Chicken & Waffles

Welcome back for another wonderful edition to this quaint little blog. Before we get started, I do have a question for you: Do you like the top picture? I ask because it's the first time that I'm using a picture that I sort of photo-shopped. I got an app on my phone and I'm testing the waters here. I don't have Instagram, but I do like the ability to enhance photos, as long as you don't stray too far from what it really looks like. So, let me know what you think.

Now, lets get to the food. Unless you have been living under a boulder, I'm pretty sure you know about fried chicken and waffles. If you haven't actually eaten the two together, I'm gonna guess you know about them individually. So a history lesson really isn't needed here. Like in most cases, the key lies in the preparation.

When it comes to frying chicken, it seems like everyone has their own special tricks to get the job done. Me? No special tricks here! In fact, I don't really like to fry my foods that much.

Yes, it's true. I'm a black man that doesn't care to fry foods at every opportunity. Now, that doesn't mean I don't like fried foods. I think a lot of fried foods are delicious, at least when done right. What I don't like is the mess of it all. The oil splattering everywhere. The oily paper towels. The disposing of all the oil. All that stuff sucks balls! But, the taste of perfectly fried chicken cannot be matched. The crispness of twice fried french fries can't be duplicated. It's that crispness that tends to be a distinct signature of a good deep fry.

Another signature of the deep fry is simply being unhealthy. I don't care how you try and slice it, fried foods aren't good for you. I'm certainly not the healthiest person in the world, but even I don't eat fried foods all the time, and neither should you. While the dish did come out well, it's not something to have all the time. This is the sort of thing to indulge in every now and then.

Now lets get to the food.

What you see in the pics is actually fried chicken and cornbread. I just made a cornbread mix and put it in the waffle maker. Slick, huh? No? Well fuck you then! I thought it was slick! Jeez!

Anyway, I started with some boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I had them marinating over-night in a mix of milk, lemon juice and sriracha. The milk and lemon juice makes a faux buttermilk. If you have buttermilk, use that.

I dropped the chicken in a flour mix and got off as much of the excess flour as I could. From there, I let the chicken rest for about 30 minutes.

In that time, the chicken will absorb a lot of the flour, and it will look like you didn't do anything to it. So, right before you drop them in the hot oil, give the chicken another dip in the flour. This will give them a solid layer of coating and added crunch in the end. I actually got this technique from watching the Voltaggio brothers do this on Food Network.

Now, only do that second dredge moments before they get in the oil. That's why only half in the picture have the second coat.

When the oil is hot enough, get frying!

I think it took around 9 or 10 minutes to finish. I was going more by color, not time.

When your chicken is done, place it in the oven at the lowest temperature, somewhere around 180 degrees Fahrenheit. This will keep it warm and ensure a crisp texture.

Guess what? CHICKEN BUTT!!! Ha Haaaa! Got you!!! For real, it's cornbread waffle time! This is what you have to start with:

Get your waffle maker ready and have your lube handy. The last thing you need is this stuff getting stuck in your waffle maker.

To be honest, I had never tried this before with the cornbread mix. It seemed reasonable enough, so I gave it a shot. Here is what I was looking at:

Success!!!! It didn't take long at all, and it tasted just like it should have. Giggity Giggity Goo!

I had a good amount of cornbread mix left over, so I decided to try something that is usually found in a liege waffle. For those of you that don't know, liege waffles are not batter based. They are made using a yeast dough. They have a bit denser, chewy texture to them. With the addition of a coarse sugar added to them, they come out the waffle iron with a crispy, caramelized outside. They are truly a delight for the taste buds.

I personally don't know of too many restaurants that make these, I do know that they are pretty popular in the food truck scene. If you live in a city with an established or growing food truck population, look into it.

Getting back to my experiment, I wanted to try and get a crisp texture with the cornbread. I mixed in some raw sugar right before it went in, and it turned out....a little sweeter. No real difference besides a slight crunch from the granules.

I figured that my machine might not get as hot as some of the professional models. I decided to take a more direct approach to the sugar aspect.

After a generous shot of lube, I put enough sugar on the iron directly to make an even coating. I poured in the batter and let it do its thing a little longer than normal. In the end, it only got a little crisp in just a couple spots. The bad part was the mess it left in the iron. It was a real bitch trying to clean this thing afterwards.

Long story short, it didn't work. Oh well, I'll have to come up with something better.

Once the waffles are done, it's plate up time. I put a bit of butter on the cornbread to start things off. Once the chicken got on the waffle, I drizzled maple syrup on top and put the sriracha on the side. I like to control the amount of hot sauce per bite.

And now for the round plate.

I wasn't sure which one I liked better. I asked my good friend Aimee what she thought, and she liked the rectangle plate a little better. I was headed in that direction myself. But, the round ain't bad either.

This tasted great. The sweet and spicy of this dish really works well. The chicken was super juicy with a little bit of heat on it's own. The cornbread was on point and held up well against the chicken. I had this with an ice cold Red Stripe and I was one very happy negro.

I hope you got some enjoyment from this one. No recipes this time around, but maybe you can still get something out of the journey. I know I did.

I'm out.

J. Miller