Recipe: Many Uses for Bread Crumbs

Many Uses for Bread Crumbs
Collected from Usenet Newsgroup postings

- Use them as breading for your chops. Nothing like fresh, seasoned bread crumbs to enhance the flavor of fried meats. I take 3-day-old French bread, buzz it through my food processor, and put the crumbs in a bowl. I toss in some browned garlic in olive oil, some dried Italian herbs, onion powder, and, salt and pepper, and, voila, I have great bread crumbs to use with your egg wash to make a nice batter. - Baron Blackfang

- Mix spices and grated cheddar cheese (sharp is great) with bread crumbs then dip chicken breasts or pieces in milk wash and coat with the bread crumb mixture. It bakes quite crispy and tasty. I really season them with the simple (S&P/oregano/parsley) to the zippier (cayenne/garlic/etc). - Brian & Kelly (bwitty)

- Season your breadcrumbs heavily and include a fair amount of cayenne. Dab good strong mustard onto a lamb rack, dredge in the breadcrumbs and cook at a high temperature in the oven until just rare. - decobabe

- Bread crumbs with a little melted butter or oil in them are a nice addition to noodles or green beans. Without, they are good in green salads. And you can make meatballs with them. I knew a woman who made hamburgers with bread crumbs and egg, like little meat loaves. Or, of course, you can just make little meat loaves in your electric skillet. Mix them with a bit of oil and seasonings and use them to crumb chicken, etc, to saute. I think you can use breadcrumbs to make scalloped tomatoes, too, or mix them with a can of creamed corn and a can of whole corn and bake it with more bread crumbs on top. I love bread crumbs! - Bonita Kale

- Try bread crumbs as stuffing for artichokes. Mix about equally with parmesan cheese, add oregano and/or basil to taste, and slowly add olive oil until completely moist. Core and cut the tips off of an artichoke, take a slice off of the base so that it will sit erect, and put a little of the stuffing under each leaf, adding the remainder to the core. Steam the artichoke or bake over water under low heat for one hour or until tender, then enjoy. When all that is left is the heart, saute it with a little more olive oil and don't share. Yummy! - Maureen O'Danu

- I use bread crumbs as a low fat/vegan alternative to parmesan cheese as a topping on pasta and vegetables. Breadcrumbs add a nice little crunch and touch of flavor. - Annie Logue

7. Use leftover breadcrumbs to thicken sauces and soups. They're wonderful for this--they don't clump up like flour can, and you don't have to start with a roux, which means that you're fat content in your recipe is cut way back. Diana Baran

- I mix bread crumbs with grated cheese and herbs and spread them on the top of macaroni and cheese before I bake it. It gives it a nice chewy, zippy crust. I also throw a can of diced green chiles into the macaroni & cheese to up the zippiness factor. - Katherine L. Morse

- I often use bread crumbs as an ingredient in bean burgers or loaves, instead of flour (they *do* need to be rather finely ground for that). They also make a wonderful thickener for soups and sauces. - Nicole A. Oun

- You can make breadcrumb pancakes by adding eggs and milk until you have a pancake-like batter. Let this sit until the crumbs are softened. Add honey or sugar to taste, and cook as you do ordinary pancake batter. - Nicole A. Oun

- Breadcrumb quick bread: Combine 2 cups crumbs, 2 cups wholewheat flour, 3 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt. Add a combined mixture of 2 cups milk, 1 tbsp molasses and 1 beaten egg. Bake in a greased pan at 350F for about 50 minutes. - Nicole A. Oun

- Crumb pudding: Moisten 2 cups crumbs with 1/2 cup half-and-half. Add a cup or more of finely chopped figs, 3 tbsp sugar and 1 cup milk. Pour the mixture into a pudding basin, cover tightly and steam about 2-1/2 hours. Serve hot with an orange or lemon sauce. - Nicole A. Oun

- Crumbs and applesauce: Line a buttered baking dish with crumbs 1/2-inch thick. Add a layer of applesauce, dot with butter, then a layer of crumbs, and so on. Use 1 cup of applesauce for each cup of crumbs and about 1 tbsp of butter for each. The last layer should be crumbs. Pat down until firm. Bake at 325F for 45 minutes. Serve with ice cream or unsweetened whipped cream. Add cinnamon if the applesauce is not spiced. - Nicole A. Oun

- I keep my bread crumbs in the freezer in a plastic container. I've never had a problem with it "clumping" into a solid, stays fairly crumbly. Never had a problem with it messing up a recipe because they're cold, either. - Leigh Menconi

- I make my own coating for baked chicken using breadcrumbs or ground cornmeal, grated Parmesan cheese, and seasonings - salt, pepper and a pinch of cayenne pepper or paprika. I marinate the chicken breasts in a mixture of olive oil, lemon or lime juice, and plain lowfat yogurt or lowfat sour cream before I coat the chicken in the cornmeal or breadcrumb mixture. Usually, I only marinate for 10-20 minutes. You can also dredge the chicken in beaten egg before coating it with crumbs or cornmeal, but using lowfat yogurt or sour cream is healthier (less cholesterol). My baked chicken comes out crispy on the outside, but moist and tender on the inside. - Nancy Kolsti

- I use mine to make stuffing for a variety of things - chicken (mixed with onion, garlic, herbs etc), rolled up meat, i.e. pork (mixed with chopped apple and herbs etc), coating chicken or fish or meat. - Ophelia

- I've seen chefs dip slices of fruit - apples and pears, mostly - in bread crumbs and then fry them and top them with icing sugar. Sounds good to me. - Davida Chazan

- Turkey (or Veal) Schnitzel: Use scallopini cut veal or turkey (thin slices). Dip meat in flour, then in beaten egg, then in breadcrumbs. (I mix a bit of paprika and thyme in with the breadcrumbs.) Refrigerate for a while (an hour or so) and then fry in oil or shortening. If you skip the refrigeration, the coating tends to come off while frying. - Ilana Stern

- Mix bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning. Dip chicken drumsticks in beaten egg then coat chicken with bread crumb mixture. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 350F. Great for taking cold to potlucks! - Brenda J. Roder