43 recipes. Page 2 of 2
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One skewer holds both a sausage and a stick of mozzarella under a thick pancake-mix batter and a breadcrumb coat, so each bite is rough and crunchy outside, chewy in the middle, and stretchy with cheese. What sets the Korean version apart from an American corn dog is the roll in sugar straight out of the oil, which plays against the salty sausage. Ketchup and mustard usually go on top.
Chicken tenderloins have a fine grain, so a short 4 to 5 minute fry in 170 degree oil leaves them juicy instead of dry. The coating goes on in three layers: flour, egg beaten with milk, then breadcrumbs pressed firmly. Milk thins the egg so it coats smoothly and the crumbs grip evenly. They are at their best straight from the paper towel, while the crust still crackles.
The usual way cheese sticks go wrong is the melted cheese breaking through the coating and running into the oil. That is why these get two coats of parsley breadcrumbs and a stint in the freezer before a short fry. Serve with tomato sauce for dipping.
Tender scallops, a light cream sauce, and a crisp Gruyere and breadcrumb crust all land on the same spoon. Scallops toughen quickly, so the pan sear is brief and the oven finishes the warming. Reducing the white wine by half concentrates its acidity, and with cream and lemon juice the sauce stays bright instead of heavy. Any surface moisture on the scallops turns to steam and blocks browning, so they are pressed thoroughly dry first. Bake and serve them in ramekins or scallop shells, with baguette for the leftover sauce.
Half sausage and half mozzarella on one stick, so a bite at the seam gets salt and a long cheese pull at once. Cooked, cooled sweet potato cubes and breadcrumbs are pressed into the pancake batter before frying, leaving the outside knobbly and sweet in patches.
The binder of mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, egg, and breadcrumbs is kept just strong enough to hold the crab together, so big lumps of meat still show in every bite. Lemon juice and parsley add freshness next to the sweet crabmeat. Every extra stir breaks down the crab, so the mixing stops with a few folds, the moment the mixture barely holds. Chilling the shaped patties for 30 minutes firms them up so they survive the flip. Fried in butter, they come out with a crisp shell and a warm, tender center.
Behind a thin crumb shell sits hot, creamy bechamel, carrying the salty flavor of finely chopped jamon. With a filling made mostly of butter, flour, and milk, the cured ham, though small in amount, carries the salt and aroma of every bite. In Spanish bars they come out as tapas, two or three to a small plate.
Breaded, pan-browned eggplant slices layered with tomato sauce, mozzarella, and Parmesan bake into a casserole that should still cut into clean layers. Salting the slices first draws out water and some bitterness, and without it the eggplant goes soft under the sauce. Restraint with the sauce matters just as much, because a pool of it around the dish softens the crust. A five-minute rest after baking lets the layers settle before slicing.
Cut almost all the way through and roasted, these potatoes fan open in the oven: thin, chip-crisp edges outside, soft flesh in the center. Laying chopsticks on either side of each potato stops the knife before it slices through the base.
Meatballs browned on the outside finish cooking in a thick tomato sauce, then go into warm sub rolls under melted mozzarella. Breadcrumbs and egg hold the mixture together, so mix it with your fingertips only until it holds and shape the balls without packing them; heavy kneading makes them dense. The pan only colors the outside, leaving the centers to finish in the sauce. The sauce stays thick on purpose: anything runny soaks the bread before you reach the last bite, so reduce it a little longer if it looks watery. Melt the cheese under a broiler or with a torch just until it blankets the meatballs, and serve before the rolls soften.
A ketchup glaze darkens and tightens over the beef as it bakes, giving the loaf a sweet, tangy top. The real test comes at the cutting board: thick slices hold together only after the loaf rests in its pan for at least 10 minutes. Cutting straight from the oven lets the juices run out and the slices fall apart.
Each oyster bakes in its own half shell under a spinach, sour cream and Parmesan topping, with a little Pernod and garlic mixed in. Frozen spinach thaws in the refrigerator the day before and is squeezed hard, otherwise the topping slides off the shells. Melted cheese and curled edges say little about the oyster underneath, which needs to turn opaque all the way through.
Pounded thin, the pork loin cooks through in about the time the crumb coat needs to turn golden, and the loosely attached breadcrumbs puff away from the meat. That thinness is the main difference from a thick Japanese tonkatsu. No deep fryer is needed: a wide pan with oil reaching halfway up the cutlet works, as long as the pan is swirled so hot oil runs under the coating. Lemon wedges take the place of any sauce.
Rosemary, thyme, garlic, and parsley chopped into breadcrumbs form a green crust over the lamb, held in place by a thin layer of Dijon mustard. Searing the rack first supplies the color, leaving the oven only to crisp the crust while the center stays pink. The seared surface needs to cool briefly before the mustard is spread on, otherwise the coating slides. Carve between the bones into individual chops.
Beef patties bound with milk-soaked breadcrumbs finish cooking in a mushroom and onion gravy, which separates Salisbury steak from a plain hamburger steak. The gravy starts in the same pan the patties were seared in, on top of the browned bits they leave behind. Breadcrumbs soaked in milk hold moisture, and the patties stay tender even after simmering in the sauce.
Cut in half, a Scotch egg shows three layers: crisp breadcrumbs, salty sausage meat, and a soft yolk at the center. Dijon mustard worked into the sausage meat seasons the layer that wraps the egg. The egg goes into cold water right after boiling, since the yolk would otherwise keep cooking while the sausage still needs time in the oil. It works warm or cold, for brunch, a picnic, or a snack.
Fried shrimp tucked into a split, lightly warmed baguette, with a quick remoulade of chopped pickles and mayonnaise to cut the richness, make up this New Orleans sandwich. The sandwich is built and eaten right away, since covering fried shrimp traps steam and softens the crust.
The mushroom stems are not thrown away: they are chopped, cooked with garlic and mixed into a filling of cream cheese, Parmesan and breadcrumbs that goes back into the caps. In the oven the top of the filling turns golden and the melted cream cheese mingles with the mushroom juices.
Small beef meatballs simmer in a creamy milk gravy, usually alongside mashed potatoes to catch every bit of sauce. Tenderness comes from a light hand: overworking the mixture tightens it into dense, rubbery balls. The pan is never wiped before the flour goes in, because the gravy owes its depth to the browned drippings the meatballs leave behind. Once the flour loses its raw smell, the milk is stirred in a little at a time so the gravy stays smooth. A splash of Worcestershire sauce gives the cream a savory edge.