Egg, Crumb and Fry

Southland Times, Issue 21100, 4 June 1930, Page 12

Egg, Crumb and Fry

r __ls if tf.ft re rmrv. irstrv ft ft t*-*t stf a f.?,AX.«!XAA AXiAAA-A AA' *XAX AAA-AAAA • .AA AA.AtiAAAX.AXAXAX All-tSi tAI'AM (By Doris B. Shendan, M.C.A., M.S.C., Diploma.) London. “Egg, crumb and fry in deep fat,” It sounds simple enough, yet many cooks seem to have difficulty. Instead of ’ fillets of fish being golden brown, evenly spread with crumbs, crisp and attractive to look at, they are so often nothing more than a sodden' mass, with half the breadcrumbs left b.ehind in the cooking-pan. Success in frying depends firstly on close attention to detail in preparing the food, and secondly on the use of boiling fat. To prepare the fillets, first wash them thoroughly, then dry on a clean cloth and dust with flour. Break an egg on to a plate and, using a palette knife, beat until the yolk and white part are thoroughly mixed. Break soft stale bread into small pieces and pass through a wire sieve, laying the sieved crumbs ready for use on a piece of white kitchen paper. Dip each fillet first into the crumbs, then into the beaten egg, and lastly info the crumbs. See that it is thoroughly covered, but shake off any superfluous crumbs that tend to thicken it unnecessarily. When all the fillets are thus prepared Jay ;is many as can be comfortably accommodated in the frying basket. Plunge into deep, boiling fat, and cook until golden brown. Drain on paper before serving. Various types of fat can be used for deep fat frying. Margarine is best avoided as, because of the water it contains, it tends to boil'over and bubble. It is imperative that the fat should ba boiling, otherwise the food will absorb it, become sodden in appearance and have an unpleasant taste. Simple Tests. Fat that is ready for frying should bo absolutely still with a blue haze rising from it. A simple test is to drop a small cube of soft bread into fat which is beginning to smoke. If in about half a minute

the bread turns a nice golden brown cob pur, the fat is ready for frying. The importance of correct temperature cannot be over-estimated, for at its correct temperature fat hardens the albumen in the egg, which thus forms' a coating over the food and prevents it from soaking up any of the fat. It is advisable aDo not to attempt to cook too many fillets at a time, pot only because of lowering the temperature of the fat, but because of the danger of its boiling over. After the 'first frying, see that the fat is boiling before commencing to cook the second batch of fillets.