I just tried a new (for me) recipe for fried chicken. Nothing fancy, just crushed up cracker crumbs, some potato flakes and some other herbs and spices (mostly seasoned salt) that’s supposed to stick to the chicken after you “dredge” the chicken through a beaten egg. (“Dredging” is just dragging it around in the egg until the chicken is coated with egg, right?) Then you plop the eggy chicken in a bag of cracker crumb breading and shake it around a little.
It fried up nice, and more importantly both the kids ate it without whining, so I’d like to make it again. Only, about half the breading fell off the chicken whilst I was a-frying it. (I scooped the fallen-off breading out of the grease and drained it on a paper towel and told the boys it was “crisp” and they ate it, so the not-sticky breading didn’t go to waste.) Is there some way to get the breading to stick to the chicken better? Short of using a spray adhesive, of course.
I always put my chicken pieces in a mixture of beaten egg and milk, then into the flour mixture. (I use Old Bay Seasoning in flour, which I’ve used for years and everyone loves it.) For extra crispy, double batter it–egg/milk, flour, then egg/milk and flour again. (I’m sure this is not approved by the American Heart Association…) This also works for fish.
When I worked in the restaurant biz, we used two tubs:
“Egg Wash” (a bucket of eggs, whipped frothy)
Breading (flour, cornmeal, pulverized cracker crumbs, etc., depending on what was to be fried)
The process involved coating the chicken thorougly with egg, then rolling in the breading, then dunking in the egg wash again to coat the breading, then rolling in the breading again until the object to be fried was no longer sticky. The trick seemed to be total immersion in egg, whipped frothy. Didn’t work so well if you didn’t thoroughly whip the egg.
Worked for fried fish, fried chicken, pork chops, chicken fried steaks, and any number of other things.
IMHO, the best fried chicken is seasoned with salt and pepper, then rolled in seasoned (more S&P, paprika, garlic powder, dash of cayenne) flour before it hits the pan.
I like a mix of beer, milk, and egg for coating the pieces. If your oil isn’t hot enough, the breading will often fall off. Also, your chicken shouldn’t be too cold when breading.
It sounds like what my chicken needs is a good primer coat. (Either flour if I want extra relatives or just a first round of breading to make the egg stick better so more breading will stick.) Will work on that.
Hey, will bashing the chicken with a “meat hammer” so it’s thin, yet bumpy be a good way to go? I think the chicken breasts I used last time were a little thick.
And that sounds like pretty much my Mom’s method Ike. She didn’t mess around too much when she cooked.
I think the most common cause of breading/crumbing not sticking is moisture in the chicken/fish that you are coating. If you take it out of the fridge all wrapped up how you bought it, it needs to be patted down with a paper towel before coating.
Seriously, I use a large, flat piece of steel made for the job (I don’t like the hammer with the points), pound the breast down a bit, then soak in buttermilk for a couple of hours. Drain and dredge in a flour/spice/herb mixture and fry in shallow oil. It’s the same process as for chicken-fried steak.
If you’re eating fried chicken, the chances are you aren’t going to be particularly worried about your fat intake at that particular meal, but just in case you are, a really good alternative (can’t remember where I found this one) is to coat with egg and crushed cornflakes (mixed with your choice of seasonings - paprika, pepper, salt, herbs etc) and bake it in the oven.
I remember that in the Good Eats episode on fish and chips Alton Brown said that the fried fish wasn’t really high in fat. I think the idea is that very little oil is absorbed into the flesh.
I just want to add that if you intend to smash your chicken parts, you should get the boneless kind. Those little bits of smashed-up bones are annoying. And I will second everything everyone above said, especially about drying your chicken parts before coating.
We got the same fried chicken recipe. Pat the chicken dry and then season it with salt and pepper. Return the chicken to the refrigerator for a while to let the salt and pepper draw out some more of the moisture. Roll it in the seasoned flour and fry in shallow oil. Most important… be patient! Chicken takes time to fry up right.
Another lesson Alton Brown taught us (or me atleast) in that excellent fish & chips episode is that wet stuff does not like sticking to other wet stuff (I believe the exact quote was, It’s one of those universal axioms that keeps the galaxy from ripping itself to shreds and dissolving into the void. So hence the sound advice to dry your chicken completely w/ paper towels before dipping it into the egg. Or even better, very lightly coat chicken in flour or cornstarch (shaking off all excess) to get said chicken dry, then dip into egg, then seasoned cracker crumbs.
Of course he also said season & spice the inside of your crust (the meat), not the outside (the cracker crumbs), or else the pepper and whatnot in your seasoning will just burn in the hot oil. But that’s another episode.
This is true; because the item of food is being heated, the escaping steam stops the fat from soaking in (or something like that); the coating, be it breadcrumbs or batter, however, can soak up a fair bit of oil.
