I was really excited to read Meathead’s article on using the gas grill for frying, thus keeping the smell and the mess outside. I couldn’t wait to try it with the hardest of all things to get a good scald on: boneless skinless chicken breast. Those of you who have picky-eater-daughters who "don’t like eating meat attached to bones" will understand why I have to do this.
Anyway, here’s how I did it, modifying Meathead’s technique to suit my grill and the fact that I was deep frying, not shallow frying as he did in the article.
1. Sous vided the chicken breasts (two large half-breasts per bag) at 154°F for 1 hour (Chef Steps Joule programmed recommendation).
2. Took them out, dried them well, split them in half lengthwise (they were large 10-12 oz breasts) and put them in a bath of whole buttermilk and hot sauce while I fired up the grill.
3. All 6 burners on my Weber Summit gasser were set to high, with an empty 8 quart Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven placed in the center. After 15 minutes, I added the peanut oil (just under half-full) and turned off two burners on each side of the pot, leaving only the 2 center burners under the pot on the High setting. (Meathead used only 1 burner). Within 15 minutes, the oil was at 390°F.
4. In the meanwhile, I dredged the chicken in a flour mixture of self-rising flour, salt, pepper, and lots and lots of cayenne pepper and placed them on a rack over a rimmed sheet.
5. When the oil was hot enough, I added the first 4 pieces to the pot. Within 3 minutes, they were golden brown, so I removed them to a clean rack over a rimmed sheet lined with paper towels that I had set right next to the pot on the gas grill grate to keep them warm. They temped out with my Thermapen at between 160 and 165°F, depending on the size.
6. I checked the oil temp and it was 290°F so I added 4 more pieces. This time it took 5 minutes to get the chicken golden brown. I removed them to the rack with the other pieces.
7. The oil temp was still 290° so I put in the last 4 pieces. This time it took 7 minutes to get golden brown.
8. Since I had made all the sides while the chicken was in the sous vide bath, I could serve the chicken immediately. It was delicious, crispy and moist. Yay!
I had tried to shallow fry on my grill a few weeks ago and it was a failure because I used a stainless steel deep saute pan with about 2-3 inches of oil in it to try to fry tortilla strips for garnish for tortilla soup. It took 45 minutes for the oil to come to temp in that deep wide saute pan and the oil temp plummeted with the first batch of tortilla strips. It took for-friggin’-ever to get the entire batch of strips fried. The only difference was the pan used.
So I learned that using a cast iron dutch oven over my gasser's 2 center burners cranked to 11 made frying a piece of cake, or piece of chicken, more accurately.
Thanks, Meathead !
Kathryn
Edited to add: Meathead's recommendation of pouring the cooled oil through a fine sieve held over cheesecloth placed on the mouth of the storage container was brilliant. The oil filtered quickly into the jar and was pretty clean-looking. Lots better than the coffee filter placed in a large funnel setup that I had been using. That coffee filter drains sloooow.
Anyway, here’s how I did it, modifying Meathead’s technique to suit my grill and the fact that I was deep frying, not shallow frying as he did in the article.
1. Sous vided the chicken breasts (two large half-breasts per bag) at 154°F for 1 hour (Chef Steps Joule programmed recommendation).
2. Took them out, dried them well, split them in half lengthwise (they were large 10-12 oz breasts) and put them in a bath of whole buttermilk and hot sauce while I fired up the grill.
3. All 6 burners on my Weber Summit gasser were set to high, with an empty 8 quart Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven placed in the center. After 15 minutes, I added the peanut oil (just under half-full) and turned off two burners on each side of the pot, leaving only the 2 center burners under the pot on the High setting. (Meathead used only 1 burner). Within 15 minutes, the oil was at 390°F.
4. In the meanwhile, I dredged the chicken in a flour mixture of self-rising flour, salt, pepper, and lots and lots of cayenne pepper and placed them on a rack over a rimmed sheet.
5. When the oil was hot enough, I added the first 4 pieces to the pot. Within 3 minutes, they were golden brown, so I removed them to a clean rack over a rimmed sheet lined with paper towels that I had set right next to the pot on the gas grill grate to keep them warm. They temped out with my Thermapen at between 160 and 165°F, depending on the size.
6. I checked the oil temp and it was 290°F so I added 4 more pieces. This time it took 5 minutes to get the chicken golden brown. I removed them to the rack with the other pieces.
7. The oil temp was still 290° so I put in the last 4 pieces. This time it took 7 minutes to get golden brown.
8. Since I had made all the sides while the chicken was in the sous vide bath, I could serve the chicken immediately. It was delicious, crispy and moist. Yay!
I had tried to shallow fry on my grill a few weeks ago and it was a failure because I used a stainless steel deep saute pan with about 2-3 inches of oil in it to try to fry tortilla strips for garnish for tortilla soup. It took 45 minutes for the oil to come to temp in that deep wide saute pan and the oil temp plummeted with the first batch of tortilla strips. It took for-friggin’-ever to get the entire batch of strips fried. The only difference was the pan used.
So I learned that using a cast iron dutch oven over my gasser's 2 center burners cranked to 11 made frying a piece of cake, or piece of chicken, more accurately.
Thanks, Meathead !
Kathryn
Edited to add: Meathead's recommendation of pouring the cooled oil through a fine sieve held over cheesecloth placed on the mouth of the storage container was brilliant. The oil filtered quickly into the jar and was pretty clean-looking. Lots better than the coffee filter placed in a large funnel setup that I had been using. That coffee filter drains sloooow.
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