Flavoured Breadcrumbs

MypinchofItaly

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I make great use of breadcrumbs, generally I avoid buying the ready-made breadcrumbs from the supermarket because I find it a bit too sandy, while I much prefer to get it by simply blending the old bread and giving it the texture I prefer.
Sometimes, however, I get bored with breadcrumbs as it is, so I add aromatic herbs such as sage or oregano or thyme, as well as black pepper or sesame seeds.

Do you flavour your breadcrumbs?
 
Bread Crumbs are big this time of year for Thanksgiving Stuffing.

Croutons are usually flavored.

But Stuffing or Dressing as it might be called, can do better using different kinds of actual bread, wheat, rye and as a good alternate, corn bread. This usually gets spiced up and mixed with egg, celery, peppers, onions, olives, gizzards and liver to form the stuffing.
 
I never seem to have bread ready to make into breadcrumbs when I need breadcrumbs, so I always have some ready-made breadcrumbs in the pantry. I will often add my herbs and spices into the breadcrumbs before using them, because it is easy to mix the herbs and dry crumbs together first. You just stir it up with your fingers, and your fingers don't get messed up. It works fine if you are going to mix the crumbs into meats for a meat loaf or meatballs.

I do NOT mix spices and herbs into flour or breadcrumbs that I am using to bread something to fry. You are only using a small percentage of the breadcrumbs, so you can't know how well the herbs and spices will season the meat. For that, I season the meat, and then bread it. My shrimp PoBoy today is a good example. I seasoned the shrimp first, and then coated with my flour/cornmeal mix. I would do the same with breadcrumbs.

CD
 
I will sometimes. Depends what I'm making, and some recipes call for adding herbs and seasonings to breadcrumbs (as well as grated cheese - the chicken Parm recipe I use calls for that).

Regular breadcrumbs, I use my own bread for that. I always have odds and ends of nearly-spent loaves of bread that I toss in the freezer just for that purpose. The only breadcrumbs I buy are panko, if something specifies those.

Supermarkets do sell already-seasoned breadcrumbs here, and the most common variety is...Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs.
 
I never seem to have bread ready to make into breadcrumbs when I need breadcrumbs, so I always have some ready-made breadcrumbs in the pantry. I will often add my herbs and spices into the breadcrumbs before using them, because it is easy to mix the herbs and dry crumbs together first. You just stir it up with your fingers, and your fingers don't get messed up. It works fine if you are going to mix the crumbs into meats for a meat loaf or meatballs.

I do NOT mix spices and herbs into flour or breadcrumbs that I am using to bread something to fry. You are only using a small percentage of the breadcrumbs, so you can't know how well the herbs and spices will season the meat. For that, I season the meat, and then bread it. My shrimp PoBoy today is a good example. I seasoned the shrimp first, and then coated with my flour/cornmeal mix. I would do the same with breadcrumbs.

CD

I often mix breadcrumbs and spices or herbs with the right percentage of each other, usually more breadcrumbs than spices otherwise instead of giving a twist they could cover the taste of what I'm cooking.
I also sometimes put a little bit of grated lemon rind in the breadcrumbs when I make the fried milk cream.
 
Here fresh white breadcrumbs are used to thicken soups and sauces. In the UK I paneed food, meat and fish with Panko crumbs. A squeeze of lemon enhances the natural flavor notes. For me it mainly about the addition of texture not flavor. In Serbia home fried chicken is a favorite. My wife's cousin Zoko has her own "workers" restaurant and is a well trained local chef. Her mother raises corn feed chickens. Her home fried mums chickens ( flour, egg wash, stale breadcrumbs) shallow fried in lard are exquisite. For me nothing improves perfection.
 
I'm in the US. Usually, our bread crumbs come in various flavors so there is no need to season them unless you want something more.

I typically don't buy bread crumbs because I don't use them enough to warrant the purchase. In a pinch, I will put some stuffing mix or croutons in the blender as I'm more likely to have one or both of those on hand.

My mother and grandmother would make cornbread and/or toast almost stale bread to make stuffing (sometimes called dressing). I've never done it that way but might try it in the future.



bread crumbs.jpeg
stuffing mix.jpeg

croutons.jpeg
 
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