#Failure Tuesday – Southern Fried Double-Coated Chicken
We’ve had great success with Popcorn Chicken recently, and decided to expand our fried chicken repertoire. Sadly, this was not such a success.
I used the recipe from a nearby brewhouse, which sounded amazing. Using boneless chicken thighs, you marinade them in seasoned buttermilk for a few hours first, before dredging in a seasoned flour / polenta mix. Then for the double-coating, you dunk back into the marinade and dredge again in the flour mix. They had a great coating.
Our problem came in terms of cooking them. We use a wok rather than a deep-fat dryer, which meant assessing the oil temperature wasn’t so precise. We cooked the thigh pieces (already cut into three parts each) in three batches. The first batch had the temperature initially too high, and then too low, and took almost sixteen minutes to cook, as opposed to our expected eight to ten. The coating was hard, and they were slightly oily.
The second batch were cooked at a higher temperature, for around twelve to fourteen minutes, and we regularly pulled out pieces to check them for done-ness. These pieces ended up with an ARMOURED coating.
The third batch again had a thick and crusty coating, most of which I left on the side of the plate.
#Disappointing
The coating had a great flavour, in the not-burned parts, and so I might make this again, but give them a spray of oil, and bake them instead.
To go with it, I used some of the pita bread dough from several days ago (still loads left in the fridge), and I made a bowl of coleslaw with fresh shredded cabbage, grated carrot, and finely chopped broccoli. That was the best part of the meal.
New Zealand is under Lockdown for at least four weeks. This blog intends to avoid the bad news about rising numbers of victims. It focuses instead on food, and the challenges of cooking fresh meals every day – with the ingredients from my larder. A much nicer message 😊
Sofia Grey 