Fried Chicken Quest: Day 2

A little late on the update, but here it is anyway.  I'll save you the suspense and just flat-out tell you that it was pretty good - not perfect.  One thing to mention - brining was definitely worth it.  Also, not as big as a pain in the ass as I expected.  I used a big pasta pot to make the brine, let it cool and tossed all the chicken in the pot and shoved the whole thing in the fridge.  Easy.  One little thing, Thomas Keller's brine recipe calls for 12ish cloves of garlic, which I obliged but in hindsight it was too much.  Fried chicken is supposed to be simple, the garlic and herbs tasted...unnecessary.  If that makes sense.

Coated chicken resting - you're supposed to let it get pasty to get a good crust.  In theory.

Anyway, so the big problem I had last time - bland chicken - solved.  Of course, this time the breading was really tough, which is strange, because I used the exact same recipe and technique from the last batch, and that batch was better.  After the chicken rested (we took it to Rena and Ben's for dinner) the breading softened, which solved the toughness but of course, there goes lost the crisp coating.  Sigh.

Bubbly.

I was more than a bit tempted to give up (disposing of all that oil sucks) and leave the chicken frying to the kindly folks at KFC, but I think I'll give it another shot.  Maybe fry it at a higher temperature and then finish it off in the oven.  Suggestions?

For all my bitching it was pretty good. 

Hope you all had a Happy 4th! 

Fried Chicken Quest

I just finished a book, "Cloud Chamber" by Michael Dorris.  It was awesome, for the record. There is a great chapter near the end where the characters essentially take over a KFC in Montana and make homemade fried chicken for the unsuspecting, and extremely lucky masses.  When my friends Rena and Ben asked if Mike and I wanted to do a bike tour/picnic on the 4th of July, I was all over making the fried chicken.

I'm not huge on frying food, but this isn't the first time I've made fried chicken, nor the second.  That was a little over a month ago.  It turned out ok, but I thought the chicken itself was bland.  Then I remembered a recipe I read a long time ago for "Thomas Keller's BEST Fried Chicken", recalling thinking "well, no shit it's awesome" when I read the recipe: first he first brines the chicken, then soaks it in buttermilk.  Each step gets a good 8-12 hours.  Geez. The rest is pretty much the standard flour/paprika/s&p dredging.  I thought that was pretty intensive, but considering the previous batch results, I've reconsidered.  So, here's my attempt at TK's Giant Pain In The Ass Fried Chicken: Day 1.

Check out this brine:

Rosemary, thyme, garlic, peppercorns, sugar, salt, and bay leaves from Carol's trees in CA - almost out of those.  Think it's time for another trip west.

The Body of Christ Compels You (to eat a sandwich)*

Have you guys seen these yet?  The first time I saw them in Safeway I laughed my ass off - thought the Catholic Church finally caved and decided to sell the Eucharist to pay some lawyers- not those puny ones you could easily get for free on Sunday, either.  The BIG one, the one Father Whoever specifically blesses and gives a shard to those other Upstanding Citizens who do the readings and distribute communion and such.

I went with Original & Favorite, obviously.

My instinct was to laugh and walk away (which I did multiple times), but then Mike and I went camping with my friends Wes and Andrea.  They are healthy eaters - packed Mahi Mahi and salads for a camping dinner that shamed my hastily packed hot dogs and potato chips (I'm new to camping - next time I'll get more creative).  Boring story short - they had some in their camping cooler and told me they were good and I felt ashamed at my recent lack of healthful-eating.  So, next trip to the store I picked a package up and made a tasty sandwich.

Blessed Diet Sandwich Bread

Looks promising...

Verdict?  Eh.  If you're watching your carbs (ha your diet is so 2001) and have a bold sandwich going, knock yerself out, you'll be satisfied.  I made mine with tuna fish (light on the mayo, please) and it was pretty good. Personally, I would compare this Eucho-bread to a blank canvas - it's not getting in the way of flavor, but it's not adding a thing either.  The texture isn't terrible, but it's not great - at least it didn't stick to the roof of my mouth like glue. 

Still snarfed it down!

For the record, I actually purchased, made, and photographed this sandwich at least a month ago, but out of the six wafers, five are still in the fridge.  Let me know if you want them. 

* Apologies to those who are shocked by aforewritten blasphemy or near-blasphemy.