How Babish Makes His Perfect Fried Chicken Sandwich: Every Choice, Every Step | Epicurious

when you're making a spicy fried chicken sandwich at home you need to make a lot of decisions you need to pick your chicken buns sauces your toppings condiments and so many more some ingredients can make your chicken juicy crispy and delicious While others can make it dry pallet or soggy my name is Andrew Ray AKA babish and this is every decision I make when whipping up my ultimate spicy fried chicken sandwich when I'm taking my first bite of a spicy fried chicken sandwich I want it to be crispy first and foremost then juicy then flavorful in that order if you want the ultimate Fried Chicken Sandwich experience you need to be intentional in picking each step of the process starting with arguably the most important step chicken even though these are all chicken they're going to yield a different product with a different moisture content fat content texture flavor and overall quality there are some objectively right and wrong answers on this table let's start with the wrongest answer bone in skin on chicken thighs these would make for grap Fried Chicken but I'm not sure if you've ever tried to eat a sandwich with a bone in it it's not going to go your way very typical to leave skin on when making fried chicken but in a sandwich situation you might just pull the whole thing out and embarrass yourself in front of your entire church next strongest option are These Guys these are processed they might be made from white meat but it's all chopped up and formed into a Patty this is not one piece of breast this tastes exactly like the entirety of a high school cafeteria the furniture the milk so it's kind of nostalgic in that way it's kind of fun but pretty gross otherwise now on to chicken breast tenders it's this sort of little channel of meat that runs barely connected to the rest of the breast this could be a good solution if you stacked three of these together and if you stack some mozzarella sticks in there for like extra credit you get an A in my class I'm not going to go with that because I think it might not be the best option chicken breast versus chicken thigh perfectly viable options for fried chicken s swi what you're going to get over here with the chicken thigh is you're going to get a really moist more chicken flavor forward Patty this is a great option next up the breast this has no fat content virtually no flavor content if you overcook this by a whisper it's going to cook up really really dry that being said deep frying is an ideal environment to cook chicken breast because it's getting cooked quickly and at not too crazy a temperature if you just drop this straight in the oil it would be terrible with the breading it's got this shell around it that's going to keep it from getting stringy and dry and you're going to end up with a moist juicy piece of chicken I think this is what I'm going to go with today before we turn these into a sandwich we have to address their thickness these are already pretty thin breasts so all we really need to do with them I think is pound them out that is both to tenderize them to even out their thickness so that they cook evenly and uh those two things so this is the chicken I'm going to be using for my spicy fried chicken sandwich but before I can bread and cook it I have to brine it brining accomplishes three main things helps the chicken stay moist it imbus it with flavor and it tenderizes it so I'm going to make a brine the base of my brine is buttermilk first off it has a pleasant tang and it has enzymes in it that are going to break down some of the proteins or something in the chicken and help make it more tender pickle brine how good does that sound fried chicken with pickle flavor in it like that's awesome the only thing you want to make sure that you got right as your salinity you want to make sure there's a good amount of salt not too much not too little but I'm still going of eyeball it so whatever uh then I've got a little dash of hot sauce here cayenne pepper is borderline flavorless but it's extraordinarily spicy because this brine is going to go on to be the liquid element of our breading I want to throw an egg in there this just add structure so now chicken goes in here I wouldn't go less than like 4 hours on this one day I think is ideal overnight ideal so here's my chicken that's brining for my chicken sandwich now an essential element of any fried chicken sandwich is the breading we're breading because we obviously want our chicken sandwich to be crispy if I ordered a fried chicken sandwich there were no breading on it I would be to say the least confused and say the most offended we have lots of different options let's roll through them we have plain breadcrumbs it's a very very fine grained breadcrumb this will work in a pinch it's you know it's bread and you're frying it that's delicious it's going to be fine but it's not bringing enough personality to the party and I don't think it's going to make our chicken crispy enough next up we have panko this is a strong Contender panko is a lighter areer Japanese style breadcrumb it's going to create a wonderfully crisp CR us but let's keep going we have good oldfashioned flour this is the classic way to go to make fried chicken particularly Nashville hot chicken so this is a tempting option next up we have flaming hot Cheetos which we contractually have to do because it's the internet but the cameras are horizontal we're not making Tik toks here so I'm not going to make a freaking flamin' hot Cheeto breaded mozzarella stick whatever Fest then we have seasoned breadcrumbs these are the same as the ones over there yonder but they have usually Italian seasonings in them not only is it the same texture as the plain unseasoned breadcrumbs over here but these spices they're going to be directly exposed to the heat which is going to burn them and they also have a flavor profile that I'm not going for in this sandwich then we got Corn Flakes which is a very fun option hell they even have picture of fried chicken on the back of the box so this is a great way to add bigger flakes of crunch if I'm going to use this I'm going to Crunch it up like that so that it's more of an element of the breading rather than these big old honking flakes sticking out we have one more option to consider and that is batter and that's a very PR tempting option but it's not crunchy it's crispy it's not as crunchy so here's what I'm thinking my favorite spicy fried chicken is Nashville style I don't think I can use panko as much as I really truly want to I'm sure I would incur the Wrath of the entire state of Tennessee instead what I'm going to do is I'm going to do a flour breading and I'm going to crush up some cornflakes in there for a little added crunch so let's do that we have this lovely combination of milk and eggs right here that the chicken has Bean brining in and just to add a little bit of crunch I'm going to supplement my flour with some crunched up corn flakes I'm just going to season it with salt and pepper layer flavors always a good idea the other thing that we're going to do to make sure that the crust of our chicken is craggly and filled with nooks and crannies of crispy Delights stir a bit of our liquid right into the batter this is going to create flakes of breading that are going to give us a crispier more robust crust now straight into the flour we're really well coated there but we're not done we're going to double breed these suckers so by doubling it up we're doubling the crisp look look look at how like textured this is that's going to fry up super crispy that's what I like to see this sort of wrinkled cragged surface that is going to translate to an epic crust there we go this is my marinated and breaded chicken next up we have to choose are buns I want it to be dense and kind of toothsome I really like you know kind of a Chewy something not too flavorful definitely not crumbly or dry waffles are are an interesting pick but uh these don't age terribly well after you've made the fresh hot crisp waffle it turns into something a little bit more floppy and dense and chewy biscuits another novel idea a primary characteristic of biscuits is crumbliness these degrade very quickly these were probably relatively tasty fresh out of the oven now they're kind of bricked then we have potato hamburger rolls I like potato rolls versus just straight up wheat buns because they tend to have like a sort of chewier more toothsome texture which is what I want in a sandwich these guys are totally acceptable but for the size of the chicken that we're working with I think a little insubstantial Normy hamburger buns these are still pretty chewy but like not quite they they're very insubstantial I feel like if they got too much moisture on them they'd fall apart or they compress into nothing then last but not least bios which normally I can't stand behind uh when it comes to Burgers especially but also fried chicken sandwiches a little more acceptable with fried chicken with Burgers I just I'm just not a fan they're too sweet they're too rich however hear me up this is the right size this is the size I'm going for I got those big chicken breasts they're huge they're going to contract a little bit when they cook but they're still going to be a big old thing if I try to put those on these it's going to look cartoonish I'll be made a fool of and we're making this super duper duper spicy a fat Patty Sweet Roll actually plays pretty nice with it I think this can stand up to it especially if we toast it normally not my top pick at all but on this table this is the move next up we got to toast our buns this is an essential step in sandwich and burger craft alike it helps protect the bun from moisture it adds flavor it adds texture why isn't there a toaster on this table I'll tell you why I don't want to toast both sides of the bread I just want the interior toasted if we toast both sides that might dry it out these guys into a heated cast iron pan nonstick skillet whatever you want to use we got a little smoke going here oh wow okay that's perfect this thing runs hot let these sit cut side up on your countertop or if you really want to prevent them from getting soggy you can throw them on a rack here's the Buns all toasted and ready to go so now we've picked out our bun but what's going on that bun sauces our chicken is going to be extremely flavorful any sauces that we're going to add add shouldn't be stealing the spotlight so we need a texture and a flavor that are going to play nice with the big ones that we got going on honey mustard and fried chicken go together like honey mustard and fried chicken they're classic and Timeless combination that I'm not going to be exploring in this sandwich I prefer that more in a chicken fingers scenario Ranch it could totally work but very strong flavors in the opposite direction which can be a good thing but I think this is a bridge too far if it's bottled it's going to be a little runny too so you're going to have a drippy situation going on here so I probably wouldn't go with with ranch ketchup yeah I don't think so I feel like it just classes down the sandwich pretty immediately Frank's Red Hot Way Too Thin if you put this directly on your sandwich again you're going to have a very drippy situation which some people like I don't I would sprinkle this on after the fact if your chicken sandwich was too dry and flavorless hopefully we won't need that then on to the question of mayo I love Mayo on a fried chicken sandwich it's kind of part and parcel with almost every Fried Chicken Sandwich Mayo is adding fat to the situation creaminess uh it's it's just a great sort of accompaniment to the Crunch and to the spice helmond totally acceptable egg yolks oil mustard and spices that's what it tastes like solid the same cannot be said for sir kensington's oh my God that's so gross there's a fishy element to it there's like a basement must going on this would detract from whatever you put it on I definitely want Mayo my sandwich but I think I'm going to make my own because that's going to make something Head and Shoulders above anything you can get at the store mayonnaise made from raw eggs the sort of general rule of thumb that I like to use is to hit the egg with the same amount of force that it would receive if you were to drop it from about here what is it about 36 in 3 ft roughly W you lose a little bit but I got a shell in there don't listen to me I don't know what I'm talking about now when you drop it like that you're getting a little splatter if you just hit it with that amount of force you're going to get a nice clean crack now we're going to add half a clove of garlic the juice of half a lemon probably going to do that much some sugar need a little bit of salt in there and Dion mustard an essential part of this recipe is that you need a blender cup that's this virtually the same width as the head of the immersion blender you want there to be very very little play on the sides of the container that's how you're going to create this little vortex in there that emulsifies together the oil and the Egg and creates a thick creamy mayonnaise so first we're going to Blitz this a little bit just to liquefy the garlic and beat up the eggs perfect and slowly carefully pour two cups of oil this is a neutral flavored vegetable canola if you overprocess olive oil it can become bitter so you don't want to use olive oil it's also just too flavorful so we're going to start by processing at the bottom and then we're going to sort of slowly pulse our way up now this is homemade mayonnaise it's the only mayonnaise that I would eat on its own like that here's the Mayo I'm using for my fried chicken sandwich next up [Music] toppings somebody had a Gong does a spicy fried chicken sandwich which need toppings not necessarily we don't want it to add any sort of slipperiness or structural instability anything that we're going to add should make the sandwich greater than the sum of its parts not Safeguard against its shortcomings first up we have lettuce I don't know why we put lettuce on sandwiches it adds a little pop of color really not much flavor um I don't think it's necessary cabbage the precursor to SLO certainly not going to put just whole slabs of cabbage on there what we out of our minds shredded and mixed together with a little bit of mayo and some spices this can be a wonderful accompaniment to a spicy fried chicken sandwich because it's going to add some tang and sort of cool things off and that would be nice but it's it's kind of over complicating things I'm not sure I would want it on my perfect sandwich I'm going to stay away from Tomatoes they tend to be pretty slippery and I also feel like they're a crutch I feel like this is something you lean on if you're like H I'm just putting cold cuts on this bread I need something on there avocado another crutch I think on sandwiches this is something that's going to add a bit of moisture some some softness a lot of fat and designate the sandwich California style virtually every fried chicken sandwich is enhanced with Pickles if you don't want pickles on your sandwich that is your right but they are a wonderful accompaniment to Fried Chicken especially spicy fried chicken because they're a hit of acid they're a little bit more crunch they just play really nice with all the flavors particularly bread and butter sweet pickles these have a lot of sugar in them so they're going to add a nice sort of layer of sweetness to the whole Affair so that's why I'm I'm definitely going to go pickles jalapeno peppers totally unnecessary all the heat that we need is going to be coming from the spice mixture that we're going to brush on the chicken after the fact all in all it's super classic to put just pickles and Mayo on a fried chicken sandwich and nothing else and that's pretty much the direction that I'm headed here's the only topping I'm using for my fried chicken sandwich so now it's time to deep fry but with what oil so we're deep frying because that is the way to get things the crispiest on this planet direct contact with oil is what makes them crisp this is an opportunity to add a little bit of flavor not too much so first up we have unrefined coconut oil this is a wholly inappropriate option for deep frying first off because unrefined coconut oil has a smoke point around 280° F we're going to be exceeding that by nearly 100° so you're going to end up with a big smoking pot of acrid oil that's not the direction we want to go in next up peanut oil this is my favorite way to go I feel like Foods fry up a little Browner a little crispier and there's no distinct peanut flavor but it does impart like just a a richer better flavor it's just the best frying oil unless of course you have a deathly peanut allergy next up we have lard and especially for Nashville Hot Chicken this is the fat of choice you can't do much better for just pure uous Rich Savory flavor I mean you're deep frying in pork fat pure pork fat it's amazing next up we have Schmaltz I wouldn't deep fry in this this is chicken fat dripping so it is completely delicious but I'm guessing if you heated this past 300° fenhe it would start smoking CU there's so much particulate in it I mean look at it you can't even see through it I believe the smoke point for extra virgin olive oil is 410° f so it's not going to smoke on us it's got a very strong olive oil oil flavor and it's going to make your fried food taste like that too just not ideal for for fried chicken and it's expensive how much was this 25 bucks and this isn't even enough then we got uh pure vegetable oil this is a very fine option it is a little less flavorful than the peanut it doesn't Brown quite as well as the peanut but it's an excellent deep frying oil this and canola any neutral flavored oil like those today I'm going to do something a little wild I'm going to do a mixture of peanut oil and lard so we can get a lot of that lard flavor and will get the great frying properties of peanut oil by combining the two so to deep fry chicken you don't need a deep fryer that's great if you have one but a dutch oven with a candy thermometer will do just fine I'm going to start with the lard it's over 3,000 calories in this little tub to that lard I'm going to add peanut oil so I'm going to get some of the great characteristics of both the more oil you have the less it's going to cool off when you add the chicken the target temperature that we're shooting for in this pot is 375 you want to grab the chicken by its thinnest point so you lose the least amount of breading you want to gently drop it in and drop it away from you so if there's any Splash it's not coming at you I'm looking for a deep golden brown crust there we go come on oh already already looking crispy oh yeah buddy that's looking right here we go gently in and away yeah the spray that just shot off this thing it's like a SeaWorld and so what we have here are double breaded Ultra Krispy Chicken Breasts golden brown ready for the Spice element one decision that I'm firm on is I want this to be really spicy and I think there's no better way to do that than Nashville Hot Chicken style the only real difference between fried chicken and Nashville hot chicken is after it's been cooked it's brushed with a hot fat spice mixture so that's what we're going to do right now we're starting with light brown sugar paprika this looks like it's the smoked variety which is going to be interesting garlic powder cayenne pepper this stuff is hot we have this nice spice and sugar mixture mostly spice now the fun part we're going to Ladle some of our wonderful lard and oil mixture which is still super duper hot right over top got that going let's whis that together the hot oil not only toasts the spices I believe if it's hot less of it's going to be absorbed into the crust I think it's going to help the crust steak crisp I think let's make this chicken and grap just brush that hot fat spice mixture right over top look how angry that looks oh my this is the kind of chicken that makes you like Panic sweat you know like oh I made a mistake all right chicken's ready for my chicken sandwich all right we got all of our pieces now let's put them [Music] together first bun du grab our crispy chicken nice I like that it's overl honestly I like that I'm going to hit this guy the Mayo don't be shy throw some pickles down on the chicken itself just because that's what I'm going to do come here You Crazy Diamond my spicy fried chicken sandwich it's like theatrical it's it's it's dramatic I want to get a little of everything but first I have to eat through this nubbing m M it is flavorful it is tender it is spicy it is crispy on the outside the Mayo brings a nice sort of like creamy balance to it pickles are nice the Brios I take it back that was that's great it's Rich it's buttery it's sweet and it's such a nice counterpart wow I'm Pro Brio when it comes to spicy chicken sandwiches here I am eating my words literally everybody's working together nicely here even the bun which I was incredulous about at best this is Symphonic we definitely have some cooking lessons to take away from this but my biggest one is flexibility you need to be able to work with what you got you need to be able to Pivot so that if things don't go quite your way it still turns out awesome these are my decisions this is how I make my spicy fried chicken sandwich how do you make yours that's up to you come here oh this is the most embarrassing thing in my professional career we make sure we cut all this out no leave it in Rolling leave it in

Channel: Epicurious

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Keywords: andrew rea, andrew rea babish, babish, babish culinary universe, babish epi, babish fried chicken sandwich, binging with babish, chick fil a sandwich, chicken recipes, chicken sandwich, chicken sandwich recipe, copycat chicken sandwich, crispy chicken sandwich recipe, epicurious, fried chicken breast, fried chicken recipe, fried chicken sandwich, fried chicken sandwich recipe, how to fry chicken, popeyes chicken sandwich

Id: rFVBd3tvFnw

Length: 21min 28sec (1288 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 19 2023