— Jimmy Luong

Okay. Um, so a couple of, uh, you know, key words that jump out at me, and that would be, uh, perfect. And every time. So I'll, I'll begin by saying that, uh, you, the cook, uh, have control over that, and that's gonna be based upon your practice, uh, your understanding of the method and your refinement, uh, of the techniques that go into this process. Um, but otherwise, you know, let me share a few thoughts that come to mind. And, you know, when it comes to, um, you know, frying something in oil, um, you know, oil, uh, you know, frying is a dry heat cooking method, okay? And so, fundamentally, what it's doing is, uh, is removing moisture at least from the surface of that item. So, in the case of, of deep frying or pan frying, uh, is customary to, to protect, uh, the outer, uh, layer of the food item with a coating. And that coating, uh, is gonna be a batter, uh, or it could be breading. Okay? And, um, so the, uh, like other dry heat methods, um, the oil is pulling moisture out, okay? Of that outer layer. Uh, the result is this, um, coagulation of proteins. Um, you know, sugars are affected, uh, colors, darken, flavors deepen, and that, as it dries out, gets more crispy. Okay? So that's, that's the, the basic mechanics at work here. Um, in order to, to enhance some of the, um, uh, the oso desirable, crunchy quality of fried goods, um, if we're working with a batter, okay? Uh, you know, use a cold batter. Uh, and it, it's also, uh, you know, common to use carbonated water to that, that, that, uh, fizzy action in there, um, tends to, to lend to, uh, the texture of the finished product in a positive way. And, uh, so, um, also, uh, bring in, introduce to, to this blend, uh, some corn starch. And, um, you know, you, you can use rice, uh, starch rice flour. Uh, it tends to be a little tougher, I find, but corn starch is nice. Um, blended, uh, maybe two parts versus one part, wheat flour. The wheat flour is added, uh, to promote the browning, uh, of this outer protective layer, whether it's the batter or, um, well, I guess in this case, it's the batter because corn starch doesn't brown so nicely, okay? It tends to, uh, remain a pretty light or even white, uh, color. Um, so as, as a, uh, procedure, um, you know, dredge the food item, in this case you're asking about, uh, chicken, uh, dredge that item in cornstarch, and then dip that into your batter again, which is based on cornstarch and wheat flour, plus a, a cold carbonated water. Uh, and then that goes into the frying oil. And then the, the oil is, um, uh, you know, it's customarily, uh, at about 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Um, you know, that could inch up a little bit if you prefer, you know, through experimentation, you know, maybe 3 75. But, uh, three 50 degrees Fahrenheit, uh, is a solid place to, to start. Um, um, uh, I'm also gonna mention that, um, a, uh, a double frying process will provide a crispier outcome. And this is where, uh, you will file the procedure that I just mentioned in terms of dredging, you know, in the dry, uh, corn starch, uh, dipping that product into the, the cold batter that you made into the oil. Um, uh, again, three 50 is a good place to start. Some people may work with the temperature slightly lower than that at 3 25, but, uh, uh, you can experiment. Okay? Uh, and then you're gonna cook that until the item is, uh, just starting to take on some color. Okay? You'll pull that out, uh, let that cool down on a rack, and once it's cool, you'll fry it a second time. And so, again, oil at, uh, 350 degrees is typically fine. Again, some cooks prefer to bump that up a little bit to 3 75. Uh, but you'll introduce your food product to the oil, uh, and then finish it, uh, by gauging the color development. Okay? There's not gonna be any issues with doneness on the inside. Um, but you wanna look at the color and then pull the product out when it, it reaches that deeper, uh, golden color. Uh, place it on a, uh, on a rack, again, for any drainage of excess oil, um, you know, avoid, uh, paper towels, because it has, is a tendency to trap any steam, uh, which will only, uh, lend, uh, the softening of the, uh, the crust that you're trying to make. Okay? So that's, uh, an approach for, um, a, a batter fried item. Now, the other protective outer coating is going to be breading. And, uh, you know, I like to use Panko, which is a Japanese style breading, but really, you can use whatever breading that you, you like. Um, in the case of Ponko, uh, it is available in different, uh, coarseness from, from fine all the way up to some, uh, you know, extra large sort of individual pieces. Um, for a, a crispier finish, use a larger, um, ponko in terms of coarseness. Uh, if, if you have access to only one type of ponko, then of course that's gonna be fine. And, uh, so some things you can try out. Okay? And these are all standalone, um, techniques, uh, you know, or, or ideas here. Uh, you can, you can combine them however you want in terms of your own experimentation. But, but take a look at these singularly first, uh, and understand them as, as a standalone, um, processes. Okay? So the first one is to toast the panco itself before it's used in the breading procedure, okay? And as you'll add, uh, uh, that can be, uh, done in very lightly with some oil, uh, in a pan or in the oven. If it's in the oven, you gotta keep an eye on it, avoid burning around the edges. It needs to be stirred from time to time to even out the browning. And, uh, that's gonna further dry out that product and, and make it, uh, you know, even crispier than usual, even before you've applied it to your chicken. Okay? And then once you go through your cooking process, it's gonna continue to, uh, to get even, uh, crispier. Okay? And, um, so, uh, just as a review here, the, the standard breading, uh, procedure, uh, is, is a three step procedure. The, the first one is to dredge the product in a dry, uh, flour. You know, in this case, we can use corn starch. Uh, step two is to, uh, uh, apply, uh, a moist coating. And, and traditionally it's, uh, beaten egg. Um, but it could certainly be something else. Uh, if, if, uh, you know, you're using animal-based products, it could be buttermilk as a traditional item. If you're using plant-based items, it could be, you know, almond milk or soy milk, uh, for example. Uh, and then, uh, the idea is to, to moisten the outside of that item so that for step three, which is, uh, to apply the breading, the breading will adhere okay. To the item. And, uh, so, uh, you know, this is where you'll apply your, your ponko, or at least in my case, that's my choice. Um, take the moment to kind of press down with your fingers like this, uh, on, you know, the item, uh, to really get the, uh, breadcrumbs to adhere, uh, to the surface and to adhere evenly. Okay? Um, so in terms of handling the, the breading itself, a couple of ideas. Number one is to consider moistening, uh, the breadcrumbs very lightly. You can use a, uh, a misting sort of a spray bottle. And, uh, you know, the, uh, the, the, the tension between the, the light moisture, uh, on the breadcrumbs, and that hot oil creates this, um, this crispiness on the surface. Um, the, uh, other avenue here is a double breading procedure, okay? And, uh, you, you're gonna go through the standard, uh, uh, breading procedure. Um, but you're gonna loop through, uh, step two and three again. So you're applying a moist outer coat, and then applying ponko again for a thicker and crispy, uh, outer coating.