How do YOU think this chicken was cooked?

[Kim Shook]

I had some really good, but mysterious fried chicken yesterday.  Here's a picture (though I'm not sure how helpful it will be):

 

The restaurant is a place we eat at often - I'm guessing that they would describe their food as home-style or country.  If the owners were African-American, they would call it a soul food place.  It is extremely good food and well prepared usually.  The spoonbread is among the best I've ever tasted and the tomatoes and cucumbers that accompanied the salads were almost certainly from someone's home garden.  I'm just setting the scene here.  Back to the chicken.  The crust was extremely crunchy and the meat very juicy and tender.  As a matter of fact, they texture of the wing meat was probably the best I've ever had - uncharacteristically tender and flavorful.  But...there was a very slight flavor that stirred a memory for me.  When I was a poor college student and craved fried chicken I would sometimes buy a box of Banquet Fried Chicken.  I could get enough pieces to feed me for 5-6 meals for the price of one fast food chicken dinner.  But upon heating, the frozen chicken had this faint taste.  The same taste I think I tasted in the chicken yesterday.  I am absolutely NOT saying that I think this was frozen fried chicken!  The meat itself did not have the unmistakable texture of cooked and frozen poultry.  Another thing was that I brought home the thigh and the breast and when it had cooled to room temperature, I started picking at the thigh - eating the coating (as I am wont to do).  I pulled at the edges and then at the skin-side of the thigh and the whole side crust came off in one piece - leaving behind the actual skin itself - flabby and inedible.  Turns out that the coating is actually encasing, not clinging to the surface of the chicken pieces.   What method of cooking would cause this?  Mr. Kim asked if sous vide then frying would do this.  Not having done that yet, I don't know ( @Shelby???) but I really can't believe that this restaurant would have a SV set up.  

 

Any ideas?  I'm really curious.  Thanks!

[lindag]

To my eyes, it closely resenbles KFC.

[ElsieD]

Was it broasted?

[Kim Shook]

5 minutes ago, lindag said:

To my eyes, it closely resenbles KFC.

Do you mean that it is cooked in the same way?  IE pressure fried or broasted?  I'm not a big fan of KFC - when I've had it in the past I always found it a little soggy and this wasn't soggy at all.  The opposite, in fact.  But that could just be the way it's handled by the employees.  You'd think, though, that if it were pressure fried they would make a big deal of it.  I would believe that it was pressure fried before I'd believe SV.  

[Kim Shook]

Just now, ElsieD said:

Was it broasted?

We posted at the same time!  See my response.  Maybe???

[AlaMoi]

pan fired or deep fried -

but the key is the double-dipped-dredge for the generous&crispy crust.

do it right regular (pan fried)

dredge the chix in flour to dry; rest for 5-10 minutes

egg wash & dredge in seasoned flour; rest for 20-30 minutes

re-egg wash and dredge in seasoned flour; rest 5-10 minutes

into hot oil.

 

 

[Kim Shook]

2 minutes ago, AlaMoi said:

pan fired or deep fried -

but the key is the double-dipped-dredge for the generous&crispy crust.

do it right regular (pan fried)

dredge the chix in flour to dry; rest for 5-10 minutes

egg wash & dredge in seasoned flour; rest for 20-30 minutes

re-egg wash and dredge in seasoned flour; rest 5-10 minutes

into hot oil.

 

 

So would this method prevent the coating from adhering to the piece of chicken?  Because I like it to really adhere and become part of the outside of the piece.  

[Duvel]

23 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

So would this method prevent the coating from adhering to the piece of chicken?  Because I like it to really adhere and become part of the outside of the piece.  

In my experience the „separation“ part can be achieved by:

 

1) the double dredging technique that @AlaMoi described, if you give sufficient time to rest and form a casing, or

2) precooking the protein and then dredging & resting.

 

The latter might be impractical for a commercial operation, so I‘d assume they do a well executed old school double dredge.

 

 

[Kim Shook]

5 minutes ago, Duvel said:

In my experience the „separation“ part can be achieved by:

 

1) the double dredging technique that @AlaMoi described, if you give sufficient time to rest and form a casing, or

2) precooking the protein and then dredging & resting.

 

The latter might be impractical for a commercial operation, so I‘d assume they do a well executed old school double dredge.

 

 

Interesting.  I wonder if this is what they want to achieve?  To me, as good as the chicken was, it was second best to a coating that clings to the piece of chicken.  

[weinoo]

I think it was Banquet.

 

But more importantly...how about those string beans!!!!!!!!!

[Kim Shook]

1 minute ago, weinoo said:

But more importantly...how about those string beans!!!!!!!!!

They were cooked enough.  They just weren't seasoned enough.  More pork, folks.  

[Shelby]

When you mentioned the slight taste that reminded you of Banquet Chicken I immediately wondered if they brine their chicken (I'm pretty sure that Banquet was brined).  Could be a salt and water mix--we use water and Morton's Tender Quick.  Now, I don't think that has anything what to do with the crust.  I tend to agree with the double dipped method that's already been discussed.

[heidih]

Have you considered that since it was a restaurant it was deep fried perhas? Also that crust reminds me of Willie Mae's Scotch House in New Orleans. They use a very  liquidy wet batter. It you go to about minute 8  on Mark;s video he describes how the crust does not pull off from the skin. And wow is that crunchy craggy  https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3005075206428476

[ElsieD]

2 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

We posted at the same time!  See my response.  Maybe???

 

Maybe.  Broasted chicken is good but not many places sell it here.

[TdeV]

What is broasted chicken?

[Kim Shook]

15 minutes ago, heidih said:

Have you considered that since it was a restaurant it was deep fried perhas? Also that crust reminds me of Willie Mae's Scotch House in New Orleans. They use a very  liquidy wet batter. It you go to about minute 8  on Mark;s video he describes how the crust does not pull off from the skin. And wow is that crunchy craggy  https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3005075206428476

I'm 100% sure that it was deep fried.  I guess I'm not being clear.  I was surprised that the coating encased the chicken itself like a shell that was not quite flush with the piece of chicken.  The flavor of both the coating and the chicken was good, but the skin itself had a flabby texture - as if it had been steamed rather than fried and had to be removed before eating in the larger pieces.  

[Kim Shook]

1 minute ago, TdeV said:

What is broasted chicken?

Pressure fried chicken.  Here's an explanation.

[gfweb]

9 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

Pressure fried chicken.  Here's an explanation.

Isn't KFC pressure fried too?

[rotuts]

KFC : yes, it is.

 

there was a small place near me

 

quite some time ago

 

that did the Broasted .

 

it was far better than KFC

 

thicker coat , that clung on

 

and perfectly cooked and seasoned.

 

and crunchy in the best possible way 

 

that towns Townies 

 

put their noses in the air

 

( Fat ?? Fry-ed ??? ... ) 

 

and that was that 

 

after all 

 

the town was dry .

 

no young , yet amusing Chablis to be had

 

any ware , 

 

except on the township line .

[Kim Shook]

Yep, @rotuts!  KFC is pressure fried.  But I don't care for it.  There's a place in Charlottesville that has broasted chicken that is delicious.  You have to be willing to wait a half an hour for it.  We're totally willing. 

[AlaMoi]

pan fired or deep fried chicken with skin on is very apt to produce a limp skin - simply because the frying drives moisture aka steam out of the meat, and the double dredge will trap a lot of that steam - essentially steaming/boiling the skin.

 

for skin on I prefer a single dredge.

 

the purpose of dredging the chicken in plain flour _before_ the egg wash is to ensure the surface is dry.  an egg wash will not adhere to wet chicken much at all . . . if the egg wash does not adhere, the dredging/coating held by the egg wash will simply slide off the chicken pieces.

[gfweb]

Thomas Keller  and I prefer to remove the skin

[rotuts]

and so does Henry ?