Putting On a Coat

• Surrounding your piece of fish with that coat of breading serves a number of purposes. First, it insulates your fish against the intense heat of the skillet. A bare piece of fish, in contrast, would quickly sear and toughen as its proteins browned. This in turn helps the fish remain moist, and helps protect against overcooking. The breading also strengthens and stiffens the fish, so it's less likely to break as it's turned. From the culinary perspective, your breading adds a beautiful color, crisp texture and toasty flavor to the fish. For all of these reasons, it's frustrating when the breading won't stick.

Breadcrumbs vs. Meal

• You can sometimes make a perfectly acceptable piece of fish by pressing breadcrumbs directly to its bare flesh, because breadcrumbs are relatively soft and absorb moisture easily from the fish. That's not the case with cornmeal, which clings readily to a moist fillet but adheres even more enthusiastically to the hot surface of your skillet. To keep meal breading on a piece of fish -- either the cornmeal favored in the United States or the fine oatmeal sometimes used in the U.K. -- you'll need to give it a bit of help.

Classic Breading Technique

• Home cooks and professional chefs use the same two basic techniques to keep breading in place. The classic version calls for pressing your fish first into a plate of flour, then dipping it briefly in milk. The milk and flour form a stiff paste, which then holds your meal in place firmly before and during cooking. This works even better if you let your breaded fish rest for several minutes before it goes into the skillet, giving the paste time to thicken. An alternative version of this technique dips the fish in beaten egg or egg whites, either with or without flour. The proteins in the quick-cooking egg set rapidly, holding the breading in place.

Oven-Fried Fish

• Another way to keep your breading in place is by baking or "oven-frying" your fish instead of cooking it in the skillet. This eliminates the need to turn your fish, and with it the risk of losing your breading. Spray a parchment-lined sheet pan lightly with oil, then arrange the fish portions on the parchment. Spray the fish as well -- the breading won't brown and crisp without a small amount of oil -- and bake the fish at 425 degrees Fahrenheit, allowing roughly 10 minutes per inch of thickness. When the browning is golden and the fish is opaque in the middle, it's ready to serve.