Breadcrumbs in Cooking

Mike

Mike

Well-known Member
Location
London
What is the purpose of them in a recipe, are they for
binding the ingredients together, or are they supposed
to swell up and make the finished article bigger?

I have been trying to make Scottish Square Sausage, also
called Lorne Sausage, I have 1lb of minced beef, plus 1lb
of minced pork, plus 7oz of breadcrumbs, then salt and
spices, with an egg to act as a binder, all of that didn't
really fill a 2lb loaf tin and I am thinking that I should have
added more water to swell the breadcrumbs!

Thanks for any replies that you have from your experience.

Mike.
 

Breadcrumbs do make for a great binder, though I have no problem keeping meatballs and meatloaf (and other things) together, but most of all my opinion of using breadcrumbs in recipes is to bulk up the recipe.

Personally, I don't add breadcrumbs to anything I make.

Re: your Scottish Square Sausage recipe, does it call for onions or any other ingredients? Could you add onions (and/or other ingredients)?
 
No onions in the recipe, though you can of course have them
with the finished article.

All the ingredients are listed, rest is nutmeg 1 -1 1/2 teaspoon.
coriander same, pepper ground black or white 1tsp kosher salt
1 1/2tsp, plus some water 100 - 200ml, I used about 100.

Mike.
 

Mike said:
No onions in the recipe, though you can of course have them
with the finished article.

All the ingredients are listed, rest is nutmeg 1 -1 1/2 teaspoon.
coriander same, pepper ground black or white 1tsp kosher salt
1 1/2tsp, plus some water 100 - 200ml, I used about 100.

Mike.
Click to expand...
I don't know how crazy you are about ground veal, but that would be another option for you to bring the recipe up to a max amount, Mike.

Careful on the idea behind adding extra water, as you don't want a watery dish, not do you want to take away from the flavour.
 
The fat from the meat comes out and the meat shrinks.

More crumb might hold in all the extra fat and cut down on meaty flavor, imo.

If you are happy with the flavor, I suggest leaving it that way. I think, increasing the meat with the correct ratio of crumb to the addition, will give you more servings without just adding 'filler'.
 
Mike said:
What is the purpose of them in a recipe, are they for
binding the ingredients together, or are they supposed
to swell up and make the finished article bigger?
Click to expand...
In my experience, the purpose of the breadcrumbs is to make a "crust".
 
My mother used stale bread soaked in milk or water, then squeezed out and mixed with the meat. I sometimes do this and also for meatballs. Both meat loaves and meatballs seem more tender.

Panade
"A little bit of history: When Italian immigrants came to the U.S., they discovered that meat, frequently very expensive and/or in short supply back home, was overabundant and much less expensive here. And they began to discard the “extenders” often used with ground meat. Panade being one of the prime examples.

All-meat meatballs etc. were a lot firmer. Meatier flavor perhaps, but hard and almost “bouncy.” People began to notice that the panade didn’t just make meat go further, it also made for a much softer, more delicate texture. The panade, people discovered, allowed the meatballs to stay together without becoming hard and rubbery."

https://www.allrecipes.com/article/what-is-a-panade/
 
Devi said:
In my experience, the purpose of the breadcrumbs is to make a "crust".
Click to expand...
No crust on Lorne sausage....:)

Lorne_Sausage.jpg
 
Yes it all sounds delicious, but the proof will be in
the tasting, after it is fried or grilled and the crumbs
go inside.

Mike.
 
Never cared for Lorne sausage, always preferred 'links'. Trouble was that commercial ones tend to be far too fatty.
What percentage fat mince do you use. I tend to use 10% for most things as 5% won't bind together well.

Way back 50 years ago when I went to university in Belfast, there was a round spiced "vegetable roll". It was basically beef mince spiced with spring onions and herbs and formed into a roll about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. This was then sliced and fried.
Like the Scots, the Ulster people had a reputation for a somewhat unhealthy diet.
 
In my opinion, bread crumbs are often used as a coating and bread itself is usually used in dishes to absorb excess fat. Bread crumbs can so this also and in a sausage recipe would help create the proper consistency. As RadishRose says, meat shrinks as it’s cooked and oil and moisture escape. The bread absorbs the fat and helps keep the sausage shape.

Bread crumbs and bread are used in meatloaf in the same kind of way.
 

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