Marinade or deep fry, there's not one best recipe. But when done right, nothing beats the taste of deep fried chicken.
When Mary Randolph published the first American cookbook in 1824, The Virginia House-Wife, she wrote a recipe for fried chicken with one sentence: “Cut (the chicken) up as for the fricassee, dredge them well with flour, sprinkle them with salt, put them into a good quantity of boiling lard, and fry them a light brown.”
With some luck, you may get a passable fried chicken following her recipe.
Fried chicken has become wildly popular and a comfort food among Malaysians. The Time Out KL Food Awards has even added a Best Ayam Goreng to its 2014 winners list. Admit it, you'd be thrilled if someone published an entire cookbook on fried chicken. That’s how far we have evolved since the 1800s.
Fried chicken is major, and recognising its popularity, one culinary school has a class devoted to how to do it well – for those wise enough not to leave it to luck.
“There is not just one way to fry chicken. There are many recipes around and there isn’t a best recipe,” says chef Jean Michel Fraisse of The French Culinary School in Asia whose The Art of Fried Chicken class over the weekend saw a good turnout. “The best recipe is the one that you like.”
We know what the best fried chicken is: A large piece of batter-covered chicken that's fried to a golden brown colour, and holds the promise of being crispy and crunchy on the outside, with juicy and tender meat on the inside – and it can't be too oily.
“People are too focused on the texture of fried chicken and not the taste,” laments Fraisse. “They always want it to be crispy and crunchy but forget that it should also taste good.” Oops.
Season it well
Here’s where a good marinade can make all the difference. From ginger to paprika to garlic powder, many herbs and spices can be used as seasoning, or you can keep things simple with just plain salt and pepper.
It's best to marinate the chicken pieces overnight in the fridge. The chef’s advice is to bring it back to room temperature before frying, or it will need to stay longer in the oil to cook properly. The secret is to be generous with the salt in the marinade – salt helps to draw flavours into the meat and tenderise it as well.
Coat it twice
Fraisse’s technique for getting a dream crust is to apply a double coating of flour. Plain all-purpose flour will do, even though different flours will give slightly different results.
Be uniform: de-bone
All parts of a chicken can be used, and you can choose to bone-in or out. Fraisse recommends boneless chicken leg meat – drumstick and thigh – as they have more collagen and won’t dry out easily when fried.
Removing the bone makes the chicken easier to cook and eat. The skin should be left on; it's the most tasty and crunchy bits of the fried chicken and helps to keep in the moist. For more even cooking, cut the pieces into similar sizes.
The golden rule: 180℃
Deep frying is cooking food in hot oil or fat. The oil extracts moisture from the food. The moisture is converted to steam which cooks the food inside out. Technically, the outside is fried while the inside is steamed.
For the best results, Fraisse fries his chicken in medium high heat (150-160℃). “Just before it reaches that nice golden brown colour, turn up the heat to finish the cooking.” This step ensures that the fried food isn't too greasy as the escaping steam will push some of the oil out. “But the temperature of the oil shouldn’t exceed 180℃ when deep frying. If the oil is too hot, the surface of the chicken would cook too fast and burn before the inside is done.”
Not hurrying the cooking is important. And for the best bite, eat it soon after frying. “Let the fried chicken rest for 5–10 minutes on paper towels to drain excess oil and firm up after cooking. And then eat it right away.”
The best oil for frying is a stable one with a high smoke point, like palm oil. Palm oil can withstand heat well over the 180℃ recommended for frying chicken to a nice golden brown colour.
The smoke point is the stage when the oil starts to smoke, so make sure the oil is never heated to this stage – when it starts to breakdown and oxidise, producing toxic elements and giving the cooked food an off taste. For this reason it's better to use a lot of oil when deep frying, as insufficient oil can lead to a higher risk of burning.
Cooking in plenty of oil ensures even, thorough cooking and a uniformly crisp exterior. Palm oil is cholesterol free and has antioxidants such as carotenoids, vitamin E, phytosterols and squalene, which add a nutritious bonus to your fried chicken.
Fraisse advises: “Keep an eye on the oil. If it starts to get burnt, change the oil or your fried food will get some undesirable flavours.”
You can tell the oil has gone past its usefulness by the colour. Fresh oil is golden; when the oil looks brown or dirty, it’s time to discard it. Oil used for batter-coated foods, especially meat and fish, breaks down faster and can be used just once or twice. That’s another reason why palm oil is a good choice for deep frying – it’s affordable and can be used many times over.
■ The French Culinary School in Asia is at Menara IMC, 8th floor Annexed Block, 8 Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur. Phone (03) 2026-9188.
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