The Best—and Easiest—Way to Bread Chicken Cutlets

We've all been there. That unfortunate situation in which you find yourself with five fingers and much of your palm covered in a mixture of raw eggs, flour, and bread crumbs. The good news? Creating an organized system will help you avoid the icky mess that occurs when breading chicken. Just follow these easy instructions, and remember: practice makes perfect.

Breading Chicken Cutlets

1. Instill order.
   Arrange ingredients from left to right in this order: the chicken cutlets you want to bread, flour, beaten eggs, and bread crumbs.
2. Flour with one hand.
   Using your left hand—this one will stay dry—turn the chicken cutlets in the flour to coat both sides, then drop it into the bowl with eggs.
3. Bread with the other.
   Using your right hand—this will be the wet one—lift the chicken from the egg, shake off the excess, then drop it into the bread crumbs. Using your dry left hand again, turn the chicken in the bread crumbs to coat both sides and tap off the excess. Place on a clean plate, then repeat steps 1-3 to coat the rest of the cutlets.
4. Pull back one palm, if needed.
   If you can't keep track of which hand is which, you can always put one hand behind your back. That way, one hand will get messy, but the other will always stay clean. (When your phone rings or you need to pour yourself another glass of wine, you'll be endlessly grateful for those uncoated fingers.)