We called this breading mix a whim because it is suitable for those who love strong flavours, both exotic and the more traditional ones of our cuisine, paprika and turmeric on one side and oregano , garlic and onion on the other mixed with wheat flour create a mix for those who love bold experiments.
What are gratinating and breading?
This is a trick question, if you are looking for a preparation for breading and gratin you know what a breaded dish is and what a gratin is, you also know that they are preparation techniques (the breading) and cooking (the gratin) which give final results that are not identical but with something in common, a crunchy crust. What you perhaps don't know is that in both cases the tasty crust is the result of a series of quite complex chemical processes which are essentially given by the proteins that react with the sugars. Do you want proof? In the case of breading, dip the food to be breaded first in the egg (someone suggests using milk as an alternative), while in gratins it is customary to add cheese (usually parmesan), there will be many other good reasons for doing so, not least the taste, but the reality is that if you don't add proteins to the breadcrumbs or flour (i.e. sugars) you risk the crust not forming. Obviously in many cases proteins are present in the dish and in fact in the case of gratins you will find several recipes in which the addition of parmesan is not present, but these are always fish or meat gratins, whereas in vegetable gratins you always find proteins addition of the ingredient that ensures proteins. A curiosity, the first who observed these reactions between proteins and sugars was a French doctor and chemist named Louis Camille Maillard, so much so that it was given the name Maillard reaction. Today the reaction is cited above all for its importance in cooking, but Maillard was interested in something completely different, that is, the synthesis of proteins, he published an article on how amino acids (building blocks of proteins) reacted with sugars.< /p>
Where to use the gratin breading
Given that this is a mix designed for those who love to dare and experiment with strong flavours, the advice we would like to give you is to experiment with it on vegetable gratins or at least on white meats . The general rule is that if the dish is something valuable and/or with a strong flavour, such as red meat or fine fish, we will not risk burying the flavor under a multitude of different flavours. The sfizio blend is balanced and relatively delicate, but in it we still have paprika, turmeric, garlic and onion, spices with rather strong flavours. Instead, to make a spectacular, real explosion of flavour, a vegetable gratin seems perfect.