Crispy Panko Crusted Spam

I truly believe just about anything can be breaded with panko, those crispy Japanese style breadcrumbs, and transformed into something pretty darned good.

In Japan, pork, chicken and seafood are breaded in panko and fried until golden brown and crisp. In my kitchen, anything is a target. The most unconventional food I’ve breaded and fried so far has been poached eggs. That turned out better than I expected.

When it comes to Spam, I can take it or leave it. I’m not a food snob, I can just think of dozens of other nitrite laced, processed foods I like a great deal more than Spam, but a recent request from a family member for it forced me to think of a way to prepare it that I might actually like. Panko…Spam…bingo!

After I figured out how to get the fluffy breadcrumbs to stick to the slices of Spam, the rest of the process was a snap. Trust me on this; if you’ve always been frightened of Spam but have wanted to give it a try, this is the way to go. And if you are already a Spam fan, you’ll want to panko-bread and fry up two cans of the pink stuff people love to hate.