RCP: Potato-chip coated oven fried chicken

[Jenise]

Dear god, two of my biggest weaknesses in one dish.

From yesterday's Food & Wine newsletter:



Fried Chicken

Canola oil spray
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Two 8 1/2-ounce bags kettle-style potato chips (such as salt-and-pepper flavor), finely crushed
Four 6-ounce boneless chicken breasts with skin, halved crosswise
4 bone-in chicken thighs (1 1/2 pounds)
4 chicken drumsticks (1 pound)

1. Preheat the oven to 400° and arrange the racks in the upper and lower thirds. Spray 2 wire racks with canola oil and set them over 2 rimmed baking sheets.
2. Place 1 cup of the flour in a medium bowl and season with salt and pepper. In another medium bowl, whisk the milk with the mustard and season with salt and pepper. In a large bowl, stir the crushed potato chips with the remaining 1/4 cup of flour.
3. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper, then dust with the flour, tapping off any excess. Dip the pieces in the milk, then coat in the crushed potato chips, pressing to help them adhere. Transfer the chicken breasts to one baking sheet and the thighs and drumsticks to the second one. Spray the chicken all over with canola oil.
4. Bake the thighs and drumsticks on the upper rack of the oven for 20 minutes. Transfer to the lower rack. Place the chicken breasts on the upper rack. Bake all of the chicken for about 20 minutes longer, until golden and cooked through. Season with salt and serve.

I saw this recipe in the magazine and thought the same thing. I've avoided versions of it until I saw this one and was drooling. Did you love it??
I bought some baby red, yellow and blue potatoes at the Farmers Market today. I may have to make this recipe and a potato salad to go with. So far, I've avoided Lipitor....hope this won't put me over the top.

[Jenise]

Karen, sorry I wasn't clear but I'm only at the lusting stage, haven't tried it yet. If you do, I await your verdict!

Reminds me of the Ferran Adria recipe for frittata that calls for potato chips.

[Jenise]

Reminds me of the Ferran Adria recipe for frittata that calls for potato chips.

It did me, too.

Have never used any oil sprays. Are they legit ?

Have never used any oil sprays. Are they legit ?

Legit is an open ended question. Pam and other oil sprays are cooking oil in a can, pressurized with a hydrocarbon (propane) that is liquid under pressure, but is a gas at room temperature and normal atmospheric pressure. It is convenient and not messy and delivers a very thin coat of oil on cooking surfaces. However, I don't think it is any more effective than putting oil or grease on a paper towel and spreading it very thin, which is what I do. The Pam coating is very thin, depending on how much one sprays, so because of this, very little fat is added to the food. People on diets that don't read the labels think it is fat-free, because it doesn't seem to add calories. Here is a link: http://caloriecount.about.com/forums/foods/maybe-chemists-enlighten-pam-ingredients-propane

FWIW -- I don't like the taste/smell of commercial cooking sprays -- but I have a pumped sprayer that I fill with good olive oil.

Spraying really does deliver a reliably small amount of oil onto a surface. I use it most often to make "Keller toast" -- which I've described before. You cut up a baguette into thin slices, put on a cookie sheet, get some salt and oil onto the surface, and bake in hot oven until slightly browned and very crunchy. I started out using a small paint brush to put olive oil onto the bread. I really think the sprayer cuts out about 90% of the oil that I used to apply that way.

[Jenise]

I'm not a fan of the product Pam because, like Frank, it has an odor I don't like. Bob loves it for prepping the barbecue however, so our compromise is a can of an organic Canola oil version by Spectrum.

I couldn't get past the oil spray on the first go around. Now I'm hung up on salting, salted chips .....
As much as I like the technique I'm doing a riff on this one without the spray and with my own seasoning in unflavored chips.
I DO really like the cooking directions for placement of racks and timing.