What the heck is dredging?

Good question. In the kitchen, dredge means: to coat food with another food that’s in powder form; most often flour. I used this technique for tonight’s dinner: Sautéed Chicken Cutlets.

I recently read somewhere that some people will marinate their chicken in buttermilk before they dredge for frying chicken. I’m not much for friend chicken, but I did have some chicken cutlets that I defrosted last night. Instead of marinating them for many hours, I patted the pieces dry and then soaked them in heavy whipping cream for about an hour. The ONLY reason I did not marinate for longer, is because I didn’t know what the heck I was going to do with the chicken…until about 5 o’clock, that is. I didn’t have buttermilk but did have the heavy whipping cream.

While the chicken rested in it’s cream bath, I prepared the mix of rubbing seasonings: Pappy’s (http://www.pappyschoice.com/), a couple dashes of crushed red pepper, and extra fresh ground pepper. I also put flour on a paper plate, with a handful of flour in a small bowl. I did that, so I wouldn’t cross contaminate my container of flour. Yes, I am that person that washes her hands with soap and hot water constantly throughout preparing meals…This is a good habit to have…cross contamination can be dangerous! I highly recommend that you wash your knife and cutting board after you cut each item in your recipe, too.
Next I preheated my oven to 350 degrees, and mixed a can of green beans, a ½ can of cream of mushroom soup and 1/3 c of heavy whipping cream for green bean casserole; then topped with fried onions. I don’t change the recipe from the back of the French’s Fried Onion can, but this time I halved it.

After I put the casserole in the oven, I peeled three potatoes, cut them up, and then chopped up half of a cauliflower for my secret mashed potatoes. I’m sure you’ve guessed my secret ingredient by now…cauliflower! I also used a couple spoonfuls of sour cream instead of milk and about ½ a stick of butter. And yes, I realize the cauliflower doesn’t outweigh the dairy I mix with them. Oh, small tangent: We call cauliflower, “white broccoli” in front of our kids, because they love broccoli, but the word cauliflower freaks them out.

While the potatoes and cauliflower boiled away, I heated my pan with a little olive oil and a little peanut oil. I drained the chicken, rubbed with the seasoning mixture and then dredged in the flour.

When you dredge, make sure to pat any excess flour (or whatever you’re using) off your meat. The most important thing, though, is to immediately begin cooking your freshly dredged meat in hot oil. You’ll know it’s hot enough if your meat instantly sizzles. You want the oil to be hot enough for two reasons: (#1), if the oil isn’t hot enough, it doesn’t brown your meat, but (#2) soaks into your meat.

My husband walked in the door just as I was plating our cutlets while my kids were yet again asking, “What the heck is for dinner?” Even my four year old enjoyed this meal, which means that all four of us enjoyed a hot dinner tonight.

Question for the few followers I have: Would you like to see a link for my recipe(s)? Leave me a comment and thanks for stopping by!