Judging a book by its cover is never a good thing to do. This applies to people, jobs, and relationships. However, the difficulty lies in applying this to food. Food is the one thing that can be judged before tasting it because we eat with our eyes. The most important thing we can do as humans is rely on our senses to guide us through life. This include the all too familiar “gut feeling” we sometimes try to ignore. When trying to understand what we like and what we don’t like, our sense of smell, taste, touch, sight, and sound allow us to make informed decisions. However, if we’re brave enough, we’ll find ourselves pleasantly surprised when we discover that we like something we thought we wouldn’t.
This happens to me when I cook for clients whether it be for an intimate dinner, meal planning, or a full on bash. The ideas that people have about what they’re willing to try are sometimes non-negotiable, but I believe as a Chef and an entrepreneur, its almost my duty to help people understand there are different tastes they can enjoy in an effort to grow their palate.
I’ll share with you a story, I affectionately named The Ghost of Fried Chicken’s Past. I had a client contact me for weekly meal prep, however there was a twist. He refused to eat anything other than fried chicken! For the purpose of anonymity, I’ll refer to him as Colonel for this story.
Colonel was a busy professional that wanted me to prepare weekly meals for him because he was tired of fast food and had limited cooking skills. The plan was five dinners and four lunches per week with delivery on a Sunday. I was excited to create his menu & after coming up with what I thought was a winner, I presented the selection for the week. Colonel was nice enough to let me finish without interruption, however, when I asked what he thought of the menu, he looked at me plainly and stated “I only eat fried chicken”. Ultimately, Colonel agreed to allow for different sides to accompany his fried chicken, but was adamant that the meals consist only of his preferred cuisine.
Needless to say, I was not too thrilled about taking on this endeavor, but as a professional (and a business owner trying to grow), I accepted the challenge. The meals ranged from fried chicken with mashed potatoes, fried chicken with sauteed broccolini and garlic, fried chicken with glazed carrots over rice pilaf, and fried chicken with snow peas and Bok choy.
It wasn’t until Colonel viewed a picture I posted of Beef and Broccoli over brown rice that he finally decided to venture into something other than fried chicken. I remember he called me and asked “what’s that beef thing you cooked the other day? It looked good”. I explained what it was and how I prepared it. He was not swayed just then but after a more weeks of fried chicken, Colonel asked that I prepare him the beef and broccoli dish. You would have thought someone told me I won the lottery. Here I was struggling with how to tell Colonel I was tired of cooking fried chicken and little did I know, Colonel’s senses would do the job for me. I was elated because it was a turning point in his journey of understanding that not all change is bad and he trusted his sense of sight to allow him to try something new. I took baby steps with Colonel & was able to provide him different meals for the next 6 months!
The best part of my journey with Colonel was that while I was trying to think of 100 ways to cook fried chicken, I actually developed different fried chicken recipes.
Here is one of the recipes Colonel helped me create --
For this recipe, I used bone in legs, thighs, breast, and wings.
Marinade the chicken in olive oil, minced garlic (you can find already minced garlic in the grocery store), salt, pepper, and pureed basil. The pureed basil is also in the grocery store, usually in a tube. Be sure to rub the marinade under the skin of the legs, thighs, and breast.
The marinade time can vary from a two hour counter top marinade to overnight in the fridge for a more intense flavor. You can place the chicken in a storage bag or a container of your choosing. If you choose the storage bag, be sure to place in a bowl in case there’s any leakage.
After the marinade is complete, place the chicken on a sheet pan and set the oven to 350 degrees where the chicken will bake for 8 minutes. This is going to par cook or partially cook the chicken. It allows for the marinade to seal within the chicken.
After 8 minutes, remove the chicken from the oven and place on a plate or another sheet pan to cool. You’ll want the chicken cool so you can bread it.
Breading steps --
In a bowl, combine general purpose flour, salt, pepper, garlic, black pepper, and Italian seasoning. Add enough water to create a thick pancake batter then add ice. Yep- we’re making Bone in Tempura Fried Chicken.
Heat your oil in a pan on the stove-top to 360 degrees. I like the temperature to be a little hotter since the batter is cold and when you add it to the oil, it will bring the temperature down a few degrees. I found that 350 degrees doesn’t give the instant heat factor to get the skin crispy.
So, now we’re ready to fry. Using either gloves or tongs, place the cooled chicken in your batter & move the chicken around so its completely coated. Fry in batches for 12 minutes, place on a paper towel, sprinkle with salt, and enjoy. To be sure your chicken is completely cooked, you can practice the common method of opening a thigh and ensuring there’s no pink or you can use the more sophisticated method of a thermometer reaching 165 degrees internal temperature.
If you try this recipe, please let me know how you like it and share pics. Happy Cooking & remember to trust your senses!
-Chef Noemi
This happens to me when I cook for clients whether it be for an intimate dinner, meal planning, or a full on bash. The ideas that people have about what they’re willing to try are sometimes non-negotiable, but I believe as a Chef and an entrepreneur, its almost my duty to help people understand there are different tastes they can enjoy in an effort to grow their palate.
I’ll share with you a story, I affectionately named The Ghost of Fried Chicken’s Past. I had a client contact me for weekly meal prep, however there was a twist. He refused to eat anything other than fried chicken! For the purpose of anonymity, I’ll refer to him as Colonel for this story.
Colonel was a busy professional that wanted me to prepare weekly meals for him because he was tired of fast food and had limited cooking skills. The plan was five dinners and four lunches per week with delivery on a Sunday. I was excited to create his menu & after coming up with what I thought was a winner, I presented the selection for the week. Colonel was nice enough to let me finish without interruption, however, when I asked what he thought of the menu, he looked at me plainly and stated “I only eat fried chicken”. Ultimately, Colonel agreed to allow for different sides to accompany his fried chicken, but was adamant that the meals consist only of his preferred cuisine.
Needless to say, I was not too thrilled about taking on this endeavor, but as a professional (and a business owner trying to grow), I accepted the challenge. The meals ranged from fried chicken with mashed potatoes, fried chicken with sauteed broccolini and garlic, fried chicken with glazed carrots over rice pilaf, and fried chicken with snow peas and Bok choy.
It wasn’t until Colonel viewed a picture I posted of Beef and Broccoli over brown rice that he finally decided to venture into something other than fried chicken. I remember he called me and asked “what’s that beef thing you cooked the other day? It looked good”. I explained what it was and how I prepared it. He was not swayed just then but after a more weeks of fried chicken, Colonel asked that I prepare him the beef and broccoli dish. You would have thought someone told me I won the lottery. Here I was struggling with how to tell Colonel I was tired of cooking fried chicken and little did I know, Colonel’s senses would do the job for me. I was elated because it was a turning point in his journey of understanding that not all change is bad and he trusted his sense of sight to allow him to try something new. I took baby steps with Colonel & was able to provide him different meals for the next 6 months!
The best part of my journey with Colonel was that while I was trying to think of 100 ways to cook fried chicken, I actually developed different fried chicken recipes.
Here is one of the recipes Colonel helped me create --
For this recipe, I used bone in legs, thighs, breast, and wings.
Marinade the chicken in olive oil, minced garlic (you can find already minced garlic in the grocery store), salt, pepper, and pureed basil. The pureed basil is also in the grocery store, usually in a tube. Be sure to rub the marinade under the skin of the legs, thighs, and breast.
The marinade time can vary from a two hour counter top marinade to overnight in the fridge for a more intense flavor. You can place the chicken in a storage bag or a container of your choosing. If you choose the storage bag, be sure to place in a bowl in case there’s any leakage.
After the marinade is complete, place the chicken on a sheet pan and set the oven to 350 degrees where the chicken will bake for 8 minutes. This is going to par cook or partially cook the chicken. It allows for the marinade to seal within the chicken.
After 8 minutes, remove the chicken from the oven and place on a plate or another sheet pan to cool. You’ll want the chicken cool so you can bread it.
Breading steps --
In a bowl, combine general purpose flour, salt, pepper, garlic, black pepper, and Italian seasoning. Add enough water to create a thick pancake batter then add ice. Yep- we’re making Bone in Tempura Fried Chicken.
Heat your oil in a pan on the stove-top to 360 degrees. I like the temperature to be a little hotter since the batter is cold and when you add it to the oil, it will bring the temperature down a few degrees. I found that 350 degrees doesn’t give the instant heat factor to get the skin crispy.
So, now we’re ready to fry. Using either gloves or tongs, place the cooled chicken in your batter & move the chicken around so its completely coated. Fry in batches for 12 minutes, place on a paper towel, sprinkle with salt, and enjoy. To be sure your chicken is completely cooked, you can practice the common method of opening a thigh and ensuring there’s no pink or you can use the more sophisticated method of a thermometer reaching 165 degrees internal temperature.
If you try this recipe, please let me know how you like it and share pics. Happy Cooking & remember to trust your senses!
-Chef Noemi
