Fried Chicken Basket

Sous vide is a type of cooking that you use to break down tough cuts of meat or ingredients, but it is still a cooking process. You don’t always have to go low and slow with sous vide, the critical thing is you reach the core temperature and you hold it there while you break down the connective tissues. So, if you were to braise a brisket, you don’t run the risk of drying it out.

The other good thing about sous vide, is you have to vacuum seal the ingredients that you need to cook, in doing this when pressure is applied to any protein, you ensure faster marination time. The recipe that I am going to share with you is a Fried Chicken dish that I like using because it retains all the juices and I can reserve the juices for my sauce. You can also sous vide strong tasting aromatics such as garlic, onions, leeks, and shallots. It is similar to caramelizing but you get to impart the flavor without losing juices and fully cooking the item without it being oily and it will retain its shape.

Serves: 4 Prep Time: 30 mins. Cooking Time: 1 hour 15 mins.

Ingredients:

• 1kgchicken wings, cut into 2
• 50gsoy sauce
• 20gbrown sugar
• 2ggarlic powder
• 20gginger, sliced
• 1gonion powder
• 1gsalt
• 10gKorean chili powder

Garlic Fry:

• 100ggarlic cloves, peeled
• 10gcanola oil
• pinch of salt
• 1 sprigthyme

Onion Fry:

• 200gonions (1/2 inch rings)
• 20gcanola oil
• pinch of salt
• 1 sprigthyme

Batter:

• 100gall-purpose flour
• 50gcornstarch
• 50gpotato flour
• 3gkosher salt
• 250gcold water

Dipping Sauce:

• 150gcooking juice
• 25gdistilled white vinegar
• 75gmayonnaise
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1kgcanola or peanut oil for frying

Procedure:

1. Place all ingredients in a vacuum bag, vacuum seal for 20 seconds of pressure. Let it sit in the chiller for 1 hour. Set the sous vide machine to 75˚C. Preheat it before adding in the bags.
2. Place the bags in water and cook chicken wings for 1 1/2 hours. Garlic and onions for 3 hours.
3. Drain the chicken, onions and garlic. Place it on a rack and save all the juices. Chill for 2 hours so the skin dries.
4. Make the batter by mixing all the ingredients together.
5. To make the sauce, strain cooking liquid into a bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients, mix well and chill.
6. Preheat the oil to 190˚C. Dip all chilled ingredients and deep fry until crispy for about 3 minutes. Fry in batches so you don’t lose the heat of the oil.
7. Place all fried items in a basket, serve with dipping sauce.