Well, I guess it's a Thomas Keller kind of day - a recipe from his restaurant Bouchon for lunch and for dinner this recipe from his restaurant Ad Hoc. I have really been looking forward to trying this chicken. The recipe was published in Food & Wine magazine last year and Bon Appetit last month. I have read so many glowing reports on food blogs from people who have prepared this at home and raving reviews from many who have eaten at Ad Hoc. They only serve the fried chicken every other Monday night and charge $48!
What a disappointment! I don't know what I did wrong, but I was not happy with my result. The texture of the chicken was too mushy and the batter wasn't as flavorful as I had hoped. The recipe calls for brining (the same recipe as for the roasted chicken) a whole chicken for 12 to 24 hours. This may have been part of my problem, I brined individual pieces of legs & thighs for about 9 hours. Remove the chicken from the brine, pat dry and remove any pieces of herbs sticking to the chicken. Now is when the recipe calls for cutting the chicken into pieces. The batter is made by mixing flour, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, fresh ground black pepper and kosher salt. First dip the chicken in the flour mixture, then dip in buttermilk and then back into flour mixture again. Place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and let stand 1 to 2 hours at room temperature to dry. Heat oil in a heavy large pot to 320 degrees. Fry chicken until cooked through and skins is deep golden brown, turning once, about 13 minutes total for dark meat and 7 minutes for white meat. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with coarse salt. Deep-fry thyme or rosemary sprigs for 30 seconds to use as a garnish.
It looks pretty enough, don't you think?
I will definitely give it another try (I don't usually deep-fry so it may be awhile) and follow the directions more carefully. It also could be that I just didn't have a great chicken to work with, although it was organic free-range chicken. And I just realized that I forgot to salt the chicken after frying - dumb, dumb, dumb!
It looks pretty enough, don't you think?
I will definitely give it another try (I don't usually deep-fry so it may be awhile) and follow the directions more carefully. It also could be that I just didn't have a great chicken to work with, although it was organic free-range chicken. And I just realized that I forgot to salt the chicken after frying - dumb, dumb, dumb!If I'm ever in Yountville on the right Monday night (hey you never know!) I will definitely go to Ad Hoc and find out what all the hub-bub is about.
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