The perfect fried chicken. The meat needs to be juicy, tender and flavored. The crust must be light and crispy. [Skip to the recipe]
Juicy meat is easy, ideally with skin on chicken thigh meat, cut into 3cm / 1 inch cubes. Although, in a pinch, skinless breast meat can be used. Chicken is juicier when it is well marinated, with an average 1% - 2% salinity level.
This helps the protein retain water without being too salty. By cubing the meat before marinating, we increase the surface area where the brine / marinade can penetrate. It also helps the meat cook more uniformly, so the inside of the chicken is properly cooked before the surface is overcooked.
Overcooked chicken is dry because as the proteins cook, they denature and lose their complex shapes. These strands then bond together tightly as we continue cooking, which squeezes out any water between the strands. causing the meat to become dry and chalky. We protect the surface of the chicken with either a batter, or a coating of yogurt, like in our Indian inspired chicken tenders.
Tenderness can be achieved by a few methods. Salt will help dissolve some of the protein bonds. We can physically manipulate the proteins, either pounding it or turning it to ground meat. This helps by shortening the protein strands. Using a mild alkaline solution (like our baking soda marinade), we can discourage the meat proteins from bonding as they cook, also creating a feeling of tenderness. Another way, is to use our yogurt marinade, which is a mild acid, that helps to slightly denature the proteins, allowing it to absorb more moisture before they further bond together. The calcium in the yogurt (or buttermilk) also helps promote enzyme activity in the protein, who help to naturally tenderize the meat, and to dissolve some of the natural collagen in the meat.
Additional flavor can be helped by using a flavored salty liquid, like fish sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce or miso. I choose here to use a fish sauce that has 1650mg sodium per 15ml, and using a 1.5% salinity equilibrium brine.
One can choose to mix the spice mix into the marinade, but I feel that there's little actual penetration of these flavors into the chicken.
The spice mix should be mixed with the batter. The batter is a mixture of half AP flour and starch powder (ideally use potato or tapioca starch powder, but corn or rice flour can also be used). The lower gluten amount in the starch powder makes the batter feel lighter, while still retaining some strength from the AP flour. The baking soda also helps.
We use a mixture of Sake and Mirin in the batter. If you don't have sake, you can use 50/50 Vodka/water. The alcohol in the sake & mirin evaporates very quickly, contributing to the crispness of the batter, while also leaving behind many complex flavors. Use less brown sugar in your spice mix if you are using mirin.
We use a mixture of Sake and Mirin in the batter. If you don't have sake, you can use 50/50 Vodka/water. The alcohol in the sake & mirin evaporates very quickly, contributing to the crispness of the batter, while also leaving behind many complex flavors. Use less brown sugar in your spice mix if you are using mirin.
We also double fry the popcorn chicken, first at 150°C or 300°F, then at 200°C or 400°F to ensure the batter is extra crisp. This also allows us to prepare the chicken in advance, and leaving the chicken in the fridge / freezer, and just doing a quick deep fry at the higher temperature before serving.
This dish lacks acidity to cut through the richness, which can be helped by drizzling some lemon juice on it before serving. Please leave in comments what your favorite sauces are. I prefer a spicy mayo or aioli, or a blue cheese dip (and a very spicy batter with extra cayanne).
RECIPE
| Ingredients | ||||
| Chicken Thighs or Breasts | 500 | g | Diced 3cm / 1 Inch | |
| Spice Mix (Optional) | ||||
| Paprika | 6 | g | 1 | tablespoon |
| Pepper | 6 | g | 1 | tablespoon |
| Brown Sugar* | 6 | g | 1/2 | tablespoon |
| Garlic Powder | 4 | g | 1 | teaspoon |
| Onion Powder | 4 | g | 1 | teaspoon |
| Cayenne | 0.75 | g | 1/4 | teaspoon |
| Oregano | 0.25 | g | 1/4 | teaspoon |
| Sage | 0.15 | g | 1/4 | teaspoon |
| Allspice | 0.5 | g | 1/4 | teaspoon |
| Dried Basil | 0.15 | g | 1/4 | teaspoon |
| Marjoram | 0.15 | g | 1/4 | teaspoon |
| Cayenne | 0.75 | g | 1/4 | teaspoon |
| Marinade | ||||
| Yogurt or Buttermilk | 100 | g | 6.5 | tablespoon |
| Fish Sauce ~10g salt | 30 | ml | 2 | tablespoon |
| Ginger (minced) | 7.5 | g | 2 | slices |
| Sugar / Honey | 10 | g | 0.8 | tablespoon |
| Batter | ||||
| AP Flour | 40 | g | 1/3 | cup |
| Corn / Potato Starch | 40 | g | 1/3 | cup |
| Baking Powder | 1.5 | g | 1/3 | tea spoon |
| Table Salt | 5 | g | 1 | tea spoon |
| Mirin | 40 | ml | 1/6 | cup |
| Sake | 80 | ml | 1/3 | cup |
PREP / MARINADE
1) Mix the diced chicken and marinade (as well as some of the spice mix)*‡, and place in the fridge overnight.
*I like to use a sandwich bag / ziplock bag for this, and also use the same bag later to mix the wet batter directly with the chicken, so I will add all my spice mix in with the marinade.
If you are using a separate container for your batter, use 1/3 of the spice mix with the marinade.
‡The main flavors in the spice mix are really paprika /pepper and garlic, although the herbs do help add a certain fragrance to the mix. Feel free to experiment with your own spice mix. Zatar, Garam masala, etc.
COOKING
1) Heat your cooking oil to 150°C or 300°F
*2) Mix your batter, adding in 2/3 of your spice mix if you didn't mix it with the marinade.
3) Mix the chicken with the batter.
*I usually spoon out some of the excess marinade from the freezer bag if it's watery, and just dump the batter mix directly into my freezer bag.
4) Fry the battered chicken in your oil for ~5 min (or until the chicken has reached a safe internal temperature of 73°C or 165°F).
If you are shallow frying, flip the chicken once after 3 minutes.
5) Remove the chicken, and let it rest on a cooling rack.
OPTIONALLY Refrigerate / Freeze the chicken to serve at a later time.
The chicken can stay in in the fridge for up to 3 days, and over a month in the freezer.
6) Heat your cooking oil to 200°C or 400°F and fry your chicken for 3-4 minutes, or until golden brown and delicious. When frying from frozen, this may take a little longer.
7) Let it rest a few minutes on a cooling rack and serve with your favorite sauces.
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