Full question
I am an experienced cook and absolute Nigella afficionada. However I made the Crunchy Chicken Cutlets. I wanted so badly for it to work and I completely followed the recipe. I found the crumbs fell off when I cut the chicken up after it was cooked. What did I do wrong? Perhaps it would work better if using chicken tenders or cutting the breasts into smaller pieces?
Our answer
Nigella's Crunchy Chicken Cutlets (from SIMPLY NIGELLA) are chicken escalopes that are coated with crushed cornflakes rather than regular breadcrumbs. This makes them a gluten-free version of breaded chicken, as long as the cornflakes are a gluten-free brand (some brands contain barley malt as a sweetener so are not gluten-free). The chicken escalopes are dipped in egg and then coated in the cornflake crumbs before frying.
If the cornflakes are sliding off after cooking it could be due to a couple of different reasons. Most likely the chicken escalopes were too wet on the surface before they were dipped in egg and coated in crumbs. This makes it harder for the egg to cling to the chicken and then stick the crumbs on. It may help to use a piece of kitchen paper (paper towel) to pat the escalopes dry before dipping in the egg. If the cornflakes are in large pieces then they will also not stick on to the chicken as easily, so make sure you crush the cornflakes to coarse crumbs and not just large pieces. You can use small chicken tenders for the recipe, though you may need to make a few extra crumbs for the coating.
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