Why does breading always fall off my chicken!

[FeChef]

Ok this has been nagging me for ages. No matter what method I use to bread chicken, it always falls off. It doesnt matter if its boneless skinless chicken breast or with skin, even with chicken wings it eventually falls off either while frying or taking a bite and half the breading falls off or cutting with a knife it falls off.

I have tried letting the chicken dry out on a rack in the fridge, light dust of flour then 15 min rest, then buttermilk or egg wash then dredge in breading and another 15-30 min rest before frying. No matter what i do it always falls off!

The only luck i have had is a light dusting in flour, dip in a milk/flour batter, then coated in Panko bread crumbs. But this is about flour based breading, not bread crumbs.

How do some of these commercial breaded chicken companys get the breading to stick so well to the chicken? I have had breaded chicken where I actually wanted to remove the breading (health kick) and I couldnt even get the breading off!

/RANT

[Blether]

Breading ?

- don't rest till the coating's complete

- "a light dusting" ? Use as much flour as you need to coat completely - too much is better than not enough. I like to put the pieces in a big-enough plastic bag with a bunch of flour, and give everything a good shaking up

- then egg

- then crumbs. Drop each piece into the bowl of crumbs, heap crumbs over, pick the whole thing up, squeeze, then turn the piece from hand to hand to let the excess crumbs drop back

[FeChef]

Ok normally I wouldnt bother responding to you but you clearly read my post, yet you are bringing up bred crumbs when i clearly said this isnt about bread crumbs, its about flour "breading" I dont know, maybe you are from another country where the term breading and light dusting is alien to you, if so my appoligies.

[Anna N]

Ok normally I wouldnt bother responding to you but you clearly read my post, yet you are bringing up bred crumbs when i clearly said this isnt about bread crumbs, its about flour "breading" I dont know, maybe you are from another country where the term breading and light dusting is alien to you, if so my appoligies.

I am obviously being completely obtuse but could you explain what you mean by breading that doesn't involve bread crumbs?

[FeChef]

I am obviously being completely obtuse but could you explain what you mean by breading that doesn't involve bread crumbs?

Here in the US bread crumbs are tiny crumbs of bread. I specificly said flour breading, which is made from flour and seasonings.

[Shel_B]

I am obviously being completely obtuse but could you explain what you mean by breading that doesn't involve bread crumbs?

Here in the US bread crumbs are tiny crumbs of bread. I specificly said flour breading, which is made from flour and seasonings.

Your post was unclear. Even after your upthread correction, it was difficult to understand just what you meant.

[Lisa Shock]

In culinary school, we were taught that the standard breading station for deep frying was flour, egg, then bread crumbs -or a replacement like crushed corn flakes. We also learned batters like tempura and beer batter.

I've never seen raw, dry flour on the outside layer for deep fry. Can you reference a recipe?

I have seen variations on flour and herb dredges, with and without egg, for sauteing. But those are usually recipes where a pan sauce is made and one function of the flour dredge is to cook the flour a bit before it becomes part of the sauce.

[Dakki]

BREADING CHICKEN IN 10 STEPS

1 Switch to decaf

2 Soak chicken parts in spiced buttermilk (optional)

3 Salt/pepper/chile powder chicken

4 Coat chicken GENEROUSLY with spiced flour

5 Gently shake off excess flour

6 Rest chicken until flour has wet through (5-10 minutes I guess?)

7 Repeat steps 4 to 6, once

8 Fry chicken

9 Rest fried chicken

10 Serve, be happy

[basquecook]

I've never seen raw, dry flour on the outside layer for deep fry. Can you reference a recipe?

I am confused, you have never seen a recipe that calls for an outside layer of flour. Like, you have never soaked chicken in buttermilk and then tossed in season flour and deep fried? Or like, just tossed calamari rings right into flour and then fried..

Fe chef, I am assuming you are a sushi chef, if you are having issues with breading chicken. What I think it the best thing is to let it all sit together for awhile in the fridge once you have floured, egg'd and breadcrumb'd but, you said you have already tried that. Maybe your oil is not hot enough, what temp are you frying at? And you said you dried the chicken prior to putting the flour on.

Edited November 8, 2013 by basquecook (log)

[Pam R]

We have a couple of fried chicken topics and I searched through one to find a technique another member shared years ago that made outstanding fried chicken. Click HERE for the post.

Basically, you season the chicken, dip it in a flour and water batter and then into plain flour before frying immediately. When I've done it, I also season the flour/water slurry. The breading was crisp but didn't fall off the chicken when eaten,

[gfweb]

Try this.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/10/the-food-lab-korean-fried-chicken.html?ref=search

[heidih]

Color me confused as to terminology! So the word "breading" highlighted in the quote of your opening post is FLOUR?

I have tried letting the chicken dry out on a rack in the fridge, light dust of flour then 15 min rest, then buttermilk or egg wash then dredge in breading and another 15-30 min rest before frying. No matter what i do it always falls off!

[FeChef]

Color me confused as to terminology! So the word "breading" highlighted in the quote of your opening post is FLOUR?

But this is about flour based breading, not bread crumbs.

[FeChef]

I've never seen raw, dry flour on the outside layer for deep fry. Can you reference a recipe?

I am confused, you have never seen a recipe that calls for an outside layer of flour. Like, you have never soaked chicken in buttermilk and then tossed in season flour and deep fried? Or like, just tossed calamari rings right into flour and then fried..

Fe chef, I am assuming you are a sushi chef, if you are having issues with breading chicken. What I think it the best thing is to let it all sit together for awhile in the fridge once you have floured, egg'd and breadcrumb'd but, you said you have already tried that. Maybe your oil is not hot enough, what temp are you frying at? And you said you dried the chicken prior to putting the flour on.

I was letting it sit in the fridge for 15-20 minutes before frying @ 375 (drops to 325F). Yes i brine my chicken first then let it rest in the fridge on paper towels for a few hours to get any excess moisture off before lightly dusting in "flour" then dip in egg wash, then seasoned "flour" breading, then sit in fridge 15-20 min before frying.

Today I dusted a batch and let the dusting get tacky in the fridge a few hours. I then dipped in eggwash and then breading and then let sit in the fridge for a few hours and then i decided to flash freeze them and going to see what frying from frozen does. At this point i'll try anything.

[basquecook]

the only thing I can think of is, if you are doing everything else right is, maybe it's the brine. If you literally are taking the chicken out of the fridge, drying it, flouring it, resting it, dipping in egg and bread crumbs, then, the only thing you are doing differently is one of two things. You haven't described the brine and you keep saying dusting of flour. Maybe this dusting is too light. like, dip it, dredge it, coat the chicken in flour. Dusting sounds like a sprinkling. The flour when applied to the chicken and placed in the fridge will get tacky. It will stick to the chicken like a gluey substance. Brine, maybe skip the brine for now and work into a brine. Maybe it's three, your breadcrumbs. Are you using fresh made or at least bakery bought. Maybe it's the breading you are using. Make your own. Maybe the bread crumbs are too fine and make a shell. If you used large bread crumbs. I take a loaf or baguette, super market roll and rub it through a box grater. You maybe need a quarter loaf if you are making just a few. Maybe cut the chicken breast in half to make it less thick. Maybe don't crowd the pan.

Edited November 9, 2013 by basquecook (log)

[heidih]

basquecook - I think what I now understand is that there is a terminology confusion- the last "breading" is not crumbs but flour By "flour breading" he means a last dredge through plain old flour not crumbs

[ChrisTaylor]

BREADING CHICKEN IN 10 STEPS

1 Switch to decaf

Hehehe.

How much chicken are you putting into the oil at once? What temperature is the oil before the bird takes its plunge? I wonder if you're letting the oil cool down too much, something that maybe doesn't let the crust firm up as nicely as it should.

I'd also recommend the flour/water batter someone mentioned earlier.

[liuzhou]

You bread without bread! I'm impressed. Even though you fail. The attempt merits praise!

[FeChef]

basquecook - I think what I now understand is that there is a terminology confusion- the last "breading" is not crumbs but flour By "flour breading" he means a last dredge through plain old flour not crumbs

Yes the last dredge is in flour but it is not plain, it contains salt, pepper and msg.

Note to the others: I have no idea why some of you never heard the term "breading" in reference to a seasoned flour coating. Look up any KFC clone recipe and you will find a million references and the use of flour as a final coating. Not bread crumbs.

And he who asked about the oil temp, I have dropped pieces into 375F oil that had dropped to 325F and those pieces had the same problems with the breading not staying very well.

Im leaning more toward the person who mentioned possibly brining is causing adhesion issues. By the way, the brine is a simple 4.5% salt. (45g salt / 1000g water)

[gfweb]

Think you are right. A wet breast will steam off its coating

[FeChef]

Think you are right. A wet breast will steam off its coating

The thing is, I pat the chicken dry with paper towels and put them on a cooling rack in the fridge with paper towels ontop for a few hours to let them dry.

[Blether]

I think it's the drying that's causing your problem.

[FeChef]

I think it's the drying that's causing your problem.

Say Wut?

[nickrey]

If you dry it and it falls off, perhaps blether is right. Worth a try.

[FeChef]

If you dry it and it falls off, perhaps blether is right. Worth a try.

Again.....Say Wut?