Breaded sole, glazed carrots





Flour into a shallow dish, beaten egg into another shallow dish. Both seasoned heavily. 

Dredge >> drench >> dredge. 

It's messy. A light dusting of flour provides a surface for a light liquid batter to adhere. The beaten egg or milk or both in a batter clings to the coating of flour and then in turn offers a wet surface for a more dense application of the same flour, or for the same flour adjusted with something. This flour is now fortified with corn meal after the first dredge for added crunch. 

It's like layered adherences. The drench can be a batter added directly to the hot oil, as tempura is done, or it can be used as a base for a second application of dry ingredients which can contain a lot of things like baking powder, Panko breadcrumbs, corn meal, etc., as Southern Fried chicken is done. In the second case, the batter or liquid or egg helps the final dry coating stick on, and you do not just go slopping it around powders and batters and dump it in hot oil. You do it in steps, then you dump it in hot oil. 

Something like this will usually be 350℉ / 175℃.  If the item is frozen then a little bit lower so that the item has time to thaw and cook, something like frozen shrimp would be about 1 minute extra. It is a little known fact that batters, in this case an egg coating that sticks to flour then picks up more flour, actually protects the item being fried. Severe as that hot oil is, the batter forms an air pocket that protects the delicate fish from the most extreme of the hot oil, the batter itself a shield, and then the air that remains and expands between them means the battered item will fry slightly more slowly than the same thing fried without a coating. I've done this same sole frozen and not halved at a lower temperature that added a few extra minutes. 

The carrots are steamed in a pan then brown sugar and butter and wine are added. This time I added a little powdered ginger. I would also consider cinnamon, clove, allspice, nutmeg, mace, and I'd also consider chile flakes of course. 

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