# Better Than Croutons



## Chief Longwind Of The North (Feb 5, 2014)

I don't usually put croutons on my tossed salads.  I was wondering if something similar, but with more flavor would work.  So I used some leftover, uncooked, StoveTop Stuffing mix and tried it.  It worked really well.  I had lots of flavor, with the same crunch, but in smaller pieces so that the full salad flavor still came through.  I thought it was pretty tasty.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## medtran49 (Feb 5, 2014)

I'll stay with my homemade croutons.  That stuff is too hard and tastes like preservatives to me.  I make my homemade ones to my taste and they use up leftover bread that gets thrown in the freezer when it starts to go stale.


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## Zagut (Feb 5, 2014)

I like to use crumbled Triscuits or sometimes Cheez-Its. when I want the crunch and don't have croutons.

 I'll have to give Stovetop a try.


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## 4meandthem (Feb 5, 2014)

I only use homemade croutons. Night and day difference from store bought.


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## salt and pepper (Feb 5, 2014)

4meandthem said:


> I only use homemade croutons. Night and day difference from store bought.


 me too


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## Dawgluver (Feb 5, 2014)

Great idea, Chief!  I like Stovetop any way!


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## CarolPa (Feb 5, 2014)

Stovetop has too much seasoning for me.


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## Dawgluver (Feb 5, 2014)

CarolPa said:


> Stovetop has too much seasoning for me.



Really?  I add some poultry seasoning along with chopped onion and celery.  Guess I like my StoveTop well seasoned!


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## Whiskadoodle (Feb 5, 2014)

I like croutons garnished on soup sometimes instead of crackers.


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## Steve Kroll (Feb 7, 2014)

4meandthem said:


> I only use homemade croutons. Night and day difference from store bought.



Same here.

True story. In 2009, we had an exchange student from Spain stay with us over the summer. We eat a lot of salad variations, especially during the summer months. And that was fine with our live-in, as she seemed to enjoy them quite a bit.

One day Silvia saw me cutting up old bread heels to make croutons. She said, "I very much like the toast pieces you put in your salads. I must tell my mother about this invention." 

I had to laugh and explain that France should probably get most of the credit. But I thought it was a little unusual that someone from that part of Europe wasn't familiar with croutons.


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## GotGarlic (Feb 7, 2014)

The Pyrenees made a huge barrier between Spain and France for most of their histories. Then the communist,  military rule of Franco deterred outside influence. They've only been a democratic country for 40 years.


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## pacanis (Feb 7, 2014)

GotGarlic said:


> The Pyrenees made a huge barrier between Spain and France for most of their histories. Then the communist, military rule of Franco deterred outside influence. They've only been a democratic country for 40 years.


 
I never realized communism had a suck a large affect on croutons.
That's stuff you just don't see on the History Channel


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## GotGarlic (Feb 7, 2014)

pacanis said:


> I never realized communism had a suck a large affect on croutons.
> That's stuff you just don't see on the History Channel



And you'll probably only ever hear it from me


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## taxlady (Feb 7, 2014)

Wait a minute. The penny just dropped. Franco wasn't a communist. He was a fascist. The West tolerated him because he was anti-communist.


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## GotGarlic (Feb 8, 2014)

taxlady said:


> Wait a minute. The penny just dropped. Franco wasn't a communist. He was a fascist. The West tolerated him because he was anti-communist.



You're right. Oops


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## Katie H (Feb 8, 2014)

I can see the appeal to using the stuffing mix as croutons, but I can't eat the stuff because it's way too salty for my taste.


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## Dawgluver (Feb 8, 2014)

Katie H said:


> I can see the appeal to using the stuffing mix as croutons, but I can't eat the stuff because it's way too salty for my taste.



I use the low sodium Stovetop.


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## pacanis (Feb 8, 2014)

I've never used it as croutons, but I've eaten stovetop before. It doesn't taste salty at all to me. It has that "chicken herbage" kind of flavor. I like adding my own sauteed onions and celery to it because it's just right for my tastes.
Just goes to show ya...


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## Kayelle (Feb 8, 2014)

I've never made croutons and I pick out those teeth breakers one gets in a restaurant. I think stove top stuffing would be too salty for me too. 
I do enjoy a sprinkle of sunflower seeds on top of a salad though.

Maybe I'll make some croutons. Are there any tricks besides butter and herbs?


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## pacanis (Feb 8, 2014)

I use olive oil and herbs/seasoning.


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## Kayelle (Feb 8, 2014)

Thanks pac..250 degrees for an hour or so?


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## Katie H (Feb 8, 2014)

Kayelle said:


> I've never made croutons and I pick out those teeth breakers one gets in a restaurant. I think stove top stuffing would be too salty for me too.
> I do enjoy a sprinkle of sunflower seeds on top of a salad though.
> 
> Maybe I'll make some croutons. Are there any tricks besides butter and herbs?



I've developed a pretty easy way to make croutons and the method was borne of trying to figure out how to make dried bread cubes for stuffing.

I begin with a loaf of sliced bread.  Put it in the freezer and freeze it until it's firm.  Take out three slices a a time, put them in a stack and cut them into cubes about twice the size I want in the end.  I keep doing this until all the bread has been cubed.

Once cubed, I divided it evenly among the trays of my dehydrator, then dry completely.  This is the end if all I want is cubes for stuffing.

If I want croutons, I take about 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, add several sliced cloves of garlic, nuke on HIGH for about 25 seconds.  Stir, let sit for a while to allow the garlic to fully season the oil.  Strain out the garlic.

Pour enough of the garlic-flavored olive oil into a skillet to coat, plus a little more.  Toss in a single layer of dried bread cubes, sprinkle with a little garlic salt, then turn and toss over relatively high heat so that the cubes become toasted and soak up the oil.  Slide the croutons onto paper towels to cool and enjoy.


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## Kayelle (Feb 8, 2014)

Thanks Katie. I would not have thought of doing them in a skillet. How should they be stored for future salads?


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## Katie H (Feb 8, 2014)

Kayelle said:


> Thanks Katie. I would not have thought of doing them in a skillet. How should they be stored for future salads?



I've always stored them in a heavy-duty plastic zipper bag.  They don't last very long because they're so tasty.  The plain dried ones, for stuffing, last indefinitely.


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## pacanis (Feb 8, 2014)

Kayelle said:


> Thanks pac..250 degrees for an hour or so?


 
I use stale French bread. I only put them in the oven long enough to toast to a crunchiness. Maybe twenty minutes max. Turn once halfway through.
I let them cool and store them in a ziploc bag at room temp. They seem to keep quite well. A few weeks anyway. They are gone by then. I typically use pepper, garlic powder and It seasoning, along with the EVVO. The old, put everything in a bowl and toss method.


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## pacanis (Feb 8, 2014)

There's some of them right there, underneath all that grilled chicken


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## Sprout (Feb 8, 2014)

One time I wanted croutons but didn't have suitable bread and didn't want to trek all the way to the big grocery store. We have a mediterranean market about 1/2 mile down the road so I popped in. They sell these packages of plain little dry toasts (roughly cracker size). I bought a package, took them home, broken them up and pan-fried them in some leftover bacon grease with a touch of salt. They were delicious! It was like adding croutons and bacon bits in one. I imagine it would work just as well with dried bread from home. 

I struggle with croutons. I like the flavor and crunch (on certain salads) but don't like how difficult they are to get onto my fork! I liked being able to break them into small enough pieces that they just stuck to the salad. No stabbing necessary.


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## Kayelle (Feb 8, 2014)

Whooze yer daddy? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Great idea, Sprout!


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## taxlady (Feb 8, 2014)

I have made croutons in the oven, but I really don't like having to turn over all those little cubes. Now I use the skillet method. I cut up stale bread and don't even bother drying it first. I have used EVOO and seasonings, but I will try with bacon fat. Sounds good.


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## cave76 (Feb 8, 2014)

I had my 2 - 4 year-old daughter convinced that croutons were candy. Until some neighborhood kids whispered in her ear!!

(Insert Evil Laugh icon here!)


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## GotGarlic (Feb 8, 2014)

Sprout said:


> One time I wanted croutons but didn't have suitable bread and didn't want to trek all the way to the big grocery store. We have a mediterranean market about 1/2 mile down the road so I popped in. They sell these packages of plain little dry toasts (roughly cracker size). I bought a package, took them home, broken them up and pan-fried them in some leftover bacon grease with a touch of salt. They were delicious! It was like adding croutons and bacon bits in one. I imagine it would work just as well with dried bread from home.
> 
> I struggle with croutons. I like the flavor and crunch (on certain salads) but don't like how difficult they are to get onto my fork! I liked being able to break them into small enough pieces that they just stuck to the salad. No stabbing necessary.



I feel the same way about croutons - they're usually to hard for me to bite easily and too big to be comfortable, and are hard to pick up. I think I've seen little toasts like that in one of the regular grocery stores but about the size of my thumbnail. I think they're for putting in Chex party mix-type thing. I'm going to look for those and try your idea. Also, they have tri-color Mexican fried tortilla strips that I use for salad croutons sometimes.


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## Whiskadoodle (Feb 8, 2014)

My lack of upper teeth prevents  me from eating croutons right now.  A temporary situation.   I like Pepperidge farm croutons and used to eat them dry as a snack.  I think it was a different brand but the same difference.   Jr likes Stove top so we used to have that a lot when he was growing up.   

 Usually I make my own dry bread cubes for stuffing.


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## joesfolk (Feb 8, 2014)

I occasionally use French fried onions from a can or c h o w mien noodles in place of croutons.  Makes a nice flavor change.


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## Sprout (Feb 8, 2014)

GotGarlic said:


> I think I've seen little toasts like that in one of the regular grocery stores but about the size of my thumbnail. I think they're for putting in Chex party mix-type thing. I'm going to look for those and try your idea.



The ones I bought this particular time were bigger, something like this:






The little ones you're talking about may work well too though. I've never had plain ones, but I know the rye ones can be really crunchy though.


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## taxlady (Feb 8, 2014)

Sprout said:


> The ones I bought this particular time were bigger, something like this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Those are kind of international. It says "Product of France", then the description is in German and they use the word "snacks" in the German description. The pix are like Danish open faced sandwiches.


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## Whiskadoodle (Feb 8, 2014)

Another alternative to croutons I've tried and like is shoe string potato stix.  I think I got this idea from a take out "Asian" chicken salad that had them tossed in the salad.


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## simonbaker (Feb 9, 2014)

I like the idea of the stove top dried cubes in some french onion sou[ topped with cheese & heated. Yumm!  Thanks for the idea Chief!


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## CatPat (Feb 9, 2014)

Chief Longwind Of The North said:


> I don't usually put croutons on my tossed salads.  I was wondering if something similar, but with more flavor would work.  So I used some leftover, uncooked, StoveTop Stuffing mix and tried it.  It worked really well.  I had lots of flavor, with the same crunch, but in smaller pieces so that the full salad flavor still came through.  I thought it was pretty tasty.
> 
> Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North



Oh my! I would never have thought of this. How clever you are! Which flavor of the stuffing did you use? 

I was thinking perhaps the Savory Herbs one, yes? I will try this!

With love,
~Cat


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## CatPat (Feb 9, 2014)

taxlady said:


> Those are kind of international. It says "Product of France", then the description is in German and they use the word "snacks" in the German description. The pix are like Danish open faced sandwiches.



That's quite international, isn't it? Ha!

With love,
~Cat


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Feb 9, 2014)

CatPat said:


> Oh my! I would never have thought of this. How clever you are! Which flavor of the stuffing did you use?
> 
> I was thinking perhaps the Savory Herbs one, yes? I will try this!
> 
> ...



I used what was in the pantry, a partial package of Turkey flavor.  But I think you choice of Savory Herbs would be fabulous.  Great idea.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## Sprout (Feb 11, 2014)

taxlady said:


> Those are kind of international. It says "Product of France", then the description is in German and they use the word "snacks" in the German description. The pix are like Danish open faced sandwiches.




I didn't even notice. I just did a Google image search and picked the one that looked most like what I'd used. Those remind me of our high school French teacher. She was German, so everyone who took french at good ole' Sault High learned French spoken in a German accent.


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## Mad Cook (Mar 2, 2014)

Steve Kroll said:


> Same here.
> 
> True story. In 2009, we had an exchange student from Spain stay with us over the summer. We eat a lot of salad variations, especially during the summer months. And that was fine with our live-in, as she seemed to enjoy them quite a bit.
> 
> ...


In my years in Spain I was often served croutons with gazpacho


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## Mad Cook (Mar 3, 2014)

GotGarlic said:


> The Pyrenees made a huge barrier between Spain and France for most of their histories. Then _the communist, military rule of Franco_ deterred outside influence. They've only been a democratic country for 40 years.


Sorry, GG, but Franco was a violently *anti*-communist fascist and was still throwing communists (and practically anyone else he didn't like) into concentration camps long after the civil war.


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## taxlady (Mar 3, 2014)

Mad Cook said:


> Sorry, GG, but Franco was a violently *anti*-communist fascist and was still throwing communists (and practically anyone else he didn't like) thrown into concentration camps long after the civil war.


We already noted see this post: http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f11/better-than-croutons-88903-2.html#post1342695


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## Mad Cook (Mar 3, 2014)

taxlady said:


> We already noted see this post: http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f11/better-than-croutons-88903-2.html#post1342695



Yes, saw it after posting mine. 

 (Going away to write out one hundred times "I must read all posts before replying")


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## Steve Kroll (Mar 3, 2014)

Mad Cook said:


> In my years in Spain I was often served croutons with gazpacho


This young lady was from Vitoria-Gasteiz, up in Basque country. Maybe croutons just aren't a Basque thing?


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