The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 1097

CHICKENPARMESAN
Fried breaded chicken cutlets are good enough on their
own, but add some great marinara sauce and a layer of
gooey melted cheese? It’s like extra-crispy meat-based
pizza.Ah,onlyinAmerica.
And the best part? Chicken Parm iseasy. The only
slightlyirritatingpartisthebreading.Standardbreading
consists of three distinct layers: flour, egg, and bread
crumbs.Here’swhatthey’refor.
• Bread crumbs make up the outermost layer, and they
perform two functions. First, the many nooks and
crannies formed by the crumbs increases the overall
surface area of the chicken (see “Fractals, Panko, and
Bread-Crumb Coatings,”here). It also serves as an
insulator,preventingthechickenfromovercookingand
dryingout.Ofcourse,breadcrumbswon’tstickwithout
...
•Eggs.Theyformtheadhesivelayer,andthey’reperfect
for the job. They start out as a viscous liquid, but as
theyfry,theyformasolidgel,ensuringthatthecrumbs
stay put. The eggs, however, would have a hard time
stickingtothefoodwithout...
• Flour. Like a coating of primer before you add paint,
the flour coats the food being breaded and begins to
absorb some of its moisture, hydrating and forming a
thin layer of sticky, irregularly lumpy gel. It’s this gel


thattheeggslatchonto.
Chicken Parmesan is one of the easiest and tastiest
waystogetthehangofthebreadingprocess.Forme,the

most annoying part of breading foods is accidentally
breading your fingers as you do it. All you’ve got to
remember in order to prevent this is to use one hand for
dryandonehandforwet.
Likethis:

1. Using your right hand (or your left if you are lefthanded),pickupapieceoffoodandtransferittothe