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Dredging is a cooking technique used to coat wet or moist foods with a dry ingredient prior to cooking. Put most simply, dredging involves little more than pulling or rolling the wet food through the dry material to provide an even coating. The technique is particularly common with breaded foods, such as fried fish or chicken cutlets.

Advantages of dredging

There are several reasons to dredge food prior to sautéing or frying:

• The flour and other dry ingredients seal in moisture to prevent the food from becoming tough.
• The coating applied to the food acts as a barrier that keeps the food from sticking to the pan as it cooks.
• The coating helps to brown the food and provide a crunchy surface.
• The coating enables the exterior of the food to become crisp and darken evenly without burning.
• The seasoning in the coating adds flavor to the food.

See also

• List of cooking techniques

References

v t e Cooking techniques
List of cooking techniques
Dry	Conduction Dry roasting Hot salt frying Searing Convection Baking Roasting (modern) Smoking Barbecue Radiation Charbroiler Grilling (charbroiling) Roasting (traditional) Rotisserie Toasting
Wet	High heat Blanching Boiling Decoction Parboiling Shocking Reduction Low heat Coddling Creaming Infusion Poaching Simmering Slow cooking Smothering Steeping Stewing Indirect heat Bain-marie (Double boiling) Sous-vide Double steaming Steaming
Fat-based	High heat Basting Blackening Browning Frying Deep frying Pan frying Shallow frying Stir frying Sautéing Low heat Gentle frying Sweating
Mixed medium	Carryover cooking Barbecuing Braising Caramelization Deglazing Flambé Fricassee Indirect grilling/Plank cooking Stir frying (chao)
Device-based	Air frying Microwaving Pressure cooking Pressure frying Slow cooker Thermal cooking
Non-heat	Aging Brining Burying in ground Curing Drying Fermenting Juicing Pickling Purée Salting Souring
See also	List of cooking appliances List of cooking vessels Outdoor cooking Food preparation Food preservation Food safety
Category

• Cooking techniques