Fried Mozzarella Sticks

For this recipe, you will need:

1 pkg 12 ct string cheese

1 1/2 c italian bread crumbs

4 eggs

1 tsp paprika

1/4 c flour

1 tsp thyme leaves

2 tbsp milk

Step 1: Half the Cheese

Cut all the string cheese in half.

Step 2: Mix the Dry Ingredients

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, paprika and thyme leaves.

Step 3: Mix the Wet Ingredients

In another medium bowl, whisk the eggs and milk until combined.

Step 4: Set Up the Assembly Line

Coat the cheese sticks with the flour mixture, then coat with the egg mixture, then coat with the breadcrumbs.

Coat again for round two with the eggs and bread crumbs.

Step 5: Freeze!

Put the coated sticks in the freezer for a couple of hours.

Step 6: Time to Fry

Fry a few cheese sticks at a time to keep from bringing the temperature of the oil down.

Fry each side of the stick for 1 minute, until golden brown on each side.

Step 7: Enjoy With a Side of Marinara.

Eat them right away with a side of marinara.

Comments

[Drake88]

Excellent Instructable! Far too many people these days have zero idea of how to actually cook beyond 'toss it on a pizza pan, place in oven at x temperature for xx minutes'.

My dad took me hunting/ fishing, so I know the process for skinning/descaling my food animals. Mom taught how to cook, until I started 'playing with the recipes' at age 10. I'll admit to being a lazy person and buying far too much prepped frozen foods at the grocery store - but I still know the skills, even if I rarely use them.

P.S. - One secret of game meat(not most fish, though), is to soak the game in a bath of cold water for at least one hour before cooking. It helps to remove the 'gamey' taste that most people do not like - some get used to the taste of it though.

[Befferoni and Cheese]

Thank you for your kindness!

I have never filleted a fish myself, up until last year I had my dad to do it for me or bought them from the fish market already filleted. This needs to be remedied.

[Drake88]

My father's advice was "Be careful and certain of your knife control, and do not worry about making mistakes. You will learn not to make mistakes in your cuts as you learn". That was some ofthe best advice for a 9 year old kid making his first try at filleting a fish.

Buy/use a fish that you are comfortable holding or carrying - this will prevent problems later(heavy or small fish have their own issues when trying to fillet them, save those for after you have learned the skill well).

There videos on youtube and possibly even instructables showing how to correctly fillet a fish. My advice is follow my fathers and to watch the videos at least three or four times before trying to fillet you first fish. Using steel safety gloves may also be a good idea, depending on how confident you are with a knife.

Remember that fillet knives are SUPPOSED to be super sharp(because fish flesh is delicate) and go slow. Speed is a learned skill for this task. When I learned this, I didn't have one of those expensive steel gloves(they cost a bit of change about 40 years ago). I also managed to cut myself on my first try - but that also taught me more respect for a fillet blade.

[abbemine]

Can I do the same with fish? I love the idea of putting the sticks in the refridge.

[Drake88]

This process works with pretty much ANY kind of food, you might want to eat fried - you just have to experiment with the oil temperature and frying time. It's always best to prep this sort of stuff up a few days(up to a month or so) ahead of when you plan to fry them. It helps when the food is completely, totally frozen - this helps to prevent the food from over-cooking or boiling out into the oil, leaving you a fried bread shell behind.

[Befferoni and Cheese]

You can do the same set up as this to coat fish.

I usually just coat my fish in plain flour, then dip in the egg wash, then coat in breadcrumbs that's been seasoned.

I haven't put the fish in the freezer before frying them, instead, I fry them immediately after coating; I then serve with a wedge of lemon to squeeze on the fish before enjoying.

[Tory Weiser]

What kind of oil do you use for frying the cheese sticks, and how deep is the oil you use for frying?

[Befferoni and Cheese]

I just used vegetable oil and it went about halfway up on the cheese stick- so you can flip it half way through cooking. You want to cook them for about two minutes and if it was completely covered in oil, they would cook too fast.

Of course, it depends on the size of your pan, but for this I believe I used about two cups.

[Drake88]

Do NOT try to use peanut oil. It can cause a transfer of peanut taste to the cheese. Avoid meat based cooking oils for the same reason. A mixture of olive and vegetable oil(about 35/65 ratio) works good for pan frying, but you have watch the oil for burning, or the sticks will taste of burnt oil.

If you deep fry these, use a temperature of 350 to 375 degrees for about 3 to 4 minutes. Keep an eye on them as they deep fry, because the cheese can melt into the oil and leave you with an empty shell of fried breading. If you see cheese coming out of the breading remove quickly(you may need to check your temperature, or you have allowed the cheese to thaw before frying).

There is way to bake these using sprayed olive oil on the sticks, but I never really a had much success with the process. If wish to try it, look for 'oven/baked fried fries' on some the online recipes sites - the process is the same. The cheese just doesn't quite have the correct taste, and it throws the overall flavor off.

(I have ten years of food service - all working in the kitchen. I may not be a trained chef, but in ten years you can learn a LOT, if you are willing to. Plus, my good ol' mom taught me how to cook starting at age 7, until I decided I wanted to learn on my own when I was 10. That was when I started cooking meals for the family every now and then - some were successful, some not so good, but I learned from every meal I ever cooked.)

[ThePumaC]

Thanks for this, I am gonna give it a try!!

[krn1978]

I do it little bit differently, but not much differently. Great taste! :) I love it :D

[Befferoni and Cheese]

Ooooh, what do you do, I might want to try it :)

[krn1978]

I use maasdam cheese (I love its taste). I don't use milk and flour, and I add spices (paprika, pepper, sometimes oregano, sometimes marjoram) and salt directly to egg. I put cheese to egg, after it to bread crumbs, after it second time to egg, and second time to bread crumbs. After it I fry it, but Your idea with freezer is interesting. I'm going to try it next time :)

[Befferoni and Cheese]

and I am going to try it your way, thanks for sharing!

[NathanWilliams]

Oh damn that looks delicious!!

[Befferoni and Cheese]

:). Thank you!

[Befferoni and Cheese]

Thanks!

[thefrenchmaker]

In my todo list!

[ThirdEarthDesign]

All of your Instructables just look so delicious! Excellent work :-)

[Befferoni and Cheese]

Thank you so much!