The Best FRIED CHICKEN in America!! 🍗 Soul Food at Willie Mae’s in New Orleans!

hey everyone hope you're having an amazing day it's mark wiens i'm in new orleans and today an amazing lunch coming up we have the special opportunity to go to willie may's scotch house where they serve the best fried chicken in america i think the juices are dripping down my chin you have to get a close-up look at that chicken breast i've arranged to go into the kitchen so i'm going to be able to share with you a little bit of the cooking process how they fry their legendary fried chicken and so fried chicken is their main thing but they have a bunch of side dishes amazing soul food food that's cooked with so much heart so much passion so we got here a little bit before they open and i cannot wait to share all of the food with you all of the juicy crispy fried chicken all coming up right now we've got about 15 minutes until they open for the day so really quickly i wanted to tell you a little bit of the background story some information some details about this truly amazing family historic dining destination a place that has lasted and is built upon love care delicious food and friendliness and community of the neighborhood so it all dates back to 1957 and started by the amazing miss willie may seaton and we're in the treme neighborhood of new orleans now willie may's scotch house did not start off as a restaurant in fact it first started off as a bar and then it was a barber shop and a beauty salon but after a little while the beauty salon closed and that brought a demand for delicious food fried chicken for the bar that was open and because the food was so outstanding it just took off they soon became known for their food and so that's still where we are today they are known for their food for their family atmosphere for the community bringing people together and in 2005 miss willie mae seaton was honored with a james beard award for america's classic restaurants in the southern region of the united states and so from what i understand at that point it went from being an amazing local neighborhood restaurant and a favorite to being recognized around the united states and since then many sources have recognized willie may's scotch house as being the best fried chicken in america okay and so here we go it should be just a few minutes before it opens and yep let's go get in line we're gonna enter into willie may's scotch house i am extremely excited this is a hugely special opportunity to be here [Music] okay so i mean the main thing to order here is the fried chicken of course but they have a bunch of different sides as well from red kidney beans to green beans to mac and cheese to candied yams and so we'll definitely be ordering a few fried chicken plates and then we have to taste a bunch of different sides oh man i'm so excited i've never been so excited to eat fried chicken in my life we got four plates of fried chicken and fried chicken orders come with three pieces of fried chicken that should be enough [Applause] [Applause] i arrive right as he's putting a fresh batch of fried chicken in you can see that the the batter is very very runny and you can smell the aroma as soon as it hits the oil that amazing deep fried crispy aroma oh man and you can just see how incredibly crispy it's going to be sobel how long do those fry for well usually about 15 minutes okay all right [Music] [Music] [Applause] and what he does is he kind of really uh stirs them around make sure that they're make sure that they're not sticking to each other make sure that the crispiness is attaching to every single piece of chicken until they start floating in that oil and transform from that batter color to that golden ultra crispy brown and then really quickly right here at the front is where the fried chicken station is and where all the deep frying station is over here underneath this red lamp over there is where the the ready-made chicken is and where it's served onto plates or dished out for takeaway and then over here in the center console is where all of the different sides are prepared ready to go so as soon as you make your order i mean you're guaranteed hot fresh ultra crispy fried chicken and then all the sides are dished onto your plate to accompany the fried chicken [Music] [Applause] hello [Music] actually [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] so that's a fresh batch of fried chicken the thighs the bigger pieces take a bit longer that original recipe my mouth is watering and i think our order should be ready now so i'm going to head back to the table i cannot wait to just bite into that fried chicken [Music] [Applause] [Music] and one of the great things about this restaurant is because it's so busy and there's always people here is that they're constantly making fresh fried chicken so when it comes to your table as i saw it literally comes right out of the oil to the bin for distribution onto your plate onto your table within minutes or even seconds after a fresh batch is ready so you can already tell how fresh how crispy it's incredibly aromatic we got a bunch of different sides some of the white beans and rice we got mac and cheese we got candy dms we got some of the green beans some rice and gravy some cornbread but without a doubt there's no way you're gonna not start with the fried chicken this piece how about this piece right in front of me which i think i think that's a thigh you just have to admire this piece of fried chicken look at how crinkly it is you see all the different crevices in the chicken it's perfectly fried first bite willie mays oh wow oh man it is as crispy as it looks and the juiciness of the chicken and then you've got a little bit there's a little bit of spice in there it's nice and salty the hotness the freshness the juiciness the crispiness that flavor just goes all the way to the bone maybe we can break this thigh off a little bit look at how juicy the interior oh how juicy that interior is [Music] it's absolutely sensational without a doubt some of the best fried chicken i've ever had in my life and i've just had a couple bites so far i was planning to set this down and then try some of the sides and then come back for the fried chicken again but there's no way i can set this down we have to finish this first piece [Music] yeah this is some fried chicken that you will not set down until you have clean bones in your hand so after finishing my first piece of fried chicken there's two things that i can say number one is the actual flavor it's like perfectly salty it has a little bit of spice to it it is so incredibly flavorful the juiciness and the marinade goes all the way to the bone which is incredible and then number two something that i sometimes dislike about fried chicken is you know when the batter slides up when it's attached to the skin and then that just like sort of slides off your chicken and you're left with bare chicken without any fried crispiness on top of it that's something i don't like about fried chicken but this is not the case here somehow the batter is totally coated onto the skin which is stuck to the chicken so when you take a bite you bite down and the whole skin doesn't flop off like it does at other places it's attached it remains attached and so the engineering of this fried chicken is on the next level let's try some of these sides next fried okra i think i'm going to need a little bit of that louisiana hot sauce oh [Music] i love okra i love the crystal louisiana hot sauce that combination it's crispy and then something that i love so much about okra is the gooeyness on the inside next up for the mac and cheese let me restir this a little bit [Music] it's so rich it's so creamy i think i taste garlic in there and then it just kind of melts the macaroni elbows just kind of melt in your mouth that's amazing okay got some green beans and then rice with gravy [Music] it has a little bit of a curry powder flavor to it maybe pepper in there definitely some amazing seasoning in there yeah kind of tastes like a curry powder blend and then the green beans are cooked really soft really juicy they just melt in your mouth let's try another piece of fried chicken and i think this one is a breast yeah we gotta try the chicken breasts this is the true test the chicken breast [Music] [Music] i think the juices are dripping down my chin you have to get a close-up look at that chicken breast it's the juiciest chicken breast ever can you see how it's glistening when i took a bite it just like shot juices onto my chin i bet if you i'm pretty sure if you squeeze that chicken juices will come out of it look at how moist that is oh wow and again like i mentioned before you know sometimes you take a big bite of fried chicken and the entire flap of skin comes off with that bite and then the rest of your chicken is just bare look at the way it just the skin the batter it just sticks to the chicken and that's another thing i love is that the batter is not too thick it's perfect it's a coating it's not a heavy ready battery batter it's just everything it needs to be it's perfection gotta give it another special local touch [Music] yeah there's a little bit of spice in the batter already but then adding a little squirt of the louisiana hot sauce that extra heat that vinegaryness i mean not that this fried chicken needs anything extra added at all but it does taste good with hot sauce too the heat all the way to the bone it's steaming that chicken breast is unbelievable then another classic dish that you have to try at willie mays are the white beans white beans with rice oh man i love that texture you can see some of the whole beans but most of it is pretty mashed creating a nice a nice bean paste oh yeah that's amazing i love beans i love that texture that starchy texture most of the beans are mashed up but you can still feel the texture of the skins and some of the beans are whole i love that mix of textures you can taste some maybe some bell peppers in there definitely some sauteed down ingredients that's just hearty filling really flavorful cornbread oh it's so fluffy and airy and bubbly you've got an amazing texture of the the graininess of the corn of that flour it's crispy on the edges it's perfectly sweet it's really good okay i think we've reached the final side these are the candy dms [Music] it is sweet but it just melts in your mouth you taste the really rich kind of smoky kind of like a brown sugar aroma to it and there's also some aromatic spices in there i'm not sure if it's nutmeg or cinnamon it's like a dessert very sweet but it is really good and that does go well together with everything because most everything is salty so that contrast of sweetness and along with the fried chicken being spectacular the sides are also incredible i love those green beans the fried okra the white beans the mac and cheese oh yeah we've got a lot of food to eat so we're going to keep on eating gonna eat a few more pieces of fried chicken finish these sides so let's get back to the fried chicken oh yeah i haven't yet tried a drumstick here we go i'm gonna add a little bit of the crystal sauce [Music] it has to be the juiciest ever drumstick and again just that coating that batter the the sticky factor how it sticks to the chicken [Music] moving back into those white beans [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh you taste the flavor it has a very nice herbal flavor too and now i see the bay leaves in here too which is definitely contributing some of those aromatics [Music] and so that completes an amazing meal without a doubt some of the best fried chicken i've ever had in my life the crispy i'm going to be dreaming about the crispy juiciness forever but although miss willie may seat him she's not with us anymore her legacy her fried chicken her passion and the love that she gave this place and to the joy that so many people have experienced through being here and they're eating the chicken will never be forgotten an amazing restaurant incredible food and a place with so much heart and so much meaning and just an incredible place in the community so thank you to mike and to willie mays for allowing me in the kitchen for a little while to see the process of the fried chicken and then again it was an honor to be here to have a chance to eat here on this trip to new orleans i'll have all their information in the description box below when you are in new orleans it is an absolute must and so that's gonna wrap it up for this video thank you very much for watching please remember to give it a thumbs up if you enjoyed it and also remember to subscribe for lots more food and travel videos thanks again for watching goodbye from new orleans louisiana i'll see you on the next video

Channel: Mark Wiens

Views: 2,597,501

Keywords: fried chicken, New Orleans, Mark Wiens, best fried chicken, best food in New Orleans, Willie Mae’s Scotch House, United States, Willie Mae's, Willie Mae's New Orleans, america's best fried chicken, things to do in New Orleans, best food New Orleans, best restaurants New Orleans, soul food

Id: P329TzJw3bA

Length: 20min 31sec (1231 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 20 2021