(sleigh bells ringing) (phone ringing) - Hello? - [Caller] Is it done?
- Yeah, it's done. - [Caller] Is it crispy? - Yeah, it's crispy. Now, let me speak to my son. - [Caller] Oh, let me hear it. - That crispy enough for
you, you twisted (bleep)? - [Preston] Daddy, daddy,
please, I'm scared. - Preston? Preston, is that you? - [Caller] You have one hour. - No, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. It's not just his favorite holiday. It's his birthday. Hello? Hey, what's up, guys, welcome
back to Binging with Babish where this week we're taking a look at the crispiest sandwich from They Kidnapped My Son on Christmas which Fletcher made a point of
showing that he was scooping and toasting to maximize crispiness. After all, it's not every day that your son's life is
at stake over a sandwich. So I got myself a big old
grocery store style baguette. It looks the part and
it's a pretty lean loaf so it should toast up very nicely. Just gonna cut myself
a sandwich sized chunk, split it in half and scoop it out making sure to reserve
what Kendall refers to as the bread meat. It's her favorite part of the bread. I have to admit, I used to
squish it into a ball myself and eat it like an apple. Now, this sandwich
obviously contains bacon both for its crisp factor and for its fat. The latter of which once
we've removed the bacon and drained it on paper towels is going to make an excellent
medium for toasting our bread. So I'm brushing down, toasting in the oven and then pretending that this is TikTok. Then since the only greens
in the fridge were wilted, Fletcher soaks his lettuce in ice water for about 10 minutes to crisp it up and of course, he opted
for frozen chicken tenders baked to a state of crispy
completion in the oven and that's all there is to it. We can start stacking two of
my biggest chicken tenders, two folded over slices of provolone cheese thrown back in the oven to melt. Top up with our crispy bacon, our chilly and patted dry lettuce and oddly enough, what
looked like tomatoes. Not exactly known for their crispness nor is mayo but nevertheless,
that's what slathered on top and that's all there is to it. Top it up and squish it down with some further satisfying noises. Now, that is one crispy sandwich or is it? As soon as I cut through it, I could tell that every
aspect of the sandwich was too rigid and dry creating a situation
not delightfully crispy but disastrously crunchy. Oh yeah, that sandwich is
definitely getting my son killed. So how do we take all the same elements and make them crispy instead of crunchy? Let's start with making our
own fried chicken cutlets. Frozen fried chicken being fully cooked is usually pretty dried out
by the time it gets crispy so I've got some chicken breasts here that I'm butterflying and pounding flat then hitting on both sides with
a little bit of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper so that it can dry brine in the fridge safeguarding its flavor
and moisture content. Next up, to achieve crunchy tomatoes, there's only one direction to go and that is fried green tomatoes which we're slicing and
likewise lightly salting and since pretty much
everything's getting deep fried, we need to set up a dredge station. I got one and a half cups of flour that I'm seasoning with
one teaspoon cayenne, one teaspoon smoked paprika and a quarter teaspoon each onion powder, white pepper and garlic powder plus a pinch of kosher salt and
freshly ground black pepper. Tiny whisk to combine and spread
out on a wide rimmed plate. Then I've got two eggs that I'm gonna combine with a
cup and a half of buttermilk to represent the wet
stage of our breading. And last but not least, a cup and a half of
finely ground cornmeal. I'm gonna blot the excess
moisture off the maters and dredge them first in the flour mixture then in the egg mixture
then in the cornmeal ideally utilizing the wet
hand, dry hand technique but inevitably giving up on it
after three or four tomatoes. Rinse and repeat until complete. And then for our next two breadings, we're simply swapping the
cornmeal for panko breadcrumbs. First, the chicken likewise blotted dry and hit with the same stages of flour, egg followed by panko. Lastly, to achieve crispy cheese, we could just make a frico but I think that would
just shatter on first bite unlike a giant super
wide mozzarella stick, one that's getting the double
flour and egg treatment before being coated in breadcrumbs then headed straight into
the freezer for 20 minutes before deep fry. Speaking of which, I
got a whole mess of oil heated up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit where I'm gonna start
by frying the tomatoes for about five minutes until they're floating and golden brown. Next up, the chicken
that I'm gonna do at 375. Because it's so thin, this will ensure a crisp
exterior and juicy meat. Skim out some of the
accumulating particulate. And last but not least,
the mozzarella hunks frying for a frightful
two to three minutes until golden brown and
hopefully not exploded. Everybody's getting drained on wire racks and kept warm in a low oven. Last but not least, the
problem of the bread. I have a slightly more
robust baguette here that I am not going to scoop. What I am gonna do is
toast it with mayonnaise placing face down on a
well-seasoned rimmed baking sheet and into a 375 degree Fahrenheit
oven for about five minutes weighed down with another sheet. This will hopefully allow the bread to retain some interior moisture
while crisping in the oven and because nobody likes a dry sandwich, not even kidnappers, I'm smearing down on both sides with a mixture of mayo and grain mustard and then beginning to assemble starting with our crispy chicken followed by our crispy bacon followed by our crispy tomatoes followed by our crispy hunk of cheese. I realize now that I did not make it appropriately sandwich sized
but it's just gonna have to do. This is a hostage situation. Press. Realize that the cheese is
just gonna ooze out the sides, soldier forward and let's hear that crisp. I take back what I said before. Now, that's a crispy sandwich even if it is violently
bleeding cheese everywhere. The cross section certainly looks better. It's not every day that you
have a triple fried sandwich but has a taste. Let's take a big old crispy bite. And it's obviously awesome. It's fried chicken and fried
tomatoes and fried cheese. With that in mind, I'm gonna
divide it into four pieces so that the crew can
enjoy it and I won't die. - [Hunter] Daddy. - Hunter? - [Hunter] Daddy. - Paxton? Cooper? Byron? Preston? Felipe? Felipe, is that you? No. (beep) (beep) (beep) Wow, this thing's tough. - [Paxton] Daddy? - Daddy's here. Daddy's here, Paxton. Merry Christmas, Paxton. That crispy enough for you? - [Crew Member] Daddy? (laughing) (calm music)
