Most large grocery stores are carrying panko now. I don't know that there is a way to make them at home. A few years ago I read that they are spun in large drums....not sure.

I would use regular bread crumbs, they have more flavor and that is how noodle puddings have usually been made.

Well, the first problem is the "large grocery store".

I'm trying to get some things lined up for the next storm - maybe overnight tonight.

The recipes I'm finding on line are totally different from one another and since I don't know what they should be, I'm stumped. One gave several herbs to season the breadcrumbs and then proceeded to give directions using crackers! I know I don't want crackers! All the rest after that just said bread crumbs or cracker crumbs and told how to make them. Well, duh! I don't need a cookbook to make bread crumbs so those recipes were no help.

What are panko crumbs supposed to be? Plain? Herbed? what?

I am pretty sure the ones we bought were quite plain, so I'm confused by the recipes for planko with seasonings. They are kind of light and flakey so they end up crispier. But regular breadcrumbs should work instead.

Panko is the new "it" breadcrumb because it's already crispy. Somebody finally noticed that breadcrumb toppings in the oven often don't really crisp up the way they're supposed to, because there's often moisture coming up from below in a casserole, and anyway they're usually not really in the oven long enough to toast well. So panko became the go-to breadcrumbs for the kewl kids.

Just use regular breadcrumbs and rather than simply mixing them with melted butter, sautee and brown them a little first. I think that's what Cooks Illustrated recommends. Either that, or they tell you to brown each crumb separately with a tweezers and a blowtorch, I forget which.

Great! If I'm home tomorrow, playing in the kitchen, I'll do each crumb separately with a tweezers and a blowtorch. So there! Making the crispy crumbs might be the easy part. Would you start with dry bread or how?

I found this explanation and recipe to make Panko crumbs.

I would start with dry/day-old bread. White or sourdough. And make them unseasoned for this recipe.

I think your target recipe looks yummmy. I make a similar recipe but it is a sweet version and is topped with cornflakes. It's nice to see a savory version.

Pepper

Here is a link that might be useful: Panko Recipe and Explanation

I don't know. The very name "noodle pudding" frightens me.

I thought you were starting with regular dried breadcrumbs in lieu of panko. So going that route, I'd guess you'd start with dried bread. Although lots of recipes these days prefer fresh bread crumbs, and Martha Stewart uses tediously hand-torn shreds of bread on top of her heart-stopping macaroni and cheese. Of course she does.

I forgot to add, don't overcook your noodles. If the regular cooking time is 8 minutes, I'd cook for five or six. An hour is a long baking time.

Also, I'd use small curd cottage cheese, whole milk, not the low-fat version.

If the mixture seems a little tight after being combined, you might want to add a little whole milk, like a quarter cup at a time as baking for one hour uncovered is going to dry out the pudding a bit.

If the Panko crumbs are getting too browned, you can lay a piece of foil very loosely over the top, shiny side up (dull side toward the food) to help slow down the browning.

Pepper

Marcolo, it's a kugel.

Pinch, you can get panko from Amazon. You can make it, but it's not worth it. Dry any large, white breadcrumbs to crunchy and you have a good enough version.

Did you ever make the baklava? How did it come out?

txpepper- I read that recipe several times not believing to bake them for an hour.

plllog - Yes. I made three different recipes. I liked the one from my neighbor's kid the best. I still have some in the freezer come to think of it. I can't see myself ordering breadcrumbs and paying shipping on them. I might check out the croutons next trip to the store unless I am stranded here first with just a loaf of bread for company. Wondering how a loaf of store bought bread would go through any shredding appliance I own. I have visions of picking the wadded up bread out of everywhere! I know I don't have a loaf here now but I might slice up a baked loaf and let it dry, then do the breaking up part. I don't want crumbs?

All this for bread crumbs! I think just throw everything together, bake it and hope for the best. It's not like there's no one here who will eat it no matter how it turns out!

LEt us know how this recipe turns out! I too make it with cornflakes instead of regular breadcrumbs (or in this case panko) so am curious to hear how it turns out! Please don't do any experimenting with blow torches and tweezers tho'.

Anyone else have a corner in back of a cab dedicated to knots of old dried bread and abandoned ends of cracker boxes that are stored "just in case" ? That's where I would head if I needed old dry breadstuff.

In my world, I usually match up the available ingredients to the cookbook, not the other way 'round. This morning's creation: sour milk muffins with leftover Christmas citron. Not too bad, actually. And a drizzle on top from the last of a jar of honey I found in my unpacking.

Have fun, intrepid Pinch Me! I raise my coffee cup to you!

I buy panko bread crumbs at Walmart. They don't come in a cardboard "can" like regular bread crumbs. They are in a foil bag which is inside a box. They are awesome for crunchy fried chicken or for crunchy topping of any kind. I'm a Sandra Lee kind of cook - if I can buy it already made, that's the way I roll. and Rachel Ray would do that too.

never heard of noodle pudding but that sounds like something my husband would love! I'll have to look that up. Doubt that its on my diet tho.

Anyone else have a corner in back of a cab dedicated to knots of old dried bread and abandoned ends of cracker boxes that are stored "just in case" ?

No, they're supposed to be in the storage drawer under the oven, where the pilot light keeps them dry.

My grandmother always took that old bread and made rusks with it--slices baked slowly with cinnamon and sugar (and butter? -- they always tasted buttery) on top. She'd bring them out with apologies on those rare occasions when she didn't have cookies or cake on hand, which we didn't mind a bit.

Her rusks were crisp without being hard, and sugar-glazed without browning. Simplest thing in the world, right? Every time I try, mine are either hard, soggy, powdery, or over-browned. I like to think of myself as a fairly experienced baker, but apparently dried cinnamon toast is beyond me.

O.T. to mnerg: The old Danish bakery in our community was bought out by Mexicans, but they continued the cinnamon sugar rusk tradition for a few years. Then they were a victim of the Downturn. Now, where to get them? Waah!

Trick to crispiness that I learned on the food network last night. Add matzo meal to the breadcrumbs. Comes up crispy and light.

Just tried panko on homemade mac and cheese last night - old Fannie Farmers recipe. Aside from the immediate cholesterol spike, really good. Much more crunch than usual which I like with the soft creamy mac! DH liked too, my two young Philistines prefer a box type concoction...

OH! Don't you just cringe when they like that fluorescent orange boxed stuff?!

Or when my dh told me my clam chowder wasn't as white or chunky as the stuff from the can...

When I made bread that was an 'oops' because of low protein in the wheat, I made a batch of crumbs that has lasted for awhile. But I've forgotten about saving little bits and pieces, like my mom used to. Thanks, Florantha.

Clueless, I had to laugh at your Philistine comment because my boys always liked the box kind best until they were adults. Now they all love the creamy crusty homemade best and laugh about the hard time they used to give me!

Pinch_me, your noodle pudding recipe sounds wonderful. I'm adding it to my list of recipes to try. Thanks and good luck!

OT to florantha: We mourned the loss of Scandia bakery in my old Mpls neighborhood, though they never made rusks, so far as I saw. I'll let you know if I hit upon the right technique or find them somewhere in the Twin Cities.

A Jewish noodle pudding - kugel - doesn't have breadcrumbs. Here is my recipe - it's great. Just don't get a cholesterol blood test for at least a week after eating it :):

NOODLE KUGEL

12 ounces flat egg noodles (I use Mueller's Old Fashioned Wide)
3 eggs
1/4 cup sugar (I use less - I don't like really sweet things)
2/3 cup farmer's cheese (no substitute allowed)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 - 3/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup butter

Beat together eggs, sugar, cheese, cinnamon, nutmeg, sour cream and raisins. Cook noodles per directions until tender. Toss noodles with half the butter. Pour egg mixture over noodles and mix. Put mixture in ceramic casserole (like Corning) which has been sprayed with Pam. Sprinkle with additional cinnamon. Dot with remaining butter. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until light golden brown. Best served straight from the oven but leftovers will reheat well in microwave.

P.S. Every grocery store in the world here has panko.

This all started with the Jan. issue of Country Living and look where we are now!

I won't shop at Wal Mart but maybe I can find them somewhere else. Even W-M is 50 miles from me. Not worth a trip no matter how badly I needed them!

Back in the day......when you Had a pilot light.....I shopped for one this last time. I gave up too easily because I wanted to get cookin' after the remodel and since I hadn't planned on a new range had not done any research. Unless you count the Kenmore slide in induction that I realized would not be a good thing. My power is out too often and I really like cooking on gas.

Groan! Now I have to find matzo meal to add to the breadcrumbs.

Jewish noodle pudding - kugel - Now added to my To Do List Need farmer's cheese and raisins. Makin' a grocery list right now.

Hey guys, it looks like a real noodle pudding, not a kugel, to me. Pinch's recipe calls for onion, garlic, worcestershire, and red pepper flakes. Not my mama's kugel. A 'regular American' noodle pudding. No?

O.T. mnerg:
The Maplewood Bakery has a sort of rusk. So does Ikea. I think Tschida's on Rice street might, but they're going out of business. Roseville Bakery in Lexington Plaza area?

Westsider, the kicker, for me, is the wide egg noodles. That means kugel, to me, at least at its birth. "Regular" would have elbow macaroni. Some kugels do have flavor!

I can buy panko at just avoid every grocery store near me and I don't live in a big city. I use it all the time for lots of different kinds of recipes. My latest fav is in stuffing for baked zucchini.

Pinch--I make home made bread crumbs with store bought bread in my food processor. No big wads. Just whirls around to perfect little gluten gems. Yum!

pinch,
Does your grocery store have an Asian/International aisle? My store has a tiny section and I can always find panko there. It's not always with the other breadcumbs....

Geez, that darn iPad autofill. I meant that I can buy panko at just ABOUT (not avoid) every grocery store.

LOL!!! Breezy, I was looking at that and thinking that I'd been avoiding grocery stores, but that it looked more like an autofill thing than anything Freudian. ;)

Pinch...any progress?

Plllog, yeah, well, it's a hybrid, lol. A rose... Just never had garlic, worcestershire, etc., before. Could be the midwest provinces.

I don't know if there is an Asian asile or not. Never looked! Mexican asiles, of course. Next time I'm at the store I will look. Maybe this weekend. Weather is iffy so I might come straight home from work. Or stop long enough to grab a loaf of white bread. Winter is such a PITA.

So anyway - make one sweet version and one casserole type version. I love anything with pasta in it so making two won't be a problem. and then there's the critters who think they need a plate full, too.

Hey Pinch, did you get my e-mail? E-mail me if you want me to send you the panko crumbs. I know my Hy-Vee has them.

It is going to be so cold here in Iowa tomorrow that maybe you should just stay home and cook. That is what I am planning to do.

Julie

No, haven't seen it. When did you send? I'm goign to stop at Fareway today. (Unless it's blowing so bad I can't see.)

I sent it through GardenWeb. I will send you a regular e-mail.

No blowing here this morning but it is currently -8 degrees.

Julie

Pinch me - does this sum it up?

Here is a link that might be useful: hate winter

Yeah, clueless. Looks familiar.

My sister and I carpool so this morning when the forecast came on the radio we paused to listen. After it was over there was a 3 second pause and I said, "You know what just passed through my mind? 3 below doesn't sound all that bad." And she said, "I was thinking exactly the same thing!"
So we've lived in Iowa too long apparently, when 3 below sounds like something positive.

And since it was "only snowing" and not blowing we stopped at the grocery store where I bought panko crumbs, golden raisins, farmer's cheese, 18# of cat chow, bananas & grapes for the parrots, day old bread for the chickens, sure jel (in case I finally get around to the elderberry jelly) and a bunch of other stuff I probably didn't need . Think I'm set until the feed semi comes on Monday. Yes. I get most of my critter stuff on a semi. Sigh. And I wonder where all my money goes.

Well, if you run out of panko crumbs, cat chow might give you the crunch you're looking for :)

Clueless, thanks for the video. I laughed so much I think I felt warmer.

Pinch, I'm glad you found everything you wanted at your grocery. The weather has warmed up a bit today - it is currently 2 degrees.

I got both of the noodle things made today. Just took them out of the oven. When I make something the first time I try to follow the directions as given. I didn't use little bowls for the Noodle Pudding, I used a regular baking dish. Otherwise everything is pretty much like the recipe said.

Here we have the Noodle Pudding from country Living

And then Robyn's Noodle Kugel. I ended up baking it for an hour because the cheese wasn't melted. I don't think my oven is as hot as it says. I notice I have to bake cookies a few minutes longer than the recipe says.

I have to admit I'm having a bit of a problem wrapping my mind around farmer cheese, cinnamon and raisins mixed with noodles.