Federal Donuts Fried Chicken

[SheilaAnn]

*photo from Eater.com

Recipe: Federal Donuts’ Crispy, Crunchy Fried Chicken - Eater

Poultry
Servings: 10 pieces

Ingredients:
The Cure
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
4 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons dry mustard
The Batter:
3 cups cornstarch
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
3 cups cold water
The Chicken:
1 whole chicken (about 4 pounds), cut into 10 pieces (including wings)
2-3 quarts canola oil, for frying

Directions:
The Cure
1. Combine all the cure ingredients in a large bowl and mix until well blended. Add the chicken parts and get in there with your hands to coat each piece well.
2. Put the coated pieces of chicken on a baking pan and cover with parchment paper or plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
The Batter:
3. Combine the cornstarch, flour, and salt in a large bowl and mix well. Slowly pour in the water and whisk until the mixture is smooth and the consistency of thin pancake batter.
Clip a candy or deep-frying thermometer onto one side of a big enameled cast-iron pot and add 2 to 3 quarts of canola oil, enough so the chicken parts will be fully submerged. Oil expands as it heats, so don’t overfill the pot.
4. Heat the oil over low heat until it reaches 300°F. Meanwhile, bring the cured chicken to room temperature — you don’t want to fry ice-cold chicken because it throws o the timing. When the oil is hot, dip each chicken piece into the batter to fully coat.
5. Hold a corner of each piece with your fingers and slide the battered legs and thighs into the oil. Be careful not to splash the hot oil! After 1 minute, add the wings; after 3 minutes, the breasts.
6. Use a spoon to make sure the chicken pieces don’t stick together or to the bottom of the pot. If they do stick, gently separate them with the spoon, without tearing the precious crust.
7. After 10 minutes total, with a slotted spoon, remove the chicken pieces to drain on paper towels. (The chicken won’t be fully cooked — there’s a second fry.)
8. Let the chicken rest for 15 to 20 minutes. While it hangs out, reheat the oil to 350°F. Fry the chicken pieces again, this time for 4 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy.
9. With the slotted spoon, remove the chicken pieces to drain on a rack set over a fresh paper towel–lined baking sheet. If using a spice blend, drop the hot chicken pieces right into the bowl with the spices and dust to coat. If using a glaze, use a paint brush or a silicone brush to spread on the hot glaze.

Source: https://www.eater.com/2017/9/30/1638...-fried-chicken

[SheilaAnn]

Mosca and any other PA Pitmasters, is the recipe above legit?

[mcook2201]

Recipe is legit, straight out of their 2017 book.
Just happened to have a copy.

[Mosca]

It sounds legit, but I never heard of Federal Donuts until just now. I’ll ask my sister who lives in Philly.

[Mosca]

Because I don’t deep fry stuff, I can see adapting this to shallow pan frying. If I use boneless thighs, the bottoms will be nice and craggy and the skin should still crisp up on top.

[SheilaAnn]

I’m already tearing this recipe apart (as I am prone to do sometimes, except the Team Cook, of course). I broke down a whole chicken and am saving the breast pieces for later in the week. Since I have 6 pieces left, I am making half the batter recipe and subbing seltzer for plain water. The “cure” is rather tasty. I used fine sea salt, so it does lean a little more salty, but I believe it won’t affect the finished product. I held some back to season as it comes out of the oil. And I am only using my 4” deep CI pan, so it will be a “shallow-ish fry”.

[texastweeter]

D be tempted to sub in vodka or gin for some of the liquid

[Dewesq55]

texastweeter - I gave up dirty martinis when I switched from Bombay Sapphire to Plymouth. It's so smooth it doesn't need any dirt. And it is really tasty. That said, I agree wholeheartedly with your first comment. I am fond of saying "there's no such thing as a vodka martini."
I even converted Barbara, a vodka drinker at heart, to Plymouth martinis.

[Richard Chrz]

Adam, how much would you substitute, a 1/2 cup, 1 cup, .more?

[texastweeter]

Richard Chrz cup to cup and a half of it.

[58limited]

This actually sounds pretty good.

[SheilaAnn]

Well….. the crust was very shatteringly crisp, that’s for sure. Which I loved. But yeah, it was salty. I would have loved this crust on wings only. And the tossed with a sauce, probably.


*photo from my kitchen

[Dewesq55]

Looks REALLY good. I might have to try it, but nuh-uh on the 2-3 quarters of oil 😲

[58limited]

Looks perfect. I've noticed that recipes seem to over do the salt. That was also a complaint I had at the last Meat Up: the BBQ places were too heavy with the salt, LeRoy and Lewis in particular.

[SheilaAnn]

After sleeping on it and reviewing my notes (I actually took notes this time), I would make the following changes:

Cure: reduce salt to 2 tsp. Note that I used fine sea salt. Adjust according to what you have. Use the Science of Salt for accuracy.

Replace half the onion powder with garlic powder.

Batter: sub in seltzer (club soda) for the cold water (which is what I did in the first place). I will try the vodka thing next time.

Reduce salt to 1 tsp.

I also reserved some of the cure and sprinkled after I pulled the chicken out of the oil after the second fry.

[58limited]

How about both garlic and onion powder?

[SheilaAnn]

58limited that’s what I meant by “replace half the onion powder with garlic powder” 🙌🏼 sorry for the confusion…..

[58limited]

SheilaAnn I kinda misread it too, that was the pre-caffeine time of the morning.

[jfmorris]

Aside from the spices involved, this recipe and technique is very close to the one I use for Korean Fried Chicken, that I pulled off America's Test Kitchen years ago.

I need to try this, but think I prefer the idea of shallow frying versus deep frying, if at all possible. The biggest reason I fry very rarely now is the amount of oil needed. I've got two dutch ovens and an electric deep fryer. But the last thing I remember doing in the deep fryer was fried pickles for the grandkids a while back, and I saved the oil in some mason jars for future use, after filtering. I probably need to give that oil a sniff test now... could have turned on me.