Spicy Chicken Sandwiches
If you don’t have tots with it, are you truly living your best life?
For a while, it seemed like every restaurant was trying to make a spicy chicken sandwich, including some places who should have left well enough alone. All the talk of the time made me want them, but there was no way I was going to wait in those lines. Especially when my kitchen was right there.
METHOD
1. If using the chicken breasts, cut in half crossways, trying to keep them even in size. If needed, pound them flat until about ¾ inch thickness. If using the chicken thighs, move to step 2.
2. In a large bowl, mix the buttermilk, ½ c. hot sauce, 2 eggs, paprika and 1 T. cayenne. Put the chicken into the bowl, making sure to cover the chicken with the mixture. Chill for at least an hour, but 2 hours will give the flavors more opportunity to get into the chicken.
3. In a pie pan or flat container, mix flour, 1 T. cayenne, salt, and pepper.
4. In a small bowl, mix mayo and ½ T. hot sauce.
5. When the chicken soak is complete, set an electric skillet for 370 degrees and put enough oil in the pan to reach ½ inch in depth.
6. While the skillet is heating up, let’s get the chicken ready.
7. You should have the chicken bowl, the flour bowl, and a wire rack for resting purposes.
8. Pull a piece of chicken from the bowl, letting the excess drain off. Place the chicken into the flour, working to get it well coated and packed on. Place the coated chicken on the wire rack to rest. Repeat until all pieces are done.
9. When the skillet hits the proper temperature, fry two pieces of chicken at a time for about 4 minutes or until golden brown (and delicious). Place the fried chicken on a paper towel on a plate to drain. Repeat with the other two pieces.
10. If you like, toast your rolls before using the spicy mayo sauce on both halves. Place two pickles on the bottom part and place the chicken on the pickles. Cover with the top part and serve.
11. Enjoy (tots go well with this. Just saying).
SOFTWARE
· 2 boneless chicken breasts or 4 boneless chicken thighs.
· 1 c. buttermilk
· ½ c. hot sauce plus ½ T, divided
· 2 eggs
· 2 T. cayenne pepper, divided
· 1 T. paprika (hot if you want, smoked if you have it)
· 1 c. flour
· 1 T. salt
· 1 T. freshly ground pepper
· ½ c. mayo (any good one will do, but I like Duke’s)
· Vegetable oil for frying
· 8 dill pickle slices
· 4 brioche rolls
VARIANTS
Obviously, you can adjust the heat to whatever you like with more or less cayenne pepper. If you cut back on the hot sauce, increase the buttermilk so you don’t lose the soaking liquid volume. Breasts are lower in fat, but thighs seem to taste slightly better and spicier.