Paner à l'anglaise

Paner à l'anglaise is the classical French method of coating a food in flour, beaten egg and fine breadcrumbs before frying, and it belongs to the codified repertoire of the nineteenth-century kitchen. Escoffier's Le Guide Culinaire and Pellaprat's Modern French Culinary Art treat it as a standard preparation for cutlets, escalopes, fish fillets and croquettes, and Jacques Pépin sets out the sequence step by step in Complete Techniques. The name records the practice as the French kitchen received and named it, and the method is carried today by every brigade trained in the classical tradition.

The method proceeds in three coatings applied in a fixed order: seasoned flour, then whole egg beaten with a little oil and water or milk, then dry white breadcrumbs sifted fine. The food, such as a veal escalope from the leg, a pork cutlet, a fillet of sole (Solea solea) or a croquette mixture, must be dry on the surface and evenly thin so that it cooks through in the time the crust takes to colour. Each stage has a purpose: the flour absorbs surface moisture and gives the egg something to hold, the egg acts as the adhesive, and the crumb forms the crisp shell. Pépin recommends working with one hand for the dry ingredients and the other for the egg, so that the fingers do not clump into a paste, and pressing the crumbs gently onto the surface. The result is fried in clarified butter or oil, or shallow-fried in a pan, until golden.

A breaded escalope or fillet is eaten with something that cuts through the fried richness: a squeeze of lemon, beurre noisette, a sauce tartare or a sauce rémoulade, with pommes purée or a simple green salad. The acidity and sharpness of these accompaniments refresh the palate against the crisp, fat-bearing crust. Drink a dry white with good acidity, such as a Chablis or an Alsace Riesling, or a light, cold beer; the freshness answers the frying fat and leaves the delicate flesh clear.