Why Andrew Zimmern Never Buys Seasoned Bread Crumbs

If you know Andrew Zimmern from the Travel Channel show Bizarre Foods, you might be guessing his aversion to seasoned bread crumbs has something to do with some lingering trauma from a past gross-out experience. After all, the man has eaten coconut tree grubs, rotten tomato ketchup, and even staked rat before (gag!). But, it turns out his reason for not purchasing seasoned bread crumbs is, thankfully, much more innocuous.

In the YouTube series Andrew Zimmern Cooks, we get to see the prolific TV personality doing just that. The show gives us a glimpse of his culinary skills in action, and in the Butter Fried Chicken episode, we find out why he doesn't like to use seasoned bread crumbs. "I don't buy seasoned ones because I like to do seasonings on my own," he explains. For this segment, he uses basil and oregano to flavor the bread crumbs, but there is no reason to let your experimenting stop there.

Zimmern says that he started keeping bread crumbs around the house to use on salads, vegetables, scrambled eggs, and pasta after spending time in Sicily. He even provides a recipe just for seasoned bread crumbs, Lemon, Garlic & Herb Bread Crumbs to be precise (via Andrew Zimmern's website). In addition to lemon and garlic, he uses chile flakes, parsley, basil, olive oil, salt, and pepper to flavor day-old Italian bread. 

The options don't stop there. The Salty Pot has a flavorful recipe for seasoned bread crumbs for those who want to skip the store-bought panko — although, we do love those convenient canisters! Their recipe uses ingredients like rosemary or Italian seasoning, hickory smoke powder, and chicken bouillon powder to add some spice. Of course, you might get inspired by what you see in your own cabinets, so don't be afraid to bring all of your "crumby" (see what we did there?) ideas to the table!