Arigato, Panko

Panko are Japanese bread crumbs. You may be able to buy them in your grocery store now--check the Asian foods section. I had heard Alton Brown and other TV chefs rave about them, but I didn't know what the buzz was about.

Now I do. Because panko are large, crisp bread crumbs that really stick well to whatever you're breading.
And thanks to panko crumbs, and a favorite recipe from Pierre Franey's fabulous Sixty-Minute Gourmet, I am now making a pan-fried chicken breast fillet that JR adores. And when your skinny picky eater finds a protein source she'll gobble, you make it!

SC tried it and said she didn't like it, but I am going to ask her to try it again with a honey mustard dip. And I am planning on trying a riff on the Buffalo Chicken recipe the Man and I love. I think I'll presoak the chicken in buttermilk and hot sauce as usual, then do the recipe that follows and add some hot sauce at the last minute. Yum!

Panko Breaded Pan Fried Chicken Breast a la Pierre Franey

Boneless skinless chicken breasts
Unbleached flour
1 egg
Panko bread crumbs

Beat the egg and put it in a large flat dish.
Put the chicken breasts between 2 layers of wax paper and pound them with a mallet or a heavy pan.
Pounding them flat will make them cook much more quickly, but I tend to just flatten them slightly--it gives you nice chunky bites.

Heat a small amount of oil (canola or you could use peanut) in a deep skillet. You are NOT going to be immersing the chicken totally in the oil, just cooking it.

Coat the chicken breasts in flour--I just sprinkle it on the chicken on the wax paper. Dip it in the egg, then coat it in bread crumbs. You can roll it in a dish, shake it in a bag, or just plop it back on the wax paper and sprinkle it on. The panko should adhere beautifully, but you can give it a pat with your fingers or the flat side of a knife.

Cook the chicken for about 5 minutes in the oil, then flip it and cook for 5 minutes more. The chicken needs to reach 168 degrees F to be done and this may take 20 minutes or more, depending on how flat you've pounded the breasts.

Drain on a paper towel covered plate and serve.

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