated in a thin batter and deep fried. Tempura has its origins dating back to the 16th century, when Portuguese Jesuits brought the Western-style cooking method of coating foods with flour and frying, via Nanban trade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornbread</span> American bread made with cornmeal

Cornbread is a quick bread made with cornmeal, associated with the cuisine of the Southern United States, with origins in Native American cuisine. It is an example of batter bread. Dumplings and pancakes made with finely ground cornmeal are staple foods of the Hopi people in Arizona. The Hidatsa people of the Upper Midwest call baked cornbread naktsi, while the Choctaw people of the Southeast call it bvnaha. The Cherokee and Seneca tribes enrich the basic batter, adding chestnuts, sunflower seeds, apples, or berries, and sometimes combine it with beans or potatoes. Modern versions of cornbread are usually leavened by baking powder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crouton</span> Rebaked bread

A crouton is a piece of toasted or fried bread, normally cubed and seasoned. Croutons are used to add texture and flavor to salads—notably the Caesar salad— as an accompaniment to soups and stews, or eaten as a snack food.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leberkäse</span> Baked loaf of finely minced meat

in Austria and the Swabian, Bavarian and Franconian parts of Germany, 'leverkaas' in the Netherlands and Fleischkäse ("meat-cheese") in Saarland, Baden, Switzerland and Tyrol) is a speciality food found in the south of Germany, in Austria and parts of Switzerland. It consists of beef, pork and bacon and is made by grinding the ingredients very finely and then baking it as a loaf in a bread pan until it has a crunchy brown crust. Variations may be made using other kinds of meat such as horse meat or turkey, or may contain additional ingredients such as cheese or minced chili peppers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Schnitzel</span> Breaded, fried flat piece of meat

Schnitzel is a thin slice of meat. The meat is usually thinned by pounding with a meat tenderizer. Most commonly, the meat is breaded before frying. Breaded schnitzel is popular in many countries and is made using veal, pork, chicken, mutton, beef, or turkey. Schnitzel originated as wiener schnitzel and is very similar to other breaded meat dishes.

<i>Milanesa</i> South American variation of an Italian dish

The milanesa is a variation of the Lombard veal Milanese, or the Austrian Wiener schnitzel, where generic types of breaded cutlet preparations are known as a milanesa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rissole</span> European dish of meat covered in pastry

A rissole is "a ball or flattened cake of chopped meat, fish, or vegetables mixed with herbs or spices, then coated in breadcrumbs and fried."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katsudon</span> Japanese rice meal

Katsudon is a popular Japanese food, a bowl of rice topped with a deep-fried breaded pork cutlet, egg, vegetables, and condiments.

Cutlet refers to:

  1. a thin slice of meat from the leg or ribs of mutton, veal, pork, or chicken
  2. a dish made of such slice, often breaded
  3. a croquette or cutlet-shaped patty made of ground meat
  4. a kind of fish cut where the fish is sliced perpendicular to the spine, rather than parallel ; often synonymous with steak
  5. a prawn or shrimp with its head and outer shell removed, leaving only the flesh and tail
  6. a mash of vegetables fried with bread
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shake 'n Bake</span> Flavored bread crumb–style coating

Shake 'n Bake is a seasoned bread crumb coating originally marketed to mimic the flavor and texture of fried chicken. Introduced in 1965 by General Foods, it is currently made under the Kraft Heinz brand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Menchi-katsu</span> Japanese breaded and deep-fried ground meat patty

Menchi-katsu (メンチカツ) is a Japanese breaded and deep-fried ground meat patty; a fried meat cake. The meat is usually ground beef, pork, or a mixture of the two. It is often served in inexpensive bento and teishoku.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stuffed peppers</span> Dish involving filling the cavities of a bell pepper with other food

Stuffed peppers is a dish common in many cuisines. It consists of hollowed or halved bell peppers filled with any of a variety of fillings, often including meat, vegetables, cheese, rice, or sauce. The dish is usually assembled by filling the cavities of the peppers and then cooking.

Dredging is a cooking technique used to coat wet or moist foods with a dry ingredient prior to cooking. Put most simply, dredging involves little more than pulling or rolling the wet food through the dry material to provide an even coating. The technique is particularly common with breaded foods, such as fried fish or chicken cutlets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Croquette</span> Small breaded, deep-fried food

A croquette is a deep-fried roll originating in French cuisine, consisting of a thick binder combined with a filling, which is then breaded. It is served as a side dish, a snack, or fast food worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crispiness</span> Food texture that emits sound upon fracture

Crispiness or crispness is one of the most common food texture attributes. Crispiness refers to a hard food that emits a sound upon fracturing. Foods described as crisp tend not to show signs of deformation prior to fracture. Crispiness and crunchiness are often used interchangeably, however crispiness tends to be associated with a higher pitched sound, while crunchiness is associated with lower pitched sounds; however, this type of level of heating in cooking generally has a soft tender inside left after heating.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breaded cutlet</span> Meat in breading or batter

Breaded cutlet or braised cutlet is a dish made from coating a cutlet of meat with breading or batter and either frying or baking it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Irish cuisine</span> Culinary traditions of Northern Ireland

Northern Irish cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with Northern Ireland. It has distinctive attributes of its own, but has also drawn heavily from Irish and British cuisines.

References

  1. Shabir Ahmad Mir, Manzoor Ahmad Shah & Afshan Mumtaz Hamdani (2021). Gluten-free Bread Technology. Springer Nature. p. 81. ISBN   9783030738983 . Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  2. "Panko Bread Crumbs: The Secrets Revealed". YouTube. 2018-10-07. Archived from the original on 2012-06-16. Retrieved 2021-08-07.
  3. "You'll Never Believe How Panko Bread Crumbs Are Made". HuffPost . 2 May 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  4. Marshall, Jo (2010-10-05). "COOKCABULARY: Panko is a crumby ingredient - Fall River, MA". The Herald News. Archived from the original on 2011-11-22. Retrieved 2012-11-17.
  5. Mark Levene (18 October 2010). An Introduction to Search Engines and Web Navigation (2nd ed.). Wiley. p. 221. ISBN   978-0470526842 . Retrieved June 24, 2016.