Breadcrumbs are a culinary ingredient consisting of

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

or crumbled

bread Bread is a baked food product made from water, flour, and often yeast. It is a staple food across the world, particularly in Europe and the Middle East. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cu ...

of varying dryness, sometimes with

seasonings Seasoning is the process of supplementing food via herbs, spices, and/or salts, intended to enhance a particular flavour. General meaning Seasonings include herbs and spices, which are themselves frequently referred to as "seasonings". Salt may ...

added. They are used for a variety of purposes, including

breading Breadcrumbs are a culinary ingredient consisting of flour or crumbled bread of varying dryness, sometimes with seasonings added. They are used for a variety of purposes, including breading or crumbing foods before frying (such as breaded cut ...

or crumbing foods before frying (such as

breaded cutlet Breaded cutlet or braised cutlet is a dish made from coating a cutlet of meat with breading or batter and either frying or baking it. Breaded cutlet is known as ''schnitzel'' in German-speaking countries, '' cotoletta'' in Italy, '' escalope'' ...

s like

tonkatsu is a Japanese dish that consists of a breaded, Deep frying, deep-fried pork cutlet. It involves coating slices of pork with Bread crumbs#Panko, panko (bread crumbs), and then frying them in oil. The two main types are fillet and loin. Tonkatsu ...

and

schnitzel Schnitzel () is a thin slice of meat. The meat is usually thinned by pounding with a meat tenderizer. Most commonly, the meat is breaded before frying. Breaded schnitzel is popular in many countries and is made using veal, pork, Chicken as foo ...

), topping

casserole A casserole (French language, French: diminutive of , from Provençal dialect, Provençal , meaning 'saucepan') is a kind of large, deep cookware and bakeware, pan or bowl used for cooking a variety of dishes in the oven; it is also a categor ...

stuffing Stuffing, filling, or dressing is an edible mixture, often composed of herbs and a Starch#Food, starch such as bread, used to fill a cavity in the preparation of another food item. Many foods may be stuffed, including poultry, seafood, and v ...

poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of harvesting animal products such as meat, Eggs as food, eggs or feathers. The practice of animal husbandry, raising poultry is known as poultry farming. These birds are most typ ...

, thickening

stew A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been Cooking, cooked in Soup, liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients can include any combination of vegetables and may include meat, especially tougher meats suitable for ...

s, and adding inexpensive bulk to soups, meatloaves, and similar foods.

Types

Dry

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 a

food processor A food processor is a kitchen appliance used to facilitate repetitive tasks in the preparation of food. Today, the term almost always refers to an electric-motor-driven appliance, although there are some manual devices also referred to as "food ...

, using a steel blade to make coarse crumbs, or a grating blade to make fine crumbs. A grater or similar tool will also do.

Fresh

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. The ''crumb'' of ''breadcrumb'' also refers to the texture of the soft, inner part of a bread loaf, as distinguished from the crust, or "skin".

Panko

is a type of flaky breadcrumbs used in

Japanese cuisine Japanese cuisine encompasses the regional and traditional foods of Japan, which have developed through centuries of political, economic, and social changes. The traditional cuisine of Japan (Japanese language, Japanese: ) is based on rice with m ...

as a crunchy coating for fried foods, such as ''

''. 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. It has a crisper, airier texture than most types of breading found in

Western cuisine European cuisine (also known as Continental cuisine) comprises the cuisines originating from the various countries of Europe. The cuisines of European countries are diverse, although some common characteristics distinguish them from those of oth ...

and maintains its texture baked or deep-fried, resulting in a lighter coating. 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 in Asian markets, speciality stores, and many large

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

s. Panko is produced worldwide, particularly in Asian countries, including Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, China, and Vietnam.

Etymology

The Japanese first learned to make baked bread from the Portuguese. The word ''パン粉 (panko)'' is derived from ''pan'', giving the word for bread in Japanese (derived from the Portuguese word "pão" for bread), and ''-粉 (-ko)'', a Japanese

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

indicating "

", "coating", "crumb", or "powder" on occasion, when used as a suffix (as in ''komeko'', "rice powder", ''sobako'', "

buckwheat Buckwheat (''Fagopyrum esculentum'') or common buckwheat is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. Buckwheat originated around the 6th millennium BCE in the region of what ...

flour", and ''komugiko'', "

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

flour").

Breading

Breading (also known as crumbing) is a dry

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...

-derived food coating for a piece of food made from breadcrumbs or a breading mixture with seasonings. Breading is well suited for

frying Frying is the cooking of food in cooking oil, oil or another fat. Similar to sautéing, pan-fried foods are generally turned over once or twice during cooking to make sure that the food is evenly cooked, using tongs or a spatula, whilst sautéed ...

as it lends itself to creating a crisp coating around the food. Breading mixtures can be made of breadcrumb,

cornmeal Maize meal is a meal (coarse flour) ground from dried maize. It is a common staple food and is ground to coarse, medium, and fine consistencies, but it is not as fine as wheat flour can be.Herbst, Sharon, ''Food Lover's Companion'', Third Editi ...

, and

seasoning Seasoning is the process of supplementing food via herbs, spices, and/or salts, intended to enhance a particular flavour. General meaning Seasonings include herbs and spices, which are themselves frequently referred to as "seasonings". Salt may ...

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 with

buttermilk Buttermilk is a fermented dairy drink. Traditionally, it was the liquid left behind after churning butter out of cultured cream. As most modern butter in Western countries is not made with cultured cream but uncultured sweet cream, most mode ...

, raw

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

, egg wash or other liquid. Breading contrasts with batter, which is a grain-based liquid coating for food that produces a smoother and finer texture, but which can be softer overall.

In popular culture

In the fairy tale "

Hansel and Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; ) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 as part of ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). Hansel and Gretel are siblings who are abandoned in a forest and fall into the hands of a witch ...

", 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 word ''

breadcrumb Breadcrumbs are a culinary ingredient consisting of flour or crumbled bread of varying dryness, sometimes with seasonings added. They are used for a variety of purposes, including breading or crumbing foods before frying (such as breaded cutlet ...

'' as a navigation element that allows users to keep track of their locations within programs or documents.

Gallery

File:990402-ians-recipe-01-IMG 4724.jpg, Bread fried in breadcrumbs and stuffed with chicken and corn File:Panko - Paprika - 3.jpg, Panko breadcrumbs with paprika flavour File:Panko - White - 2.jpg, Panko white breadcrumbs File:971027-I'ANS-ATN-IMG 8772.jpg, IANS simple breadcrumbs File:Tonkatsu at Butagumi in Nishi-Azabu.jpg, alt=Close up of Japanese breaded tonkatsu, Panko on

Tonkatsu is a Japanese dish that consists of a breaded, Deep frying, deep-fried pork cutlet. It involves coating slices of pork with Bread crumbs#Panko, panko (bread crumbs), and then frying them in oil. The two main types are fillet and loin. Tonkatsu ...

File:971110-ILIA-Vanak-IMG 8870-2.jpg, alt=Fried shrimp, Fried shrimp with panko breadcrumbs File:980722-Recipe-05-Shrimps-IMG 8660.jpg, alt=Shrimps with Panko, Shrimp coated by panko breadcrumbs File:011221-White-IMG 3991.jpg, Panko breadcrumbs – white File:011221-Paprika-IMG 3985.jpg, Panko breadcrumbs – paprika File:011221-Spicy-IMG 3989.jpg, Panko breadcrumbs – spicy

References

{{Authority control Food ingredients Crumbs Food industry