Gravy's Cooking Thread

Adebisi

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My neighbors made pho on the weekend and a bunch of us went over for dinner. I swear, that pho broth he made was the most flavorful liquid I've ever tasted. I'm going to help him next time he makes it.
 

McCheese

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Is there a secret to getting breading to stick to chicken? Most recipes I've seen generally use some kind egg/oil mixture to coat the chicken before applying breading. This works moderately well and the breading sticks to the chicken throughout the baking process, but when you cut into it the breading kind of slides off in big chunks rather than adhering to the chicken like it does in restaurants. Is there a better mixture to use to coat the chicken? Does it stick better when frying as opposed to baking (I only bake; I've never fried any breaded foods).

I made the below dish this past weekend and used 2 eggs with a tablespoon of oil as a coating for the chicken. The breading mostly slid off of each piece of chicken when I began cutting into them. However, I didn't let the chicken soak in the coating, would that make a difference as well?

rrr_img_67843.jpg
 

Gankak

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'Standard breading' for stuff is:

1. Flour
2. egg wash(just beat a couple eggs, no oil needed)
3. breading(whatever you want)
 

Joeboo

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Are you cooking with chicken that still has the skin on, or off(like skinless/boneless breasts)?

Chicken with the skin still left on, while tasting WAY better when you fry it, does tend to make the breading come off in large chunks, as it's mostly stuck to the easily removable skin, rather than the chicken meat.
 

jooka

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Everything I've seen for breading is flour, then egg bath(no oil), then breading. Maybe the oil is the problem?
 

McCheese

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I always use skinless chicken breasts. I also always go really light on the flour, so this might be a problem. Next time I'll try skipping the oil and making sure it's covered more in flour before the egg bath and breading. Thanks!
 

Lanx

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i just use egg and breading, no flour really. (baking)

for frying, i'll add milk and let the chicken soak for a few hours, and then dredge with a breading/flour mix.

if i want really crispy skin i double fry, i'll re-dredge done chicken in flour only.

maybe it's in the way you bake it.

when i bake chicken (dredging with egg only and using breadcrumbs) i get a stainless steel skillet, tsp seseme oil/tsp of butter combine it over low flame (seseme oil has a low smoke point, if you want higher flame i guess use canola), then i drop in the chicken and crisp up one side for 1min, flip and put in the oven. (i don't use baking pans/sheets, this is less dishes to wash, using the skillet in the oven)

this is about my healthiest dish. calorie counting ppl will say that the tsp butter/oil is bad, whatever try to cook anything without oil!

you wanna make it italian, either make your own sauce or be lazy and pop open a can of prego (not ragu, has to be thick) and put like 2 spoonfuls on top of the crusted chicken breast, make sure it doesn't slide down to the skillet, making sure it rests only on top of the chicken. this way while it''s baking, it's creating a crust warm layer of sauce, but if any source falls down on the skillet, then you're basically boiling the chicken in tomato sauce, this works too but you get less juicy chicken.
 

Gravy

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My neighbors made pho on the weekend and a bunch of us went over for dinner. I swear, that pho broth he made was the most flavorful liquid I've ever tasted. I'm going to help him next time he makes it.
I really like the Pho. It always seems the best broths are asian.
 

Gravy

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Ever have Bouillabaisse?
Nope, I haven't. Fish soup really doesn't get my motor churning. I did have some of the broth of my wife's Portuguese fish stew (can't remember the name of it) at a restaurant one time. It was very good.
 

Tea_sl

shitlord
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I always use skinless chicken breasts. I also always go really light on the flour, so this might be a problem. Next time I'll try skipping the oil and making sure it's covered more in flour before the egg bath and breading. Thanks!
I recommend cutting the breading entirely. Well seasoned flour - beaten eggs - well seasoned flour. I've used lots of different things to bread in the past, but to me nothing tastes better than the double flour coating.

You definitely want very thorough flour coverage either way though. If you don't have a good first flour coat then that's the most likely reason your breading isn't sticking.
 

McCheese

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I recommend cutting the breading entirely. Well seasoned flour - beaten eggs - well seasoned flour. I've used lots of different things to bread in the past, but to me nothing tastes better than the double flour coating.
I use panko bread crumbs in most of my breadings because it gives a nice crispiness without the need to fry. I don't think I would like half the breaded stuff I cook if I didn't use panko bread crumbs as a base for my breading.
 

Tea_sl

shitlord
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Well if you're not frying than yeah panko is the way to go most of the time.

It's never going to give you that Americana taste though.

Edit: I missed the past where you said you bake it. I don't get why anyone bakes breaded chicken. It's never been better than passable for me.
 

McCheese

SW: Sean, CW: Crone, GW: Wizardhawk
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Well if you're not frying than yeah panko is the way to go most of the time.

It's never going to give you that Americana taste though.

Edit: I missed the past where you said you bake it. I don't get why anyone bakes breaded chicken. It's never been better than passable for me.
I bake it simply for healthy reasons. I count my calories pretty carefully most of the time and frying just completely destroys it.
 

Deathwing

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Frying is a huge pain in the ass too. Anything that's breaded and fried is like ten thousand dishes afterwards.
 

Tea_sl

shitlord
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I bake it simply for healthy reasons. I count my calories pretty carefully most of the time and frying just completely destroys it.
I get that, but to me that there are billion delicious ways to cook chicken even if you just stick to healthy prep. Baked, breaded chicken has never been one of those things for me. Even just marinated chicken baked usually taste better. If you want crispy texture there's plenty of options for that too from nuts to vegetables to certain starches.

In the end it's all personal taste, but even my best baked breaded chicken is a pale shadow of the real thing, and I try not to cook things where my immediate reaction is, "It's alright, but...". It's not like I make fried chicken more than a couple times of year either.