The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 1083

buttermilk Not only did the chicken come out just as moist as with water brine, it was actually significantly more tender as well, due to the tenderizing effects of buttermilk on food (soaking it for more than one night led to chicken that was so tender that it bordered on mush) Finally, hitting the buttermilk with spices helped build flavor right into the surface of the bird I played around a bit with the mix before arriving at a blend of cayenne pepper and paprika (for their heat and peppery flavor), garlic powder¶, a bit of dried oregano, and a healthy slug of freshly ground black pepper The Colonel may use eleven secret herbs and spices in his chicken recipe, but five was quite enough for me (and both my wife and my doorman heartily concurred) Crust Lust Next up: add some extra crunch to that crust I reasoned that there were a few ways to this First off, I wanted to increase the crust’s thickness I tried double-dipping my chicken—that is, dredging the brined chicken in flour (seasoned with the same spice blend as my brine), dipping it back into the buttermilk, and then dredging it once more in flour before frying, a method chef Thomas Keller uses for his justifiably famous fried chicken at Ad Hoc This worked marginally better—that second coat definitely developed more crags than the first coat did But it also made for an extremely thick breading that had a tendency to fall off the breast because of its heft.* * A double coating of flour creates a thick crust that falls off the chicken Much better was to simply add a bit of extra structure to the breading in the form of an egg mixed into the buttermilk My crust was certainly thick enough now, but I ran into another problem: rather than crisp and crunchy, it was bordering on tough, almost rock-like in its density Knowing that gluten—the network of proteins formed when flour meets water—was the most likely culprit, I sought out ways to minimize its formation First and foremost: cut the protein-rich wheat flour with cornstarch, a pure starch that adds moisture-absorbing capabilities to the breading without adding excess protein Replacing a quarter of the flour worked well Adding a couple teaspoons of baking powder to the mix helped bring a bit of air to the mix, forming a ... the chicken Much better was to simply add a bit of extra structure to the breading in the form of an egg mixed into the buttermilk My crust was certainly thick enough now, but I ran into another... another problem: rather than crisp and crunchy, it was bordering on tough, almost rock-like in its density Knowing that gluten? ?the network of proteins formed when flour meets water—was the most likely culprit, I sought out ways... foremost: cut the protein-rich wheat flour with cornstarch, a pure starch that adds moisture-absorbing capabilities to the breading without adding excess protein Replacing a quarter of the flour