K no w l e d g e C oncen t r at e Buy a broiler/fryer (about 3½ pounds; see “Bird in the Pan,” page 73) and dissect at home. Why cut your own?
T r i v i a After shooting at Lodg e I sneezed black for three days.
It’s cheaper than buying parts. Some of the better birds on the market only come whole. You can portion better. Whole birds stay fresher longer. Soak overnight in buttermilk. Low-fat buttermilk has a greater viscosity than nonfat, which will help to form a sort of batter overnight. The buttermilk’s acid and sugars will invade the chicken’s meat, which helps to tenderize it and lends a delicious tang.
This episode opens with
Avoid cross-contamination by setting up a three-zone method: raw, hot, and recovery. Only move the food in one direction and never use the same tools to touch both raw and cooked foods.
what must be the worst poem ever written for a food show: ------------------------------------------------------------------
Once upon a mid-morn dreary, as I pondered with eyes quite bleary Over many a curious volume of culinary lore, On a latte I was sucking, when suddenly there came a clucking As if some salesman were a-mucking, mucking ’bout my kitchen door. ’Tis some salesman, said I. Only this, and nothing more. Yet presently the noise repeated, so I hollered, no longer seated, Beat it, pesky husker mucking about my kitchen door. At my business I’m now working, so my chain you’d best stop jerking. Then throwing wide the kitchen door, I found there a chicken and nothing more. Leapt I back then with a stutter, as the phantom bird did with a flutter Mount the folk-art bust of Julia Child there upon my kitchen floor. Perched and sat and nothing more. Then the pallid poultry, most perplexing, did set my meager mind to guessing, From whence did you come to perch upon the bust of Julia on my kitchen floor? Quoth the chicken: Fry some more. As certain as my heart is ticking, I am sure no living chicken Has ever so clearly commanded a living cook before With an utterance so clear and shocking that even I could not ignore. Quoth the chicken: Fry some more. Then thought I, Perhaps she’s on to something. For too long now I have been supping On feed incapable of nourishing my anguished soul. Perhaps some truly good eats my hungry soul could restore. Quoth the chicken: Fry some more.*
* Edgar Allen Poe, please forgive me.
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Season liberally, then dredge. I prefer to season the chicken, as opposed to simply adding salt and pepper to the dredge. Seasoning is just too critical to leave to chance. Although nearly any wheat flour will do the trick, all-purpose seems to work just fine. When dredging, take care to shake away any and all excess flour.1 Take time for a short rest post-dredge, to allow the acid in the buttermilk to slightly gelatinize the starch in the flour, thus enabling the resulting crust to have better adhesion (i.e., it will stick to the meat). Pan-fry in shallow shortening, and turn once. Although lard works just fine I still reach for shortening when frying chicken. Shortening does have a relatively low smoke point, but it is very, very refined, which will give us a nice color and won’t fill the house with friedchicken stink (is that a good thing?). You only need to fill the pan one third full at most. When we pan-fry, both the oil and pan are heat conductors, which is great. It creates a temperature near 350°F, which is ideal for achieving the Maillard reaction, especially where the food touches the pan. When you deep-fry, the fat surrounds the food, so no moisture can escape, creating a hard shell; however, it doesn’t adhere well. As soon as you bite into deep-fried chicken the crust comes off in your hand. Pan-frying allows moisture to escape on one side, which makes a crisp crust that adheres well. As long as the water in the meat is kept above a boil, outward pressure will prevent oil from soaking in. Drain. A cooling rack is the best way to ensure that every bite is crisp, because it allows even air flow. And don’t put your chicken in a warm oven, unless, of course, you like soggy skin. Eat. A two-bit paper paint bucket is the perfect service and storage device because it wicks away extra moisture and oil. (Consider the Colonel’s chicken.)
Cast Iron Joseph Lodge founded Lodge over a century ago. Today, his descendents oversee the production of the only cast-iron cookware made in the United States. It all starts with pig iron, scrap steel, and Lodge’s own leftovers, weighed. It’s dropped into an electromagnetic field furnace, where it simmers and any impurities cook off or are skimmed off. The iron is then hauled into an automated casting machine, a premeasured dose of iron is poured into the cakes (molds) and run through a cooling tunnel. When they tumble out the other end, the cakes break open, revealing the rocket-hot but now solid cookware within. What sand isn’t dislodged by the shaking troughs is blasted off by steel buckshot and recycled. Each piece is then inspected, hand ground, washed with soap, water, and river rocks, dipped in a rust -retarding food-grade wax, packaged, and shipped to a grateful planet. Fr y Ha rd II: Th e Ch ic ke n
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