Battering, also known in English as coating, consists in making a coat to cover food so that when we fry it, does not lose its juices. To make the cover flour is used, and after frying the food, it creates a crunchy coat. It can be done it in different ways: using only flour, with a mixture of flour and egg, or with flour and beer (orly pasta).

If only flour was used, food should be covered with it, shaken to remove the excess of flour, and fried.

When using the mixture, food can be firstly covered with the flour and then bathed it the beaten eggs. Beaten eggs can also be mixed with the flour and bathe the food in the mixture.

To make orly batter, flour must be put in a bowl, adding beer slowly to allow its blending, stir the mix to leave it smoothand without lumps, and put it in the fridge for an hour (covered with transparent plastic wrap). Then, food must be covered thoroughly using the batter and fried  with a very hot oil to get a crunchy coat.

Orly batter was used in the 80s/90s to cook a very famous French recipe, Gabardine crevettes (Gabardine prawns or prawns in a raincoat) (for more information go to further references).

Another famous battering technique is the Japanese tempura, which even though seen as exotic, was indeed introduced by Iberian missionaries.

The battering made with flour and egg is a technique widely used to fry fish.

Breading is similar to battering, but in this case, bread is also used. Therefore, the same process must be done, first covering food with flour, then bathe it in the eggs, and finally cover it with breadcrumbs. To obtain a crunchier coat, double breading repeating the process but skipping the flour is a viable option. Both in battering and breading, food must be salted (with moderation) before starting the process.

Frying consists in plunging food in oil or fat to cook it. When frying, a crust is made in the outside of food and the inside stays juicy. Additionally, almost any type of food can be fried. The amount of oil will depend on what we are going to cook. A potato omelette for example, will only need a layer of oil, but to fry fish, enough oil to cover it must be added. Healthier and tastier dishes can be cooked if olive oil is used, due to the oil keeping its properties at higher temperatures (for more information about its benefits go to Module 1, Unit 3).

Both when battering or breading, food must be fried with the oil hot enough, but not too much to prevent burning food.  Ideally, food should be fried at a temperature of between 170° or 180°.