The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 1100

shaking the pan gently and adjusting the heat as
necessary to maintain a constant temperature. Carefully
flipthechickenwithtongsandcookuntilthesecondside
is golden brown, about 2 minutes longer. Transfer the
cutletstoapaper-towel-linedtraytoabsorbexcessoil.
4. Spread half the sauce over the bottom of a large ovensafe serving platter or baking dish. Add the chicken
cutlets, shingling them slightly as necessary. Spread the
remaining sauce evenly down the center of the cutlets,
leaving the edges exposed. Scatter the mozzarella and
half of the remaining Parmigiano-Reggiano evenly over
the sauce. Bake until the cheese has melted and just
started to brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from the
ovenandallowtorestfor5minutes.
5. Sprinkle the chicken with the remaining ParmigianoReggiano,thebasil,andparsleyandserve.

FRACTALS,PANKO,AND
BREAD-CRUMBCOATINGS

H

aveyouheardofMandelbrotfractals?They’re

computer-generated images that appear on a small
scaleverymuchastheydoonalargescale.Fractals
are something that occur in nature quite often—the
outlines of a cloud, for instance, or the leaves on a
fern. One well-known fractal effect pertains to


coastlines. When you look at a coastline from far
away and measure it, you’ll measure a certain

perimeter. As you zoom closer and closer, you
realize there are tiny inlets or curves in the beach
thatweren’tvisiblefromfaraway.Whenmeasured
again,thesebumpsaddlengthtothetotalperimeter.
This is a phenomenon known as the Richardson
Effect, which basically says that the more precisely
youmeasureacoastline,thelongerthemeasurement
gets.And the more bumpy or irregular the surface
is,themorepronouncedtheeffect.
Well,thesameappliestobreadedfoods.Thougha
nonbreaded chicken cutlet and a breaded chicken
cutlet have essentially the same mass and volume,
becauseoftheirregularedgesofthebreadedcutlet,
it actually has far greater surface area than the
nudechicken.
Panko, Japanese-style bread crumbs, can further
enhance this effect. In contrast to sandy or coarse
crumbs,pankocrumbsarewide,cragglyflakesthat
jutoutwildlywhenapplied,providingovertwiceas
much surface area as regular bread crumbs. Now
that’saddingsomemajorcrunch!