Yes! You too can learn how to screw up Thomas Keller's Fried Chicken in 3 Easy Steps!!!

M

marilynfl

Moderator
Remember a while back when I asked ya'll how to keep fried chicken from sticking? And you provided excellent advice which I thought I was following. Well, it turns out that I can STILL screw up a food prep that has been around for centuries. A process used by people without the advantages of electronic technology. By people who can make fried chicken outside in a black kettle. On a fire. Fueled by logs.

We caught an episode of Unique Eats where they showed fried chicken being prepared at Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc restaurant. Oh, they made it look sooooo easy, she says now with a bitter laugh.

Once again I was lured down the slippery, oily path of savory crunchiness that is the Promised Land of Fried Chicken.

I checked out Keller's Ad Hoc At Home from the library and prepared to reach thyme-infused Nirvana.

This is no easy-peasy recipe. You don't rush home from work after picking up a chicken and a jug of buttermilk and end up eating it that day. Oh no....

First, you must find the right SIZE chicken. Not too big now because THAT would throw everything off. Since I do not have artisanal chicken farms nearby, I ended up with plain old chicken breasts from Publix.

Next you dissect said chicken into Keller-approved sections: 10 or 12 pieces, your choice. Since I only had breasts, that decision was simple: I cut them in half. (Ha! Who would have thought a simple step like this would come back to haunt me later.)

Then, if you weren't smart and didn't read first the reviews that said the brine was too herby, you will spend $9 on fresh herbs for the brine.

Then you will read the fine print that says "brine for 12 hours."

Crap.

I was hoping for a quickie brine since Larry was always happy with those. So you find something else for dinner and continue the process the next day.

Next day, you pull the chicken out of the refrigerator, blot it dry and use the 3-step coating process (dry/wet/dry). Then you will use your electric wok with the temperature gauge and heat to 340 degrees (for breasts ONLY. Dark meat should be cooked at 320). When the temperature light indicator goes out, you will gently lower the triple-coated breast half into the 340 degree peanut oil and you will watch it slowly sink to the bottom and begin to absorb oil like a sponge.

Wait! Where is the sizzle?? Where is the bubbling hot goodness that is the preview of coming events?? And even though we have a temperature gauge RIGHT IN FRONT OF US, we clip on a candy thermometer. And when IT doesn't get any higher than 220 degrees, we hold our instant-read digital thermometer in the supposedly hot oil and watch as it only reaches 224 degrees.

Then we swear. Quite loudly.

Then we carefully transfer the hot oil (because even though it ISN'T 340 degrees, 220 is still hot) and we put it in a tall, skinny pot. Then we clip on not one but TWO candy thermometers because we are nothing if not anal retentive.

Then we watch as the oil stalls at 280 degrees.

So we transfer the pot to a larger burner because we realize that the small burner is only heating the very center of the pot. And finally, praise the Lord, the oil reaches the Keller-proscribed 340F degrees. And we plunk in our triple-dipped chicken breast and we fry for EXACTLY SEVEN MINUTES because Tommy says so. And it doesn't STICK. And then we wait for EXACTLY 10 minutes for it to cool before slicing open.

And the entire middle is raw.

And why would that be, class???

Because we didn't read Obiwon Keller's instruction to remove the brined chicken from the refrigerator 1.5 hours BEFORE frying. Ergo, the internal chicken bits are too cold to finish cooking in EXACTLY SEVEN MINUTES. Plus, it's too thick, not having ended its culinary life as a perfect 2.5 lb chicken.

By now, we have been brining/flouring/dipping/flouring/frying/refrying/and refrying yet again for TWO BLOODY DAYS!

See, this is how Vegetarians are born.

And the final outcome? The crust, while crunchy, was too dark, but the inside--when not raw--was moist and flavorful, so the brining step was a good idea.

The kitchen looked like a dirty bomb went off and I have made Larry promise to take me TO A RESTAURANT the next time we want fried chicken.

Oh, and I'm tossing my electric wok.

PS: Follow these Three Easy Steps to avoid Marilyn's Fate (also known as dropping the MF! bomb):

1. Confirm the OIL TEMPERATURE

2. Confirm the Chicken TEMPERATURE pre-frying

3. Confirm the Chicken TEMPERATURE post-frying

3a. Screw all this and go to Chick-Fil-A

http://www.amazon.com/Ad-Hoc-Home-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579653774/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1296135029&sr=1-1

 
Oh Marilyn, thanks for the humor, but I'm sorry about the chicken. I have that book and noticed

most of the chicken recipes call for a size bird that's not easy to find. Chickens and the breasts have gotten so humongous. Remember the older recipes that call for a 5-6 oz skinless breast? Ha!

 
You're such a smart cookie you realized your problem right off the bat.

You're tossing the electric wok! Buy a good wok, I have carbon steel and I have been using it for 30 something years. It has been around the world with me. I use it for stir fry, deep fry, steaming (bamboo steamer on top) and it has never failed me. I never wash it and always make sure it has a very fine coating of oil on it. If I could only have 1 cooking vessel in my kitchen, it would be my wok. Don't get between me and my wok! LOL

 
Marilyn, sympathies to you, the chicken, and your husband. I've always wanted to try TK's

garlic chips, but could never get past two things. 1. The paper thin slices of garlic... I know that mine will end up all cattywumpus and NOT Keller-like at all. And 2. The multiple soakings in milk. Sounds like too much work for an itty bitty paper-thin slice of fried garlic.

I've always secretly hoped that someone else close to me would try them and I could just snitch a couple.

 
Thomas Keller's Fried Chicken (from Food and Wine)

This version is missing a few coating ingredients that are in the book. To match the book, add:

2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt (I left this out completely)

The book uses peanut oil.

The book brine starts with 2 gallons water/2 Cups salt plus lots of fresh herbs. I reduced the 1:1 salt ratio to 1:2/3 ratio to brine 4 breasts:

8 cups of water (1/2 gallon), 1 zested lemon cut into quarters, 1/3 C Kosher salt (reduced from 1/2 C), 4 bay leaves, 12 sprigs of thyme, TBL of dried parsley, a bunch of black peppercorns, about 4 cloves garlic (split) and a healthy squish of honey (maybe 2 TBL).

Note there is no 1.5 hour waiting period to bring the pieces to room temperature. No, they take the easy way out and fry for TWENTY MINUTES!!!! Oh, Thomas, how could you play me like this.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/lemon-brined-fried-chicken

 
We were talking about fried chicken at lunch only yesterday

I remember how my Mom would have three cast iron skillets on the stove-top on Sunday morning after we got home from church. She effortlessly fried chicken in all three, made gravy and mashed potatoes before we had changed to our play clothes. The chicken was perfectly cooked, crispy and not too hot when we sat down to eat. the bones would pile up on our plates and my Dad and I would share the gizzards (Mom NEVER fried the liver). I can't fry chicken worth a darn - it is either overcooked or not battered enough. So I don't even try.

Now, Keller's perfect roast chicken is another story!!

 
Thank you, thank you Marilyn! I laughed and laughed and I REALLY needed that after yesterday...

I am sure if you watched the weather you saw that the DC area got dumped on with a heavy wet snow at 3:30 yesterday afternoon, just as I left work. My easy 7 mile drive took 3 hours and my nerves are completely shot today. DH drove me to work then got on the metro to his office. I have to drive me home....I am dreading it big time smileys/frown.gif So, a million thanks for the laugh, my raw nerves needed it smileys/smile.gif

 
I too have been wanting to try this, and have a few notes from one of the cooks at Ad Hoc

They say to make the brine up in the morning, and let it cool, by the end of the shift it's cool enought to add the chicken. Then in the morning you remove the chicken and let it dry on racks on trays until its dry, (usually the same time it needs to come to room temp).

They say the chicken is removed from the oil before it's completely done, and as it rests it finishes cooking (and stays warm because its holy-hell hot in the kitchen) - this is how it is so juicy but if you eat a piece right away it won't be done.

Isn't that interesting?

Also, I found a picture of my great grandparents and all the siblings in that generation, in the backyard in Southern California after the war, eating mounds of fried chicken and potato salad AND mashed potatoes. Now I know it's a genetic thing...

But I still haven't tried making this chicken myself. I figure I will use his brine and coating and cook it a bit longer because I will be using a standard-ish sized bird.

 
I made this awhile back...

it's going to show up on my blog sometime this summer.

I used chicken pieces (I think I used breasts and thighs) and same experience with the chicken (raw) and just put it back in:)

I must say that it was some mighty awesome chicken though. Not that I'll make it again. But I was awfully proud of it!

 
So I went out tonight looking for fried chicken. The local place that does chicken and waffles

was so empty it scared me away. I read Popeye's won over KFC in a taste test and so I found it, and it was godawful. I needed wine and chocolate to recover.

 
Lolo's Chicken and Waffles gets good reviews and lots of business here. Lolo is ...

...the grandson of "Mrs. White", a local icon who has owned "Mrs. White's Golden Rule Cafe" for many decades near downtown.

Wonderful soul food at "Mrs. White's...". You tell the waiter what you want (they usually offer one or two items per day only), and when you're done eating you tell the cashier what you had. It's the honor system.

Very special.

Michael

 
Oh, this is just too good!

I apologize for laughing, but I've made this kind of boo-boo soooo many times (I mean, NOT reading a recipe carefully enough and ending up with a complete disaster in the process)

Good to know I'm not alone... smileys/smile.gif

 
Marilyn, I sincerely hope this is going in your book with the gingerbread house stories smileys/smile.gif

 
Hey, wait a second. I don't want a one time book...I want a blog so I can

wake every morning and go "see" what Mar has done now! ;0)

 
Funny account (what else would I expect from you?) but sorry about your misfortune. How about

keeping your electric wok for stir frys and digging up or buying a pressure cooker?

"The" Colonel Sanders amassed a fortune with his pressure cooker technique. Read "The Secret Recipe" at link. See also Pressure Cooker at Image link.

P.S. For years, I liked to say "Original Greasy" when ordering... You'd have to see the look on their faces - LOL

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_Sanders%27_Kentucky_Fried_Chicken

http://www.kfc.com/about/pressure.asp

 
Perhaps not so good in your neck of the woods, but Oh do I LOVE Popeye's chicken with Cajun rice!

It's all Marilyn's fault putting fried chicken on our brains alright!!

 
My wife's best friend since childhood knows where every Popeye's Chicken restaurant...

...is in her city, and craves it when she can't get it. Somehow this freak of nature keeps her perfect figure. That oughta be illegal...

I've had it a couple of times, but since we only have one or two (I think) in the whole city of Phoenix (3 million people), I don't get the opportunity very often.

I liked it way better than KFC, that's for sure. Better spices. My son loves it.

Michael

 
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