Adventures in Frying - A Poultry Tale

"The Shed" - Boonville, CA

Time to celebrate - many different things, the wedding of good friends, the start of "real" fall, and my first attempt at frying (I take every opportunity I can to celebrate). I have almost finished reading my Lucky Peach from cover to cover and along the way I began to drool heavily over Jonathan Waxman's fried chicken. Having never fried before I did not have the proper equipment so I bought myself a splatter screen and a tub of crisco (I tried to fry in peanut oil, but the store was out so I decided to take matters into my own hands and gleefully picked up the crisco). For an article expounding on the health benefits of lard please click here. 

Jonathan Waxman's wonderful butchering diagram

I do see the virtues of doing a double-dredge and getting a little more crust - I love the crust - but the chicken did come out crispy and golden and was even moist on the inside - all in all a success! I served it with cornbread, buttermilk mashed potatoes (because you can never have too much starch), and jalapeno-cilantro slaw. Oh, and beer - cheap beer.

Side Trip - Fried Chicken Dinner

I have been out of commission for a little bit but am back and have some new recipes to share. I was a bit under the weather and not feeling like cooking, eating, or thinking about food - luckily that has passed. Before getting sick (luckily) I got to test the waters at the newly(ish) opened Farmshop in Los Angeles. Farmshop, the brainchild of Jeffrey Cerciello (formerly of the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group), features a Sunday night fried chicken dinner (sound a little familiar? Ad Hoc much?). No complaints here - it was the best fried chicken that I have ever had. I know this is a big statement, but it was immensely tasty - so flavorful, unbelievably moist and juicy, highly craveable (and the sides were pretty tasty too). I look forward to going back.

Bakesale Betty's Slaw!

I have been known to go to excessive lengths for food; I almost always find it extremely rewarding. So begins the story of my love affair with Bakesale Betty. My mom came to visit me in San Francisco about a year ago. It was a very rainy Saturday (shocking for San Francisco) and I announced to her that I was taking us on a field trip across the Bay to taste the best fried chicken sandwich. We schlepped across the bridge and had, as always, a delightful Bakesale Betty experience (they even gave us a free beef brisket sandwich - which subsequently became my favorite sandwich IN THE WORLD and to this day I mourn the loss of that sandwich and dream of obtaining the recipe . . .anyways, I digress). The Bakesale Betty sandwich is so satisfying and a key part of the magic is their spectacular slaw - and so, my endeavor to re-create it begins . . .

I found what appears/claims to be the actual Bakesale Betty recipe and gave it my best. I began by thinly slicing half of a red onion and marinating it in 1 cup of red wine vinegar. Meanwhile, slice a half of a head of cabbage thinly, and combine with two jalapeños (seeded and sliced) and 1/4 cup chopped parsley. Once the onions have marinated for 20-30 mins, remove them from the vinegar and discard (the vinegar).

To make the vinaigrette, combine 3 tablespoons dijon mustard, 1/2 cup olive oil (I used less), 1 teaspoon salt and 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar (the first time I made this I used 3 tablespoons of the red wine vinegar from the marinating onions -- it was a bad call, as it made the whole thing very oniony).

Et voila! The slaw is done, toss the dressing on the cabbage mixture and add in the marinated onions. We ate ours on tilapia fish tacos and I added some fresh radishes.  My slaw was good, but it was not up to Bakesale standards - I will keep trying!

Here is a nice BsB write-up from a Bon Appetit reader.

Little Skillet in SoMa

We were picking up a friend in the loin and decided to take a jaunt across Market and try out Little Skillet, the sister restaurant of Farmer Brown.
The menu is straightforward soul food-y and revolves around their fried chicken and waffles. I must admit I was a bad person and didn't go the waffles route but I was smart enough to order the chicken (after all, it did make Bon Appetit's top 10 places for fried chicken list) .
We tried the bbq pulled pork with grits which was AMAZING. Everything about it was delicious. The grits were perfectly creamy and the ratio of pork to grits worked out nicely with the bbq sauce carrying through each bite, mmm.
As for the fried chicken, it was really tasty as well, good flavor and wonderfully moist. Although I must say, the jalapeño cornbread that they serve with the chicken out-shined the main dish. It was one of the best little squares of cornbread I have encountered, with a touch of heat and a wonderful pepper-y flavor. The only downside to the meal, were the fries. I don't mean to be picky but I must confess I am somewhat of a fry connoisseur (and by that I mean whenever I see fries on a menu I can't resist ordering them). On this particular day I was actually (I feel like it is almost a sin to admit this) considering ordering coleslaw just to cut they fried-richness of everything else I was going to consume but the woman at the counter urged me to go with the fries. Maybe they had just gotten a little cold, who knows, but they were lackluster.
To top off my heart-healthy meal I bought a mini-pecan pie which turned out to be completely scrumptious. The crust was light and flaky and the filling had a nice maple flavor putting me in a perfect fall food coma. I had a very pleasant Little Skillet experience, not to mention, they have a great little hole-in-the-wall storefront, very SoMa chic. I will be heading back to fulfill my next jalapeño cornbread craving . . .