precise opposite is happening to the batter or breading: it’s
drying out and its structure is getting firmer and firmer.
Frying is essentially a drying process. Batters and breadings
are formulated to dry out in a particularly graceful way.
Rather than burning or turning leathery, a nice airy batter
forms a delicately crisp, air-filled web of teeny-tiny bubbles
—a solid foam that provides substance and crunch.
Breadings work similarly, though rather than foamy in
structure, they’re craggy. The nooks and crannies in a good
bread-crumb coating vastly increase the surface area of the
food being fried, giving you more crunch in each bite. In
the ideal world, a batter or breading becomes perfectly crisp
just as the food inside—say, a slice of onion or a delicate
piece of fish—approaches the ideal level of doneness.
Achieving this balance is the mark of a good fry cook.
The recipes in this chapter will cover all of the basic types
of breadings and batters, as well some other forms of
breading and batter-free frying.
THE PROS AND CONS OF FIVE
COMMON BREADINGS AND
BATTERS
COATING HOW IT’S
DONEPROS