The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 1087

instead of the crisp, crunchy crust of the chicken
dropped into the fryer immediately after dredging.
Whyisthis?
Once again, it’s our friend gluten. ‡ ‡ As the
chicken rests, the flour in the dredging gradually
absorbs moisture from the buttermilk and the
surface of the chicken. As it absorbs moisture, its
proteinsbegintounfoldandlinkupwitheachother,
formingasheaththatgrowstougherandtougheras
it sits. Let it sit for too long, and you’ll get a crust
hard enough to crack your teeth. Fried chicken
should be crisp, never tough, and to achieve this
goal,youwanttogetyourchickenfromflourtooil
as rapidly as possible. Of course, this introduces a
problem: freshly dredged chicken will release a ton
ofdryflourintotheoil,whichwillcausetheoiltogo
badveryfast.Myadviceistoshakethebejeezusout
of those chicken pieces in a metal strainer as they
come out of the flour mix so that there are as few
excessparticlesofflouraspossible.


EXTRA-CRUNCHY
SOUTHERNFRIED
CHICKEN

SERVES4
2tablespoonspaprika
2tablespoonsfreshlygroundblackpepper
2teaspoonsgarlicpowder
2teaspoonsdriedoregano

½teaspooncayennepepper
1cupbuttermilk
1largeegg
Koshersalt