I use red wine vinegar pretty rarely, it’s a good addition to salad dressings and other raw veggies, but I haven’t incorporated it in my cooking much.
Well until now, I hadn’t. It took me one time to make this delicious dish, then I went back to make it one more time to get exact measurements and now that I have them you are in for a treat.
This meal is delightful enough to be served in any quality restaurant yet easy enough to be prepared and served right at the crib.
Here’s a step by step guide, and please don’t stare to hard, I didn’t realize I had a shot of the inside of my oven, but if you do stare please don’t judge me! :/
You take the waffles top it with a perfectly fried piece of chicken , then pour over a sweet buttery bourbon pecan pie sauce!!!
We were dipping waffles and chicken left and right in this sauce, all the ingredients compliment each other so well.
The vanilla, the pecans, the butter and of course the bourbon come together and make the perfect topping for the classic chicken & waffles!
I love my chicken and waffles with maple gravy recipe but this one is certainly standing neck to neck and giving it a run for its money!
Because we love our Arteries at my home, fried chicken is not something I cook on a regular basis, but when we do I like to make it memorable for all participating parties.
I have some basic tips and trick I use to get that tasty crunchy golden on the outside with a juicy and tender inside.
Compiling my knowledge, experience and professional tips I put together this list of five important factors when frying the perfect piece of chicken.
Some of these you may already use, but when all tips are executed together, you will be delighted by the crunch, tenderness and moisture of this chicken.
To get that perfect fried chicken you must have the right cooking equipment.
If you already have a deep fryer that’s fine to use.
I use my dutch oven to deep fry most things including my chicken.
With the dutch oven your chicken will be submerged in the oil which allows for an even frying.
No flipping necessary. Using my 5 qt dutch oven I fill up the pot a little over half which is about 2.5 qt of frying oil .
A huge an important step in deep-frying is the temperature of your oil. Oil needs to be hot!
The temperature of your frying oil needs to be anywhere from 350°to 375°
When you oil is not hot you’ll have breaded chicken sitting in an oil and collecting all that unnecessary fat back into the crust resulting in a soggy and greasy hot mess, instead of a crunchy and crisp delightful crust!
You can use a thermometer to check the temperature of your oil, or you can get all primitive like me and use the flour sprinkle method or my favorite, the wooden stick method.
For the flour method you take a pinch o flour and sprinkle on top of the oil, if it starts to sizzle and cook as soon as it hits the oil than you’re ready to fry it up!
For the wooden spoon method you take the handle of the spoon, and push it to the bottom of the pot if bubble of cooking oil start to pop, you are ready, if not give it some more time and check back in a minute.
After I brine the chicken, I dry it off, this help the batter stick to its skin.
I season it a bit more before I put it in the flour mixture.
After shaking it in the batter you should let it sit for a few more minutes untouched.
This allows for the flour to get stuck to the chicken skin and it also produced little crusts and chunks and crunch.
With the brine the drying and the extra sitting, and seasoning it can seem a bit much and time-consuming, but it’s all worth the wait to have the best fried chicken EVER!
Occupy your time by washing dishes, or preparing sides to go with the chicken, use the time wisely, your tasters will thank you later.
We’ve all tasted a piece of chicken where the seasoning was not good, whether it was not enough or too much the seasoning of the chicken can make it or break it!
When I started frying chicken, I would always under season.. Chicken is a bland and mostly flavorless meat. It needs a good mixture of seasoning and spices to bring it back to life.
Season the batter but if you do happen to under season, add some salt to the chicken as soon as it finishes frying.
The brine is also a huge part of seasoning the brine will infuse the flavor inside and throughout the chicken… so let me tell you more about this.
Last but probably the most important steps.
If you were subjected to some high school chemistry then you know of a little process called osmosis, when water moves through the membrane or in this case the chicken.
I hate to bore you with all this science stuff but it’s kind of pertinent to the conversation just bear with me for a minute.
Then you have diffusion wear particles move through an area with a higher concentration of the particle to areas with lower concentration. The water and salt together end up work their way through the chicken, creating a flavorful moist and tender chicken.
Brining also prevent the chicken from drying out during frying.
You can add all sorts of goodness to your brine, I stick to cloves of garlic, onions, salt and granulated sugar, once in a while I may through in some soy sauce depending on the final flavors I want to reach.
Get creative and add all your flavors before you even start cooking, which will lend to a tastier final result.
Brining infuses flavor throughout the chicken, and that’s exactly what you want!
Which tip works best for you?
Do you have any more tips or tricks you would like to share?
Please let me know in the comment section I would love to hear from you
We are back! Back home and back to school. The month of August has been spent everywhere but home. The kids and I have been back and forth between grandparents house, and home, with my husband kind of stuck mostly here at home alone, he did however have a week-long vacation which we spent at his childhood home in North Carolina.
Considering I slept on the floor I enjoyed myself a ton, my mother in law did 95% of all the cooking and cleaning so I pretty much got a break from my daily hustle and bustle back here VA. I genuinely enjoyed the time we got to spend with our parents, and whats even better I got to use my mama’s fully loaded kitchen which is almost twice the size of mine with a dutch oven ( I’m working on getting one), with a fully stocked pantry, and deep freezer. I literally could go shopping daily for what I wanted to eat that night.
If I had the space I would totally buy a deep freezer. With all that said I still missed home and our normal routine. So the kids are back in school and I’m back to my kitchen, and because I would love some kitchen upgrades I have put myself on a challenge, a budget challenge a OAMGS challenge ( Once a Month Grocery Shopping). Considering I go to the grocery store AT LEAST four times in a week or over 16 times in a month this is the biggest challenge I would have completed in a while. All those extra dollars will go to my new appliances and flooring. I will work all month on making budget friendly meals and post the ones that were worthy.
Next month I will replicate and give you the break down in cost. This month I’ll try to estimate. I am a cheap skate enthusiast, I have always wanted to be one of those incredibly cheap or should I say resourceful people who save and pays off their house in like 5 years , without any debt. I really am hoping I’m cut out for this! So onto the recipe…this will be the first budget meal of the challenge that is post and share worthy. The children loved it and so did the hubs, it’s Wheat free (did I mention I’ve tested as having a wheat allergy, I’ll discuss that later) and pretty healthy….light on the hips and light on the pockets!
1 lb ground chicken
2 Tablespoons Bobs Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose baking flour
2~15.5 oz Bush’s White Northern Beans
1/2~ Onion Chopped
2~ Cloves of Garlic Chopped
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 cup milk
3 Cups water
1 Teaspoon Cumin
1 Tablespoon Chicken Base
In a stock pot heat olive oil. Add and Saute onions and garlic.
Add ground chicken and cook through until you see no more pink. Season with some salt pepper and the cumin.
Add flour and get a roux going with the onions garlic and chicken add your chicken base. Mix well.
Now add your cans of beans, water and milk. Put top on pot and let cook for about an hour and a half on medium high heat.
Watch and stir in between.
Serve warm and sprinkle with cheddar cheese and top it off with a little sour cream.
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I started to substitute some of my ground beefy recipes with ground turkey instead.
At first it was not a switch made in heaven but I’m sure my lack of effort and enthusiasm had something to do with that.
I also realized that beef has so much of it’s own flavor, unlike poultry so when cooking the more bland meat you have to cook it a little different while adding more flavors.
So instead of switching the beef out for turkey I started developing recipes designed for the turkey, this turkey burger is one of those recipes.
When I first made it my husband ( who knows nothing at all about food, cooking, and hasn’t cooked anything since I was pregnant over a year ago) asked why is the meat so light!
Of course I told him to shut it, his mouth that is, but when he tasted the burger he was surprisingly pleased, well I wasn’t surprised the garlic and soy sauce edition really take this sandwich up a notch.
1 LB Ground Turkey
¾ cup plain bread crumbs
3 minced fresh garlic cloves
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
Handful of dried parsley
1 teaspoon ground pepper
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Mix all ingredients up well and form patties. Because the turkey is so lean they can easily stick to your cast iron pan, so wipe down pan with a little veggie oil, add burger and cook on both sides for about 8-10 minutes.
Caramelized onions
Sliced onion
Olive oil
Pour a bit oil olive oil in hot pan add onions and let cook while tossing for about 3 minutes.
Add to the top of burger with some cooked bacon and tomato and you have a lean flavor packing burger.
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Our house is pretty compact, and when we turn on the oven you feel it, so to avoid turning it on all together I have come up with some tried and true dinners that are sure to fill you up and cure your cravings. The first one is this easy-peasy sandwich all you will need…………
I forgot the sliced Pepper Jack Cheese for the picture..oops!
Rotisserie Chicken
1 oz. Taco Seasoning
1 cup Miracle Whip
Cilantro
Lettuce
Tomato
Pepper Jack Cheese
6 Hoagie Rolls
Tear meat off of rotisserie bones.
Mix Taco Seasoning and miracle whip.
Slather the sauce over the hoagie rolls.
Layer meat, cilantro, cheese, tomato, lettuce, and tomato into the hoagie roll.
So here’s the easy directions……
Tear meat off of rotisserie bones.
Mix Taco Seasoning and miracle whip.
Slather the sauce over the hoagie rolls.
Layer meat, cilantro, cheese, tomato, lettuce, and tomato into the hoagie roll.
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You’re probably used to enjoying them with some maple syrup maybe a little butter and some hot sauce, well if so you are in for treat, how about mixing all three into one sweet and savory gravy!
This creamy sweet and savory gravy takes the classic dish up a notch. Get the waffles recipe here. Just add a dash of maple flavoring.
Chicken
1.5 lbs. boneless chicken breast
½ cup buttermilk
1 Tablespoon hot sauce (Texas Pete)
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon seasoning salt
Frying oil
Maple Butter Gravy
¼ cup (½ stick) butter and 1 extra Tablespoon
4 Tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 Teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon of hot sauce (I use Texas Pete)
Mix buttermilk and hot sauce in shallow bowl put your chicken in bowl and make sure it is covered in the buttermilk mixture. Let chicken sit in buttermilk for at least 10 minutes. Heat your oil.
Beat eggs in separate bowl.
Mix cup of flour and seasoning salt in another bowl.
Dip your buttermilk soaked chicken in flour next eggs then back in flour, and then fry in heated oil.
Fry chicken as you normally would and start working on your gravy.
Make your roux with a half of stick of butter and flour. Add your milk, maple syrup and hot sauce, season to taste but I use 1 teaspoon of salt and a sprinkle of pepper. Mix in the extra tablespoon of butter.
Place waffle on plate followed by your fried chicken and topped with that savory sweet maple butter gravy.
If you like this recipe go check out my Bourbon Pecan Pie Sauce with chicken and waffles!
This recipe came out of sheer luck! I had some leftover Blue Cheese in the fridge, and some Buffalo sauce from chicken I’d made the previous week. I wanted to make chicken and biscuits but instead of the traditional dish I decided to use the buffalo sauce and leftover Bleu Cheese.
Buffalo Chicken and Blue Cheese Biscuits it is.
What you need….
Bleu Cheese Biscuits
1 ½ Cups All Purpose Flour *plus extra for dusting*
T Tablespoon Baking Powder
½ Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Butter
4 Tablespoons Shortening
¾ Cups Bleu Cheese*extra Blue cheese for toping*
¾ Cups Milk
Buffalo Sauce
2 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
1/3 Cup Buffalo sauce *I use Franks*
Chicken
1.5 Pounds Chicken tenderloins
Salt/ Pepper
Lemon Zest *optional*
Mix all your dry ingredients together. I use my fingers to incorporate the butter and shortening into the flour mix. Incorporate it until it is in a crumbled state. Now add your Bleu cheese and milk, keep using hands to mix but do not over mix *it will make the biscuit tough* Be gentle with your mix and incorporate. If mix is too wet dust some more flour on to get the biscuit to a point where you can begin to roll your dough out. When rolling dough still be careful not to over work the dough. Gently roll it out. Dip your biscuit cutter or a cup into flour and cut your biscuits out. Bake on 400ᴼ for 10 minutes just until tops begin to brown. Watch closely.
In a medium sauce pan mix butter, buffalo sauce, and brown sugar. Bring to so boil and turn down to low heat.
Heat veggie oil. Take your chicken tenderloins out of the brine and dry off with paper towel or soft cloth. Season with a little salt and pepper. Place chicken in hot pan, and cook for about 5 minutes on each side. When done drop them in the buffalo sauce cover with top and turn to low let simmer for about 10 more minutes.
When biscuits are done fix them how you want don’t forget to add a little sauce to biscuits top off with some Bleu cheese and parsley. I grate a little Lemon on the top to give it an extra umf! I like mines in a little chicken biscuit form but it is also great with biscuits drizzled in buffalo sauce and topped with chicken and some crumbled Bleu cheese. Fix it how you want. Enjoy! I would love to hear how it turned out for you….the good, bad and ugly!
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As for me when he gives me that oh so gracious look I think to myself “Yes I did it again!” Oh and my son’s need for seconds and thirds and even sometimes fourth is pretty gratifying as well (*side note* yes I do let him have as many portions as he likes, he is a very active boy shoot he’s growing why deny the boy!) Well when I made that goodness that you are looking at…let’s just say someone’s taste buds went to salsa that night. It’s Cheesy Quesadillas with Buffalo Chicken White Cheddar cheese caramelized onions and I can’t forget the crumbled Bleu Cheese. Are you feeling me now? Did I forget to mention bits of bacon in there as well? Yes! Well here’s what you’ll need…..
1/2 Pounds Boneless Skinless Chicken Tenderloins
1/2 Cup Buttermilk
Franks Red Hot Buffalo Sauce
Salt & Pepper
1 Cup Flour
Vegetable Oil
¼ Cup Honey Barbeque Sauce
½ Cup Franks Red Hot Buffalo Sauce
4 Tablespoons Butter
1 Teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
3-4 Slices of Bacon Chopped
1 Grated Garlic Clove
½ Red Onion Finely Chopped
Tortillas
White Cheddar Cheese
Blue Cheese (I know us American spell it “Bleu” to be fancy I suppose but seriously the translation is blue)
First Lets prepare the chicken….I like to bread and fry mines but you can go the healthier and easier route and simply sear in a little oil to get a good color on your chicken and transfer to your sauce…but if you want that buttermilk fried chicken come with me to the dark side and let’s fry those babies. So first let your chicken brine at least 30 minutes in a swimming pool of buttermilk and a couple splashes of buffalo sauce.
Now put your cup of flour in the zip-lock bag and add salt and pepper to your taste. *Keep in mind the sauce and bacon and be sure not to over salt your batter*. Now take the chicken out the brine and be careful not to splash that raw chicken juice all over the place, now put them in your bag of flour. Shake that bag heat up your veggie oil and fry your chicken as normal. While your chicken is frying get your sauce together in a small pot. Combine ½ Cup of Buffalo Sauce ¼ cup of honey barbecue sauce, 4 Tablespoons of Butter and 1 Teaspoon of Apple Cider Vinegar.Get that butter melted and the sauce well incorporated.
Place your finished fried chicken on a piece of paper towel to drain some of the cooking oil….now add to your pot of sauce turn the pot to low and put a top on it. The sauce will keep your chicken juicy as long as you keep it on low. Don’t burn the sauce.
While that’s going put the chopped bacon into a cold skillet and turn on medium high heat. Brown the bacon until fat is rendered now and adds a small grated garlic clove and then your chopped red onion. Mix your onion with bacon and let it caramelize. Turn that off . Remove Chicken from sauce and cut up into bite sized pieces. Now you’re ready to start putting together the Quesadilla. Spray your hot pan with non-stick spray and heat your tortilla on both sides. Layer some cheddar cheese (don’t be shy now cover that bad boy with that cheese), Buffalo chicken bacon and onion-bacon mix, and top with a sprinkle of blue cheese.
Close and heat on both about 2-3 minutes.
Serve with sour cream and salsa!
It may seem like a lot but I promise it’s worth it. Your family and friends will love and appreciate the effort…and more importantly your taste buds will dance the night away…I’m actually dancing while I type about this. I do apologize the pictures do this recipe no justice… Make sure you play around with the recipe some and change things to your liking, enjoy!
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