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 Commercially produced breadcrumbs | |
| Main ingredients | Dried bread |
|---|---|
| Variations | Panko |
Breadcrumbs consist of crumbledbread of varying dryness, sometimes withseasonings added, used for breading or crumbing foods, toppingcasseroles,stuffingpoultry,thickeningstews, adding inexpensive bulk tosoups,meatloaves and similar foods, and making a crisp and crunchy covering for fried foods, especiallybreaded cutlets liketonkatsu andschnitzel. TheJapanese variety of breadcrumbs is called "panko".
Dry breadcrumbs are made from dry breads which have been baked or toasted to remove most remaining moisture, and may have a sandy or even powdery texture. Breadcrumbs are most easily produced by pulverizing slices of bread in afood processor, using a steel blade to make coarse crumbs, or a grating blade to make fine crumbs. Agrater or similar tool will also do.
The breads used to make soft or fresh breadcrumbs are not quite as dry, so the crumbs are larger and produce a softer coating, crust, or stuffing. Thecrumb ofbreadcrumb also refers to the texture of the soft, inner part of a bread loaf, as distinguished from the crust, or "skin".
Panko (パン粉) is a type of flaky breadcrumbs used inJapanese cuisine as a crunchy coating forfried foods, such astonkatsu. Panko is made from bread baked by passing electrical current through the dough, which yields a bread without a crust, and then grinding the bread to create fine slivers of crumb.[1][2] It has a crisper, airier texture than most types of breading found inWestern cuisine and maintains its texture baked or deep-fried, resulting in a lighter coating.[3] Outside Japan, its use has become more common in both Asian and non-Asian dishes. It is often used on seafood and is typically available inAsian markets, speciality stores, and many largesupermarkets.
Panko is produced worldwide, particularly in Asian countries, including Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, China, and Vietnam.
The Japanese first learned to make baked bread from Europeans. The wordパン粉 (panko) is derived frompan, giving the word for bread in Japanese (derived from the Portuguese word "pão" for bread), and-粉 (-ko), a Japanesekanji indicating "flour", "coating", "crumb", or "powder" on occasion, when used as a suffix (as inkomeko, "rice powder",sobako, "buckwheat flour", andkomugiko, "wheat flour").[4]
Breading (also known ascrumbing) is a drygrain-derivedfood coating for a piece of food made from breadcrumbs or a breading mixture with seasonings. Breading is well suited forfrying as it lends itself to creating a crisp coating around the food. Breading mixtures can be made of breadcrumb,flour,cornmeal, andseasoning that the item to be breaded is dredged in before cooking. If the item to be breaded is too dry for the coating to stick, the item may first be moistened withbuttermilk, rawegg,egg wash or other liquid.
Breading contrasts withbatter, which is a grain-based liquid coating for food that produces a smoother and finer texture, but which can be softer overall.
In the fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel", breadcrumbs are used by Hansel and Gretel to track their footpath. However, the breadcrumbs were eventually eaten by birds, subsequently leading them to become lost in the woods. The popularity of breadcrumbs in the fairy tale led to the use of the wordbreadcrumb as a navigation element that allows users to keep track of their locations within programs or documents.[5]
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