Bonding agent?

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nessin

Assistant Cook
Joined
Jun 27, 2006
Messages
9
I suppose this can apply anywhere, but I'm specifically looking up some recipes for Chicken Gordon Blue, and I've found several similar recipes that usually differ only in spice choices and bonding agent. I can understand the spice choice difference, but the bonding part is confusing to me.

Primarily I see either butter, milk, or eggs used in order to roll the chicken breasts in before the crumbs. Is there any particular reason to use one over the other, or do they all do the same basic job and the actual type of item isn't important?

On a slightly related note, I've seen lots of recipes that involve breading something (like Chicken Gordon Blue) that tell you to bake it or to pan fry it. Now I know what the difference between those two items are, just wondering if it either way is generally acceptable or if there is something special that you might do to a dish to make it more viable for pan frying instead of baking, or vice versa?
 
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I am amazed that you managed to "look up" recipes for Chicken Gordon Blue, when the dish is actually Chicken Cordon Bleu. But, that's neither here nor there.

There is a three-step method to successfully breading anything breadable, including Chicken Gordon Blue.

Step 1, dredge in flour to dry the outside area thoroughly. Breading will not stick to wet meat, even if there's just one barely damp spot.

Step 2, dip it in either straight egg, beaten, or egg and milk beaten together. This is the binding agent.

Step 3, roll it in the bread crumbs, ensuring that the item is completely coated.

Then you can choose to either deep fry, pan fry, or bake whatever you just breaded. Fried items will be moister than the baked equivalent, especially chicken breasts which are pretty low in fat content, but the mositure is from the frying oil, so baking would make the item a bit drier, but also lower in calories and fat.
 
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