We ask All The Questions around here. Such as, ‘what’s better than crumbed chicken?’ Parmesan-crumbed chicken, duh! And, ‘what's’ better than parmesan-crumbed chicken?’ DOUBLE parmesan-crumbed chicken, of course. That’s right. You don’t just crumb your tenders once in this recipe, you crumb them twice and because we know you’re full of questions too, we hear you saying ‘yeah, but why’? Fair call. Well, by double-crumbing, you build up even more of a cheesy, golden, crispy exterior, and that added thickness protects the lean meat from drying out – the chicken sort-of steams as the coating fries, so it stays wonderfully juicy. (There’s no compulsion to double-crumb BTW; just halve the dry ingredients and cheese and coat the chicken once. No dramas). And c’mon. Double cheese? It’s never wrong.

The secret to successful crumbing is being organised and keeping things nice. Set up your crumbing station on the bench in this order – flour, then the egg mix, then the parmesan crummage. Have each in a bowl or container that’s large/shallow enough to fit a few tenders at a time – you don’t want to be crumbing all day, do you?. The next thing to remember is to strictly use one hand for applying/handling the dry stuff, and the other for the egg. Why? Because if you don’t, you end up schnitzel-ing your fingers and there’s nothing freakier than the feeling of fingers prepped for the deep-fryer. You keep having to wipe them clean which is a hassle but we have to admit, it’s an epic battle of pull-me/push-you co-ordination to remember ‘wet’ ,’dry’, ‘wet’, ‘dry'. We end up with fully crumbed hands.

We’ve tried both pre and freshly grated parmesan here and each gives a slightly different result. We suspect the pre-grated stuff is lightly coated so it doesn’t clump and as a result, it doesn’t really melt when it cooks. Unlike freshly grated, which integrates better with the crumb coating and tastes better in our opinion too. We also know that when time is short you grab what’s easiest, so you do you.

Serves 4

90g (1½ cups) panko

100g (1 cup) finely grated parmesan

50g (⅓ cup) sesame seeds

3 large eggs

plain flour, for dusting

500g chicken tenderloins (about 10)

olive oil, for shallow-frying

Caper mayo

235g (1 cup) mayonnaise

2½ tsp dijon mustard

1 tsp finely grated lemon zest

1 tbsp lemon taste, or to taste

2½ tbsp finely chopped capers, or to taste

Preheat the oven to 100C. 

For the mayo, stir everything together in a bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until you’re ready to serve. 

Combine the panko, parmesan and sesame seeds in a large-ish bowl or shallow dish, then toss to combine well. In another large-ish bowl, whisk the eggs well with 1½ tbsp water. Place enough flour for dusting in a third bowl or shallow dish (about ⅔ cup; you can always add more), season with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, then toss to combine well. 

Line a tray with baking paper. Line an oven tray with several layers of paper towel. Set the bowls in front of you, with the flour on your left and the egg in the middle. Working with a few tenders at a time, dust the chicken lightly in the seasoned flour, shaking off the excess, then dip it in the egg mixture to lightly coat, allowing the excess to drain off. Next, place the chicken in the crumb mixture, turning and pressing firmly to coat it in crumbs. Return the chicken to the egg and coat again, then coat it in the crumbs again, pressing them so they stick. Place the chicken on the baking paper-lined tray, then repeat with the remaining chicken. You can crumb your chicken in advance, then refrigerate it on a lined plate or tray, placing a layer of paper in between layers if you need to layer them. 

Heat about 1cm olive oil in a large, heavy-based frying pan over medium heat. Add as many pieces of chicken as you can fit in the pan in a single layer, then cook for 3-4 minutes or until the underside is golden. Turn, then cook for another 3 minutes or until the chicken is cooked though and golden all over. Transfer to the paper-lined tray and keep warm in the oven while the remaining chicken cooks. (Alternatively, if you have 2 medium-sized frying pans, you can get them both going and cook all the chicken at once. Drain the chicken on several layers of kitchen paper before serving). Serve with the mayo and some green salad, roast potatoes, or whatever you fancy.