4 Levels of Chicken Parm: Amateur to Food Scientist | Epicurious

foreign I'm Emily and I'm a level one Chef I'm Beth and I'm a level two Chef I'm Chris and I've been a professional chef for 32 years I love chicken Fern because it's just so comforting it's really cozy I don't remember a time when I didn't know chicken parm you have a fried chicken cutlet melty beautiful mutts gorgeous sauce it's Heaven it reminds your family it reminds you of good times it's one of those feel-good Foods [Applause] foreign [Music] I'm going to start with my chicken I'm using chicken tenders they cook faster they're smaller they're tasty no on the tenders you don't want this little thumbnail looking you know I mean I'm using split chicken breasts because I think it's the easiest way to get them into the chicken cutlets that I want to use I would certainly work with the chicken tender but I think it's a lot more expensive to buy them that way and this is so easy when you get chicken parm it's usually just a chicken breast and ain't nothing wrong with that but in my version I'm going to take this whole chicken right here I'm going to use the dark meat to make a farce and I'm going to use the white meat to make the ruler first things first what I'm going to do is break down this chicken I'm coming home from work and I have to make dinner for my family I'm not breaking down a whole chicken that would be a weekend activity for me for sure I'm just going to go directly down here following the breast bone all the way down this one I'm going to take the fat off I don't know if there's any real reason to take the fat off except that's what Mama did and if that's what mama limited then that's what I'm going to do this piece is a lot fatter than this piece so I'm just gonna make it thinner I wish I could do that for everything much better five cutlets instead of four one lovely chicken breast the perfect size for chicken cutlet is the size of your palm and Emily here's your here's your Tinder my gift to you and now I can move on to the farce fars like the opposite of a drama a force is basically a moose that you're making out of the protein or out of the meat this is all going to be a big old puree of the chicken the egg is going to act as a binder parmesan cheese fresh thyme the cream is also going to give it a little bit of lightness and then my salt pepper so now that my farce is Blended I'm going to strain it through this Tammy to get rid of any excess fat just leaving me with some dark meat goodness I'm going to take my chicken breast I'm going to pound it lightly so I can get more surface area from that this is nice and thin now I'm ready to season and fill I'm going to put some oregano some thyme some parsley some Rosemary some Sage chicken parmesan you will find a lot of the cheese on top of the chicken sometimes mixed in with the breadcrumb but I'm actually going to put some inside of the ruler too so the Ooey gooeyness is going to be all around and in and out and everywhere a roulade is a rolled dish that can either be Savory or sweet when I lay down my breasts season it with a little salt and pepper I'm adding blanched escarole so we got the fontino we got the Parmesan it's going to be wonderful and now I'm adding the forest finally I'm going to twist these bad boys up now time for the call fat I feel like it's definitely from the body but I forget what part call Fat here is the lining of the internal organs of a sheep somewhere deep down in the recesses of my mind it's almost like epicurus is starting to rip off on me now that the chicken cutlets are prepped I can move on to the breading and then with my egg I'm just going to whisk it around a little with my Fork so here with the panko I'm going to add more cheese pecorino Romano I'm going to add salt but not too much because the cheese is a little salty I'm a little freak for pepper you know I don't season the cutlets themselves so the breadcrumbs have to be very flavorful the fennel has a licoricey kind of flavor it's something you will not be expecting dried parsley garlic powder and onion powder mix everything together really well I'm going to take a chicken tender make sure it's all nice and dredged in the flour it is important to begin with the flour I'm not sure why people have the flowers step first we've never done it that way so I won't do it that way today so the egg has something to stick to once the egg is on then the bread crumb has something to stick to and I'm also going to pound it down I know people pound their chicken cutlets before but this just makes more sense to me because I'm pounding in the breadcrumbs all right chicken tenders breaded and ready to cook put some vegetable oil in the pan or any kind of light oil would be fine I'm going with both butter and olive oil because I think it adds like a little bit of that butter flavor while you also get the friability of olive oil putting the cutlets in so that they're not touching each other I'm not really going to shake it too much then I want the surface of the breadcrumb to really begin to toast I'm doing a shallow fry of my chicken tenders this is much less intimidating I'd say typical then deep fryer or anything like that I'm not so much worried as it being fully cooked through because it will bake in the oven but I very much like it to have a golden brown color I'm really taking my time to ensure that I'm getting that perfect crust so this is kind of phase one of the chicken farm after this they have to be covered in sauce and cheese in order to become chicken parm and last chicken tender done I'm gonna pour off most of this fat but I'm going to keep just a little bit of it to help stretch up my sauce now I'm doing my sauce I am using a Jarred sauce I always use red pack crushed tomatoes in puree no seasoning or anything in the tomatoes if I had the choice I'll always go fresh sauce sometimes I just don't want to make a whole sauce some Jarred sauces are pretty good when I make tomato sauce I usually make a lot and I freeze them so I never have a reason to use Jarred sauce I always have sauce in the freezer we're making this sauce from scratch is really going to give me that robust hardcore real tomato flavor so I'm adding some sliced up onions and mashed garlic here this is like an easy way to just kind of like bring a little bit of home cooking flavor to a super easy kind of meal to make my sauce I have the simplest of ingredients oil salt and tomatoes and all I'm going to do is cut them season them roast them at about 400 degrees for about half an hour and what that's going to do is really bring out that juiciness it's going to caramelize on the outside and then I can make my sauce I'm going to slice my garlic I want a good amount of olive oil because olive oil actually throws flavor to the sauce I like to tip the pan so I can Brown the garlic now that these tomatoes are roasted they're caramelized now I'm going to build my sauce in my hot pan I'm going to put the aromatics I have garlic I'm going to use the mandolin because it gets it super thin and they caramelize very nicely onion cut these into nice medium sized pieces that way they cook evenly in the pan and then I'm going to add my tomato paste and caramelize all of that before adding my tomato and I squeeze them up just to release some juice and once all the tomatoes are in I'll reduce the Heat and I'll cook this for at least an hour and a half low heat now I'm straining the tomatoes I want to make sure that I capture all the seeds and the skin and any big pieces of Pulp I don't want them in the sauce it'll make the sauce bitter I'm going to let my sauce simmer for at least an hour until it's thick I'm just waiting for my onions to soften up a little bit and just get a little tiny bit Brown and then I'm going to add in my Jarred sauce so now that my sauce is cooked down for an hour and a half so I'm going to add a little bit of red wine vinegar just for brightness add a little sugar just to make the sweetness of the Tomato pop even more I'm gonna rip up some parsley some oregano and I have thyme right here I'm going to thin it out here with a little bit of chicken stock and then finish it off with a little bit of sea salt so now I'm just going to blend this all together because I want it to be smooth the sauce has cooked for about an hour it's nice and thick now of course before I can put it on the chicken Palm I have to take the basil out because my grandsons won't eat anything that looks green and here's my tomato and roasted garlic sauce all right there it is that's my sauce ready to go plant chicken tender is cooked in there it's kind of a puzzle chicken puzzle the most delicious kind I like to use a combination of grated pecorino Romano cheese and shredded moots so I am using my organic Italian blend of cheeses provolone parmesan and Asiago and I'm just gonna get it all over there I like a blend of cheeses for chicken parm because you get that kind of like melty bubbliness with also the parm this parm doesn't really like melt and bubble but you kind of want to toss it in there because it's chicken Parmesan it's in the name just because it's called chicken parmesan doesn't mean you have to only use parmesan cheese and it's all pre-shredded which is super convenient I don't like to buy the shredded cheese they put some kind of chemicals or flowers on it this is just as easy and there's nothing artificial about this it's just cheese so if this all gets covered with my sauce it's going to get a little soggy I do want some crispy edges so I'm not being too too generous with the sauce but I am trying to get it most places so I'm just going to do a nice even layer of my shredded cheese on top of my chicken and sauce I don't want the chicken cutlets to touch each other and I don't want sauce on the bottom of the pan because sauce on the bottom of the pan will make the cutlets mushy layer of mutts some grated black pepper and now the pecorino Romano so this is ready to go I'm going to bake it until the cheese is melty probably 15 to 20 minutes I'm Gonna Bake this in a preheated 400 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes so now that the rulons are seared nicely I'm going to transfer them and finish them in the oven at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes or so my chicken parm is out of the oven and the cheese is Oozy and gooey I have extra parmesan cheese because I can't get enough cheese and then I'm serving it with a delicious orzo pasta I'm going to serve my chicken parm with ziti just because I really like ziti I'm going to have the orzo I always serve chicken parmesan with spaghetti so I want to mix the spaghetti with sauce first I'm going to take this roasted tomato and garlic sauce I'm going to slice these roulades into little rings I want to see the farce the escarole the cheese and chicken parm my cheese kind of Consolidated in like a sheet of cheese so I'm just gonna try and put that back under the cheese blanket here's the roulade touch more sauce add some spaghetti finish with some pecorino Romana cheese touch more parmesan I'm just gonna put a little parsley on my chicken parm I don't garnish with green things my grandchildren hate it and what they want is what I do I think that's it and that is my chicken parm this is my chicken parm and this is my chicken parmesan roulade with roasted tomato and garlic sauce foreign [Music] tastic I would argue that this looks like a chicken parm looks the same as it always does I can't wait to taste it looks melty that's really good it's super cozy and my onions actually do I think add something you know this is as good a chicken parmesan I'm gonna get at least this is great I love it I love the new school version of it and everything it always tastes like Mama I wish my family was here right now it's definitely not what Nana used to make but I think that she would get a kick out of it I'm taking the rest of this home for my grandbabies chicken parmesan affectionately known as chicken parm in the States was introduced by Italian immigrants and is a satisfying dish let's see how each of our chefs made theirs Emily used chicken tenders thinner strips of meat from the pectoralis minor mussels located on either side of the breastbone this is a tender piece of chicken that is already trimmed and shaped she set up a traditional breading station where she pre-dusted her chicken tenders in a thin coating of flour this flour will combine with some of the water in the chicken helping the egg to stick to the chicken before it's then dipped in breadcrumbs the flour also partially gelatinizes once it's heated along with a globular albumin proteins in the egg to assist the breadcrumbs in adhering to the chicken even more during frying Beth used boneless skinless chicken breast this is the pectoralis major muscle Beth cut down her pieces of chicken breast to get the exact thickness she desired before breading Chris broke down a whole chicken instead of using pre-packaged already portions chicken like Emily and Beth this level 3 elevation will have a fresher chicken flavor because it hasn't been pre-processed he used most of the chicken by making a farce which is a culinary term for a stuffing made of seasoned meat it's similar to a force meat but instead of adding a pure fat Chris included the dark meat which is already higher in fat with Parmesan cheese and Seasonings it was ground to a consistency that could be piped on top of his pounded chicken breast to form his roulade Emily and Beth both added their sauce and cheese for a layered effect while Chris sprinkled his cheese inside his roulade Beth used a whole milk mozzarella which ranges between 52 and 60 percent moisture adding to meltability and 45 percent milk fat as part of the solids making it extremely rich she also used pecorino Romano a very hard sheep cheese Mozzarella is a stretched cheese so it melts perfectly the stretching aligns proteins into parallels and the Whey fills the space between them breaking up some of the connections between the proteins making melting easy Chris used parmesan and Fontina which is a semi-soft cow's milk cheese from the Alpine region of Italy it's aged between 90 and 150 days and gets noticeably firmer over time parmesan is a very hard aged cheese with small brittle crunchy granules a hard outer rind and very low moisture internally the granules are crystallized is tyrosine an amino acid and add texture to the cheese whether you say chicken parm parmesan or parmigiana it's so tasty and satisfying and despite the name you can use any kind of cheese you like next time you're making dinner for yourself or your loved ones we hope you'll take some of these tips from our three amazing chefs

Channel: Epicurious

Views: 745,821

Keywords: 4 levels, are chicken parmesan healthy, chick parm, chicken parm, chicken parm recipe, chicken parmesan, chicken parmesan recipe, chicken parmigiana, chicken recipe, chicken recipes, easy chicken parm, epi, epicurious, epicurious 4 levels, homemade chicken parmesan, how to cook chicken parmesan, how to make chicken parmesan, italian chicken recipe, make chicken parm, restaurant style chicken parmesan

Id: CyUsR567vsY

Length: 15min 2sec (902 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 01 2022