The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 1086

EXPERIMENT:
IsItBesttoRest?


Here’s a question that has always vexed me: many
existing recipes for fried chicken advise you to let
thechickenrestforahalfhourorsoafterbreading
itbeforefryingit.Butveryfewofferanexplanation
as to why, which led me to question the very
practice.Isfriedchickenreallybetterwhenyouletit
rest?Icookedafewbatchesofchickensidebyside
tofindout.
Materials
• See the recipe for Extra-Crunchy Southern Fried
Chicken(here).
Procedure
Followtherecipeasdirectedthroughstep3,butdo
notheattheoilyet.Instep4,dredgehalfthechicken
piecesintheseasonedflour,placethemonarackset
onarimmedbakingsheetandletsitundisturbedfor
atleast30minutes,andupto1hour.Heatuptheoil
as directed in step 3. Dredge the remaining chicken
pieces and immediately fry and finish baking all the
chicken as directed, being careful to keep track of
whichbatchiswhich.
Taste both batches of chicken and note their
texture.
ResultsandAnalysis
Whileneitherbatchwillbebad,thechickenthatwas
allowed to rest before frying should end up
significantly tougher with a hard, brittle crust