Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Party Mix Snack Tray: The Magnificent Seven (Tips for Frying Chicken) and More
Posted by Jim Ridley on Tue, May 12, 2009 at 8:00 AM
To accompany her recipe for No-Fail Fried Chicken--an item that in my experience might as well be called Statistical Improbability--Rebecca Crump at Ezra Pound Cake has a list of seven tips that'll guide your bird to the Promised Land. "Use tongs. I know, all the cool kids use a fork to turn their chicken, but a fork is a bad idea, because a.) it brings your hand that much closer to hot oil, and b.) it forces you to stab into the meat and lose some of its juices. (See also dry breasts)...." That's Step 6, and the others are just as practical and just as likely to mean the difference between an acceptable meal and something really special. And the cup of Frank's Hot Sauce in the egg dip can only help....
• If not for the vigilance of Food Alla Puttanesca, I would never have learned of perhaps the most wrong-headed protest site ever devised: IHateCilantro.com. "You are visiting the web site of a growing community of cilantro haters. We are, however, rational people," writes some strait-jacketed loon, probably with a crayon nub clenched between chattering teeth. "In fact, we are the most rational people on earth. No normally functioning human being would ever in a lifetime consider cilantro edible." Back away slowly, and pause at KMays' enticing recipe for a cilantro pesto with walnuts and parmesan.
• "The waitress checked in frequently and at her last stop, when she asked, 'How was everything?' I honestly replied that this was the best Mexican food I've had since moving to Nashville." Add Eric and Katie of Nashville Restaurants to the chorus of raves greeting the reopened Los Rosales on Bell Road. They even got some of the stewed nopales (prickly pear) with apples and raisins in orange vinaigrette, which went over like gangbusters at Iron Fork. Second opinion: Nashville Foodies on Los Rosales' $6.99 lunch buffet.
• "You know that story about how if you put a lighted match in an empty wine bottle, it will create a vacuum and suck down a peeled hard-boiled egg that's sitting on top of the bottle? Total bullshit. And it doesn't work with a plastic soda bottle either." Melissa at Rhino Legs has other breathless dispatches from the East Nashville Egg Federation championship. (Duh! Everybody knows the first rule of East Nashville Egg Federation is don't tell anyone about East Nashville Egg Federation.)
• The website isn't the only thing new at Julia Helton Catering. Check out the "Spring Has Sprung" menu featuring roasted asparagus with citrus and oregano, Moroccan beet salad and green chili pork posole. What will she do on her summer vacation? Read Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat's A History of Food, evidently.
• Subjects for future study: Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking, by Michael Ruhlman (book); the South Asian coconut jam kaya spread on brick toast, courtesy of Heidi Robb (recipe); Rachel Eats' version of ratatouille (recipe); the peculiarly popular Liam Neeson thriller Taken (DVD); homemade bagels, from Smitten Kitchen via The Pioneer Woman Cooks (recipe).
Comments (15)
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Nice article. The recipe, eh. I take issue with the egg coating part.
http://www.leitesculinaria.com/recipes/cookbook/pan_fried_chick.html
I submit this link for the BEST ever fried chicken. It's by the true queen and authority on southern cooking, Edna Lewis. Perfect every time. Thank you Edna!
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About hating cilantro.... Some people taste cilantro as bitter. It is genetic. I am one of them. So, a normal functioning human being would find cilantro edible and also enjoyable. It is abnormal not to like it and just ignorant to say that it is inedible to human beings. A whole web site devoted to hating cilantro.....OMG
I think I would try buttermilk instead of egg dip, but I'm not sure how hot sauce mixes with dairy products. Willing to give it a try, though. Mrs. Pink uses egg dip for her chicken and steak fingers, and those turn out great.
Soaking the chicken overnight in salt water makes an enormous difference, if you have the time.
@asparagus: So these cilantro haters may be genetically defective, not just painfully deluded? Damn, now I have to pity them.
to be fair, there is cilantro and then there is CILANTRO; that is, there are those who do not know when enough is enough. It goes in the larger debate of seasoning or main ingredient.
I do find it amazing that we somehow managed to find and love our favorite Mexican/Central/South American-influenced dishes for decades before cilantro ever creeped into the salsa, so to speak, so one does question its sudden ubiquitous quality and how its use/overuse seemed to grant the status of "authentic" to otherwise unremarkable dishes in the minds of the masses. (But since those are often the same people who drink Corona and have never heard of Sol, perhaps it does not really merit further ponderance.)
In the process, the absence of cilantro has become something to sneer rather than understand and appreciate on its own. As we did in the dark days before 1985 or whenever it was that the coriander plant got renamed.
I believe that cilantro refers to the leaves, and coriander refers to the seeds of an herb that is one in the same
http://www.organicfoodee.com/herbs/cilantro-coriander/
I do find it amazing that we somehow managed to find and love our favorite Mexican/Central/South American-influenced dishes for decades before cilantro ever creeped into the salsa, so to speak, so one does question its sudden ubiquitous quality and how its use/overuse seemed to grant the status of "authentic" to otherwise unremarkable dishes in the minds of the masses.
Interesting point, S L. I don't think it's that cilantro suddenly became the hipster's herb of choice and insinuated itself like kudzu into unwary dishes. Speaking strictly from my own experience, it's more like fresh fish or veggies versus frozen: frozen tastes fine if you don't know the difference—as it did to me when I was growing up and a wide variety of produce was not available at the local supermarket.
But the genie is out of the bottle, and cilantro is now readily available. I grew up with ketchuppy salsas and bland Mexican fare, and they suited me fine—until I tasted what a little cilantro could add to a dish. I'll grant you that all things are better in moderation, but unless you're using a haybale of cilantro, you're probably not going to overdose me.
I had client once who loved southwest cuisine but despised cilantro--"tastes like dirt, literally!" which can be hard to reconcile in my mind. But it's true, it is a genetic oddity. pity, yes!
I'm in the Edna Lewis buttermilk camp---and a few glugs of louisiana hot sauce works just fine in the dairy.
according to the Larousse Gastronomique, it is the same plant with different names, mostly regionally-based (it is also known as chinese parsley). The whole seeds/leaves thing, like some thinking its age changes its name, is just hooey, apparently.
Yes, dislike of cilantro is controlled by genetics, not moral character or culinary sophistication. Making fun of someone who doesn't like it is the same as making fun of someone who has attached earlobes when yours are unattached.
Maybe I was out of line. But if I stumble upon IHateAttachedEarlobes.com, and it says no rational human being can have attached earlobes, I'm gonna settle the matter with a stapler.
@goodfood: Glad to hear about the compatibility of hot sauce and dairy. And thanks for the blog link—I had completely forgotten Bunnicula!
@Kira: My pleasure! Come July, I'm thinking your mango-agave sorbet may end up floating in a glass of my ginger ale.
