Do you have problems getting breadcrumbs to stick? There’s nothing more frustrating than carefully coating your chicken/beef/pork/fish and then watching most of the crumbs fall off during cooking. Here’s our tips for making those crumbs stay put.
Firstly accept that you are almost always going to lose some of the crumb during cooking, there is no foolproof method of stopping that but you can minimise the amount of crumbs that fall off. Make sure that you have the essential elements of a good crumb, flour first, then an egg wash (this can be a combination such as egg and milk), and finally your crumbs. The flour helps to seal in moisture and protect the food from the high cooking heat. The type of crumbs that you use is important. For best results use small breadcrumbs rather than large ones because small crumbs will stick better. If you are crumbing your dish in advance, make sure you store your crumbed food in a single layer or between sheets of baking paper to stop them sticking or going soggy. Popping the crumbed food in the fridge for 15 minutes before frying will also help the crumbs to stick to the meat. Make sure that your oil is hot enough before you add the crumbed meat to the pan. You are looking for oil that is sizzling if shallow frying or if deep frying pop the handle of the wooden spoon in and if the oil bubbles around it, you know it is hot enough.
