Frying food - Dry breadings vs liquid breadings

[Stephen Tashi]

TL;DR Summary

Are dry breadings generally better on some foods than on others?

Most recipes I see on the internet for fried chicken advocate a dry breading. By contrast, most recipes for fried fish use a liquid breading, although they sometimes specify a preliminary coating with flour before the fish is dipped in the liquid breading. Are there reasons for this pattern - other than tradition?

 

[hutchphd]

Now this is an important question. I am still searching for reliable rules of thumb. In my experience the issues can be distilled to two: (1)adhesion and (2) amount of crunch desired.

Chicken and catfish are often done in various dry crumbs but usually after a soak in buttermilk. Calamari just wants wheat flour alone. Then there is tempura which is actually a very simple batter on a variety of stuff. And there are batters which contain egg for the less delicate. And sometimes an egg-wash !

I admit to not getting predictable results. In my experience the most difficult thing to get just right is the perfect onion ring. I intend to pursue this question so long as there is oil to heat...

 

[jim mcnamara]

I think @Stephen Tashi lives at an elevation over 3500 feet. This reduces the reliability of most recipes that rely on steam -- deep frying is one of them. The BP of $H_2O$ is ~95.5°C (204°F). This affects cooking times, temperatures for oil, required starting moisture content, and patience for failure. Baking is a real PITA at high elevation until you get the hang of it. Had at house at 9300 feet.

So I can empathize...

 

[pbuk]

Are there reasons for this pattern - other than tradition?

1. Cooking time. Deep fry a wet fish batter for long enough to cook chicken and it will be rock hard (British readers excuse the pun).
2. Insulation. A wet batter creates an insulating layer as the water turns to steam, protecting the delicate fish inside. Catfish is less delicate than fish that are traditionally fried in batter such as cod.