I am trying to do a pan-fried schnitzel with chicken breast coated in a mix of eggs, salt, pepper, some ketchup, a bit of olive-oil and sweet paprika.
Once I coat the chicken in the egg mix, I try to cover it with panko bread, but for some reason it doesn't stick and leaves tiny holes once it's pan-fried.
Somebody says I should coat the chicken with flour prior to the egg, but I'm not convinced that would do the trick.
Does anyone care to explain what to do?
Panko won't stick to chicken (too dry), but will stick to egg. Egg won't stick to chicken (too smooth and non-absorbant), but will stick to flour. Flour will stick to chicken. Dredge first through flour, then through (well beaten) egg, then through panko. It's a tricky combination, but if you do it right the results are excellent. Any dry spices you want to put in can go in the flour. While I don't know for sure, I would certainly wouldn't include any oils in the coating, as none of flour/egg/panko will stick to oils.
This works every time:
This method should work great for your schnitzel.
Use water or milk to thin the eggs, and not oil. I've found the eggs by themselves were too thick and didn't stick well, but thinning them out let them wet the surface evenly enough to get breadcrumbs sticking nicely.
And oil won't help any of it stick, and doubly so because the oil will probably make it easier for the coating to dissolve in the cooking oil, rather than staying together. Besides, you will likely get enough oil in the recipe from frying.
As for flour... well, I've used it sometimes, and not used it sometimes, I've never seen a dramatic effect from pre-flouring before an egg wash, at least not one that outweighs the extra fussiness of the step. On the other hand, I sometimes make a thin batter with flour, spices and the egg mix, and dip in that before the breadcrumbs for a thicker crust... which is probably a similar effect to a flour layer, but much easier for me.
Disclaimer - I've used these breading techniques on cheese, or on vegetables like eggplant, and not actually on chicken - I think the principles would be similar, though.
I got mine to stick I mixed Parmesan cheese the shakin kind like a pizza joint, into my panko with spices, I used our free range chicken eggs , spray with cooking spray (I found olive oil spray is best) then dip into panko mix then egg then panko. 💥 I do 400-450 in glass dish butter coated.
I don't use flour when panko breading instead I put a layer of panko on a tray and then dip each piece ofchicken or pork in a seasoned egg mixture and lay them on top of the layer of panko then put another layer of panko on top and let rest for 15 minutes to allow the pankao to absorb the moisture and bind to the meat...then fry as usual
