Steve_A (Tatoosh)
TVWBB Super Fan
So we've been experimenting with the Serious Eats recipe for homemade Chick-Fil-A style chicken sandwiches. Prior to the finishing deep fry, I'm going to cook the breaded breasts on Weber. High temp to finish, or almost finish the breast meat prior to deep frying.
My wife prefers almost everything deep fried. Even her burgers! And my previous experience has shown that is the point of downfall for these copycat chicken sandwiches at my house. When we followed the original recipe and finished them by deep frying only, the crust was almost charred by the time I got the chicken breast cooked all the way through.
Last time I dealt with this by par-cooking the breast sous vide. Then breading and deep frying. It worked pretty good. This time I am skipping the sous vide, breading the filets and cooking them on the Weber along with a traditional chicken. The breasts will get pulled after half an hour or forty-five minutes. Then we'll save them for deep frying to finish the breading off. First time to do this, so I'm not sure what the result will look like, but I figure exposure to some heat and wood smoke will not be a bad thing.
In terms of cooking time, we flattened the breasts substantially before brining overnight. (After we retrieved them from the fridge this morning we coated them with the spice mix of paprika, cayenne, pepper, and MSG, then floured following Kenji-Alt's recommendation.) They will cook on the food grate in a pan and I'll check them a the 30 minute mark, and go from there.
Next time I will try battering them and doing Kettle Fried Chicken. One step at a time!
My wife prefers almost everything deep fried. Even her burgers! And my previous experience has shown that is the point of downfall for these copycat chicken sandwiches at my house. When we followed the original recipe and finished them by deep frying only, the crust was almost charred by the time I got the chicken breast cooked all the way through.
Last time I dealt with this by par-cooking the breast sous vide. Then breading and deep frying. It worked pretty good. This time I am skipping the sous vide, breading the filets and cooking them on the Weber along with a traditional chicken. The breasts will get pulled after half an hour or forty-five minutes. Then we'll save them for deep frying to finish the breading off. First time to do this, so I'm not sure what the result will look like, but I figure exposure to some heat and wood smoke will not be a bad thing.
In terms of cooking time, we flattened the breasts substantially before brining overnight. (After we retrieved them from the fridge this morning we coated them with the spice mix of paprika, cayenne, pepper, and MSG, then floured following Kenji-Alt's recommendation.) They will cook on the food grate in a pan and I'll check them a the 30 minute mark, and go from there.
Next time I will try battering them and doing Kettle Fried Chicken. One step at a time!
