Supported by
Left With the Crumbs? Lucky You
Bread crumbs are easy to take for granted. In most recipes, they barely register. They’re a crunch-intensifier or a garlic-and-cheese holder (ah, stuffed mushrooms), but never the main ingredient. They may not seem like something that demands to be homemade.
But just as a loaf of really good, crusty bread — be it homemade or from an excellent bakery — makes any sliced plastic-wrapped loaf seem like cotton by comparison, homemade bread crumbs put the sawdust in the can to shame. Which is to say, it’s far better to make your own.
Homemade bread crumbs couldn’t be easier to make, and they are also basically free if you get into the habit of saving your leftover crusts.
I have a cloth sack into which I throw all the ends of my loaves. When it gets full, I make bread crumbs. The bread can sit at room temperature for days, even a few weeks before pulverizing. Repurposing hard, stale bread is the point here. And feel free to mix different kinds of loaves. It will only add complexity and dimension to the final crumbs.
Once I’ve got enough stale bread, all I do is grate it on the grating disk of my food processor. (You can also use a hand grater, though it will take a bit more muscle.) For finer crumbs, whirl the grated bread in the food processor (or blender) until it takes on the texture of sand. Another method involves pounding the stale bread with the side of a rolling pin, or even a hammer, but I’d advise wrapping the bread in a dishtowel before you begin. And if you only have fresh bread for your crumbs, dry it out in a low oven (250 degrees) first.
Then use your crumbs widely and often — in meatloaf, stuffing, dumplings, on top of casseroles and gratins, in pasta dishes.
Pasta is actually what got me thinking about bread crumbs in the first place. After marrying a man who doesn’t eat cheese, I needed a replacement for my once-ubiquitous sprinkle of grated Parmesan.
I turned to pangrattatto, an Italian garnish of bread crumbs that have been toasted in olive oil and seasoned with the likes of garlic, herbs and sometimes anchovies or chile flakes (or both). A specialty of Southern Italy, it’s dusted over pasta in place of the more costly grated cheese.
In this version of the classic recipe, I enrich the pasta with egg yolks for creaminess, Asian fish sauce to increase the funk factor and hot sauce for kick before tossing in the garlicky crumbs.
It’s an earthy, lusty dish, one that deserves the most robust, flavorful crumbs you have.
An earlier version of this column incorrectly stated the name of an Italian garnish of bread crumbs toasted in olive oil and seasoned with garlic and herbs. They are called pangrattatto, not pangritata.
How we handle corrections
More on Food and Dining
Keep tabs on dining trends, restaurant reviews and recipes.
Flamboyant displays of fake flowers at restaurants have turned into a maximalist design movement, with one man as a chief trendsetter.
Perloo, a supremely comforting one-pot rice dish, is a Lowcountry staple with roots in West Africa.
Some of the greatest meals pair exalted wines with foods considered humble. Exploring beyond the conventional can be joyous, like the timeless appeal of Champagne and fried chicken.
For many Jamaicans, spice bun is a staple of Lent. But there’s nothing restrictive about this baked good, so named for its bold seasonings.
For Ecuadoreans, fanesca, a labor-intensive lenten soup served just during the lead-up to Easter, is a staple of Holy Week festivities.
Sign up for our “The Veggie” newsletter to get vegetarian recipes for weeknight cooking, packed lunches and dinner parties.
Eating in New York City
Once the pre-eminent food court in Flushing, Queens, for regional Chinese cuisines, the Golden Mall has reopened after a four-year renovation. A new one in Manhattan is on the horizon.
At Noksu, dinner is served below the street, a few yards from the subway turnstiles. But the room and the food seem unmoored from any particular place.
You thought Old World opulence was over? A prolific chef gives it a new and very personal spin at Café Carmellini, Pete Wells writes.
Eyal Shani’s Port Sa’id challenges the conventional wisdom that you can’t get good food in a restaurant with a turntable.
Advertisement