The Classic Breading Technique

• Generations of cooks have evolved a fairly standard technique for breading foods, including meats such as chicken or fish, and vegetables including zucchini and eggplant. The classic method requires a bowl or plate of flour, a second one containing milk or beaten eggs and a third one for the breadcrumbs. The food is first dredged in the flour, then dipped into the milk. These first two ingredients form a thick paste, which helps the final bowl's breadcrumbs adhere firmly to the food. Potato flakes can be mixed with the flour in the first of those bowls, and used either alone or with breadcrumbs in the third.

In the First Bowl

• Adding potato flakes to the first bowl affects the final dish in a couple of ways. First, it adds a variety of nutrients, such as potassium, that are plentiful in potatoes but less so in grains. Second, quick-cooking breaded foods can have an unpleasantly doughy layer between the food itself and the crisp outer shell of breading. By reducing the amount of flour, potato flakes help minimize this. The usual ratio is equal parts potato flakes to flour, seasoned liberally with salt and pepper. Some cooks grind the potato flakes into finer particles in a spice grinder, to help them adhere.

In the Breading

• Adding potato flakes to your recipe's breadcrumbs also provides a few beneficial changes. The potatoes make your breading thinner, which helps it crisp more efficiently. They also give the dish a deeper gold color, and broaden and deepen the flavor of the coating. Foods breaded with potato flakes in the mixture can be kept warm longer before they're served, because the potato flakes are slower to become soggy than breadcrumbs.

Just Potatoes

• For yet a different effect, consider finishing your foods with potato flakes alone in the third bowl. This creates a very distinctive texture, wrapping the foods in the equivalent of a thin shell of fried potato. The coating cooks to a richer, ruddier gold than breadcrumbs, with a clear flavor of fried potato. It's a more savory flavor than breadcrumbs can provide, and makes an excellent complement to chops, chicken and other foods that might be served with a strongly flavored sauce or gravy. Its only shortcoming is that potato flakes don't stick as well as breadcrumbs, so some recipes call for a quantity of flour to be mixed in for added adhesion.