Chicken Tenders

Ingredienti

Chicken:

* 2 lbs chicken tenderloins

* Plain flour for initial dredging

* Msg, salt, black pepper for seasoning

* Canola or vegetable oil for deep frying

Brine: (TO TRY)

* 500ml water

* 50g salt

* 10g garlic powder

* 10g cayenne

* 10g smoked paprika

Seasoned Flour:

* 2 cups all-purpose flour

* 3 tbsp chicken or consommé powder (or powdered chicken bouillon)

* 1 tbsp garlic powder

* 1 tbsp onion powder

* 1 tbsp black pepper

* 1 tsp Chinese five-spice (Allspice)

* 1 tsp paprika

(* 1 tsp ginger powder)

* ½ tsp mustard powder

* ½ tsp white pepper

* 2 pinches kosher salt

Batter:

* ⅔ cup all-purpose flour

* ⅔ cup cold water

* 2 eggs

Buttermilk ranch (TO TRY):

* 150g sour cream

* 50g mayo

* 100g buttermilk (if you can’t find buttermilk, double the mayo instead)

* 10g dill

* 10g chives

* 2 scallions

* 3 garlic cloves (grated)

* Lemon juice and zest (to taste)

* Salt & Pepper

Istruzioni

TO TRY: Brine: Brine for minimum 30 minutes before, then take out chicken and pat dry (step 3)

1. Preheat your oil to 300°F in a deep fryer or heavy-bottomed pot. Maintaining this temperature ensures the chicken cooks evenly.

2. Prepare the Batter: In a bowl, whisk together flour, cold water, and eggs until smooth. Place in the fridge while prepping everything else. A colder batter yields a crispier coating, so chilling it for a few hours is ideal. Keep in fridge whenever not in use to maintain coldness.

3. Prep the Chicken: Pat chicken tenderloins dry with a paper towel. Lightly season with msg, salt, and black pepper. Better to do this step earlier, so the chicken has more time to become drier.

4. Make the Seasoned Flour: In a separate bowl (that can be closed), combine all seasoned flour ingredients. Mix well and set aside.

5. Coating Process:

* Dredge each tenderloin in plain flour, shaking off excess.

* Dip into the cold batter, ensuring full coverage. Shake off excess batter. Too much batter will result in too much breading-to-chicken ratio. Dont shake off if thats what you prefer.

* Immediately coat in the seasoned flour, pressing firmly to create a textured, craggy crust. (Or you can put the chicken directly from the batter into the seasoned flour, close the bowl, and shake vigorously). The thicker the batter, the crunchier the chicken. Shake off some of the excess, not too much though. Sift the seasoned flour between chicken batches. Not doing so will make the coating more bready/less crispy as you make more batches. Keeping it nicely fine and sifted for each batch keeps the outer coating uniform and crispy for all chicken.

6. First Fry: Fry chicken in batches for 4-5:20 minutes until lightly golden. Remove and drain on a wire rack.

7. Final Fry for Crispiness: Increase oil temperature to 375°F. Fry the chicken a second time for 1-2 minutes until deep golden brown and crispy.

TO TRY: Ranch: Combine. Leave in fridge for a while.