Fried Chicken

[rlibkind]

I haven't tried it, but others profess you can create a soy "buttermilk". It's the same technique I use to create "buttermilk" from real milk when I don't have any of the former.

Let a cup of soy milk come to room temperature (or heat cold soy milk for no more than a minute in the microwave, so it just barely comes above room temperature). To the barely warmed cup of soy milk, add one tablespoon of plain distilled white vinegar (do not use a flavored vinegar, i.e., cider, balsamic, sherry, wine, etc.). Let sit for 10 minutes and you'll find it thickens (clabbers). Use in any recipe that calls for buttermilk or yogurt.

Sounds reasonable to me, and worth a try. It should provide the necessary tang.

Edited January 24, 2009 by rlibkind (log)

[Dave the Cook]

I would just brine it in a water-based solution.

←

Kosher chicken is already brined... does then not need further attention?

Dan

←

Oops. I forgot that kosher chickens, while not exactly brined, are already well-seasoned from the koshering process.

I'd try Bob's suggestion.

[CKatCook]

What I do with chicken is a little trick I read in Food and Wine this year is to cover the chicken in kosher salt and whatever seasonings I want, let it sit in the fridge overnight, then rise and fry. The chicken is very, very moist and tender. Works great with roasted chicken as well.

[HungryC]

The old southern trick of sprinkling the chicken with vinegar before coating should serve you well. It adds a tang, helps the coating to adhere, and easy to do. Cider vinegar or white vinegar are commonly used.

[Pam R]

I've made some good fried chicken with kosher birds tossing chicken parts in seasoned flour, then dipping in a mix of eggs, a little water and some lemon juice, then back in the flour. If you don't want to do the egg step, I think I'd sprinkle a little acidulated water on it then go into the flour, but I like the crust a little thicker. Add salt to the flour, but no need to brine or salt the bird first (as others have mentioned).

[ChefCrash]

Use a slurry of seasoned flour and water before dredging in plain or seasoned flour like this:

If you want tangy, try using vinegar instead of water?

[johnnyd]

Damn, that's clever Mr. Crash - looks good!

Hey, I saw an interesting related recipe in the NYT last week that used Tahini, with chopped fresh tarragon and sage mixed in, and slightly thinned by olive oil. Dredge in flour first. Looks like it comes out of the pan crunchy after 8min a side using boneless thighs.

[scolobey]

Anybody wanna weigh in on the best method of making fried chicken? I'm used to the brine, buttermilk, flour method. The dusting should be AP with a little Wondra and seasonings I think. This is a pretty standard southern style fried chicken and pretty much outlines the recipe that Keller's AdHoc uses for fried chicken night. I'd like to hear from some proponents of pressure cooker fried chicken. I've heard of trying to recreate the KFC style with a pressure cooker. I'm also wondering if anyone has any experience with precooking the chicken. I saw Jose Andres poach some wings in olive oil once before he fried them. I was also thinking of doing a chicken confit, then frying that.

[patrickamory]

What's always blown me away is the method by Laurie Colwin in Home Cooking. Though I almost set the house on fire once doing it.

[mgaretz]

I've done home pressure frying of chicken, in fact I bought my first pressure cooker with that use in mind specifically. (Note - you can't use a standard pressure cooker - you need to get one that is specifically designed to do pressure frying.)

I have to say that I didn't think it was much better than standard deep-fried chicken, as long as you have a fryer that can get to 375^oF and maintain it when you put in the chicken. I think the batter and seasonings are more important. (I was trying to recreate Broasted chicken, which I had in So. Cal when I was a kid but doesn't seem to be had anywhere in my area.)

[heidih]

We have 19 pages of fried chicken attempts and tips here.

[ChrisTaylor]

Try the Momofuku recipe.

[jrshaul]

Has anyone SV'd chicken and then fried it in extremely hot oil to crisp the batter? Rice bran oil (490F smoke point!) might be amenable to this technique.

[jayt90]

I had one chicken thigh coated in flour , leftover but uncooked.  It came out of the fridge after 12 hours for shallow pan frying, with a thoroughly caked white coating.

10 minutes at 350 F  and it was perfect: crunchy, crispy and intact (skin stays on after taking a bite. )  

 

Did I stumble on this, or is there a history of simple flour dredging left overnight?

 

I'm going to try this with fish next.

[TicTac]

Basically you are letting the batter set and adhere better to the protein.  I am sure you could have achieved this in a lesser amount of time as well (a few hours in the fridge, per say - though I am sure someone more scientifically inclined than I has done some tests on the minimal amount of time to achieve said adhesion/result).

 

 

[jayt90]

Yes, I have a feeling that a few hours would also work. Keep in mind this is just seasoned flour on the chicken skin, not a batter. There is definitely a reaction on the skin, making it stiff and leathery.

[ElsieD]

1 hour ago, jayt90 said:

I had one chicken thigh coated in flour , leftover but uncooked.  It came out of the fridge after 12 hours for shallow pan frying, with a thoroughly caked white coating.

10 minutes at 350 F  and it was perfect: crunchy, crispy and intact (skin stays on after taking a bite. )  

 

Did I stumble on this, or is there a history of simple flour dredging left overnight?

 

I'm going to try this with fish next.

 

Interesting.  It only took 10 minutes @350 to straight out of the fridge?

[jayt90]

2 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

Interesting.  It only took 10 minutes @350 to straight out of the fridge?

It was on the counter for an hour.  10 minutes is approximate; I pulled it when the internal temperature was 165 F at the bone.

[Kerry Beal]

1 hour ago, jayt90 said:

I had one chicken thigh coated in flour , leftover but uncooked.  It came out of the fridge after 12 hours for shallow pan frying, with a thoroughly caked white coating.

10 minutes at 350 F  and it was perfect: crunchy, crispy and intact (skin stays on after taking a bite. )  

 

Did I stumble on this, or is there a history of simple flour dredging left overnight?

 

I'm going to try this with fish next.

When dredging in flour, egg wash, then crumbs I was taught to leave it in the fridge for some number of hours to aid with adhesion. 

[jayt90]

3 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

When dredging in flour, egg wash, then crumbs I was taught to leave it in the fridge for some number of hours to aid with adhesion. 

Thanks, I'll try that.  Good breading is hard to achieve, for me, yet Cap'n Highliner has been doing it for years, probably with additives.

I used plain flour for my chicken coating, because I was following any number of southern U.S. cooks on youTube, with authentic results.  

[curls]

To add to the topic, a video about fried chicken from Pecking House in Brooklyn.

 

https://youtu.be/TzrMkN1kru0

 

[eugenep]

On 1/26/2009 at 2:17 AM, ChefCrash said:

Use a slurry of seasoned flour and water before dredging in plain or seasoned flour like this:

If you want tangy, try using vinegar instead of water?

wow. this slurry method works. I just tried it out a few hours ago. 

 

I like this method better than the buttermilk just bc I don't have to go out an buy a carton of buttermilk - use some and have no idea what to do with all the extra milk. 

[gfweb]

6 minutes ago, eugenep said:

wow. this slurry method works. I just tried it out a few hours ago. 

 

I like this method better than the buttermilk just bc I don't have to go out an buy a carton of buttermilk - use some and have no idea what to do with all the extra milk. 

 

I keep powdered buttermilk around, but I am completely unconvinced that it is really needed.

[eugenep]

30 minutes ago, gfweb said:

 

I keep powdered buttermilk around, but I am completely unconvinced that it is really needed.

Does that powered buttermilk still contain the yeast stuff that could make creme fraiche (i.e., by adding a tiny bit of buttermilk to heavy cream and letting it ferment, it will turn to creme fraiche but the yeast living bacteria stuff needs to come from the buttermilk). 

 

I saw this before but wasn't sure if it works for fried chicken and creme fraiche? 

 

[gfweb]

4 minutes ago, eugenep said:

Does that powered buttermilk still contain the yeast stuff that could make creme fraiche (i.e., by adding a tiny bit of buttermilk to heavy cream and letting it ferment, it will turn to creme fraiche but the yeast living bacteria stuff needs to come from the buttermilk). 

 

I saw this before but wasn't sure if it works for fried chicken and creme fraiche? 

 

 

 

Excellent question. I don't know.