The Perfect Chicken Tender
I also tested for seasonings and spices, and I’ll be putting that recipe out soon.
If you like pickles, by all means… try the pickle juice. 😶
#chicken #foodscience #cooking
What makes the perfect chicken tender? I ran tests for best brine, best coating, and best cooking method. For the brines, I tested all of these and just water as a control. I also tested both overnight and 20inut brines. Shockingly, all of the brine except for the water tenderized about the same, and the only flavor difference was any brine with pickle juice. So, save your hot sauce and don’t worry about an overnight buttermilk brine if you don’t have the time. 20 minutes with salt water does just fine. For the coatings, I tested four different dry mixes and three different batters, egg, beer, and fizzy water. Both single dipped and double dipped. There are lots of different variations to go through, but the starch mixes were consistently crispier without dirtying up the oil like the Tisol did. Single dipping or double dipping didn’t make that huge of a difference, but the battered chicken tenders had a much better crust across the board. So, for me, starchy flour and sparkling water makes the best coating. And lastly, double frying was slightly better than single frying. But the biggest difference in a crispy, crackly crust was actually from pressing the dry mix into the meat and letting it sit there until you’re ready to use it. Though the best cooking method is a press, rest, double fry.
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This was the test for the best quality crust for chicken tenders. A few nuances I couldn't fit in the video: In my experience, wings and thighs are totally different. The best technique was to brine 20 mins in saltwater, then dip in starchy flour (either corn or potato), then dip in batter made with fizzy water and the same starchy flour, and then go back in the starchy flour for a press and rest. Lastly the "double fry" I referred to is frying most off the way, pulling it out, and then frying again to make extra crispy. Seasoning and spices were left out of this test because they are subjective and I wanted to focus on those in my recipe video… coming soon. 👍👍🫡
thanks for doing the work!
"Pickles are gross"
And just like that, he invalidated all his opinions. smh.
You said batter was better but leaving it in the flour till ready fry…… so what is it then, flour or batter?
Now we need a video on cooking this! Would like to see your best tender vid!
What makes the best chicken tender? Well, it's a tendie…. And it's chicken…. That'll do it.
Forgot about air frying
This is answers to the real questions 😂
Water as control is wild. I dont know what country you from but water has to have way more bacteria.
Amazing, I cannot imagine a better partner than you. This effort for a single dish? You don't even need to put out, damn!
Chicfila uses pickle juice as brine. I've heard a few people like them. They're best on Sundays.
Is there a spreadsheet of your results?
Chicken
To throw out pickle juice as an option just because you don’t like pickles is foolish. Pickle vinegar tenderizes chicken very well and the flavor is not bad at all on a sandwich. Peperoncino juice is particularly good if you want plain tenders.
See I like might light and fluffy. Preference.
Funniest part is this is all opinions😂
Shed a tear at that first chicken tender.
He looks like a young Rob Lowe.
These videos are getting better
This man needs a Nobel prize for this level of commitment
Damn brother you are a mirror image of my own brother!
AND I'm STARVING now! My mouth is watering like Niagra.
This is what internet was made for
Panko
guy looks like a low budget early 90's model.
So schnitzel it is
I love this as a chicken tender girly
A drive through.
I admire your dedication, that's a lot of chicken
Pickle is the best.i don’t eat chic filet but they use it and i do too
But how many chickens did you kill for these "tests"?
Why does it look like orange foam
Could you, in theory, prep the tenders just as you suggested, up until the dry, and then pack and freeze them? Could that have a negative impact on the results when you pull them out to thaw and fry?
Please do this with fish
awesome presentation of info.. short, real, explained.. wow
Not sure if you're aware, but the KFC secret recipe leaked online a few years ago. It'd be interesting to see other batter mixes going up against in.
man i wish i had the time to do this, it looks so good
as someone who worked at canes for a year and was in the kitchen, this honestly sounds about right
I tried a bunch of different cooking temperatures on chicken tenders and found 170-173 to be the best. 165 had a rubbery / squeeky feel on the bite. At 170, the meat puffed up all the way and was the juiciest and most tender. After 173, they started to shrink and lose juiciness. I couldn't tell the difference between 170 and 173, so anywhere in that range was good. Also, the best coating I ever had was with a thick batter that we made at Kroger. If you made it just right, it would shoot out a bunch of spikes and flakes when you dropped it in the oil. I haven't gotten a recipe to replicate the texture, yet. The reason Korger tenders are almost never good is because most people were makibg watery batter and cooking the tenders to around 193, because they weren't confident in their temperature control and were afraid to get people sick. They actually have a really good batter if you make it slightly thinner than pancake batter and cook to 170.
So starch batter double dipped pressed and rest then double fried 😂
Vodka is better than beer for this. Less water= more crispy
Signo de apertura de interrogación 🗣‼️
I instant subscribe that has gorgeous men.
Too bad he eat filthy pigs, hope he wake up one day for his sake
What I imagined cooking school would teach😂
So for the control for the brine why not just.. idk.. not soak it in anything? that'd give you the same result lmfao
Really appreciate the scientific apache to this
You’re right, pickle juice brine is so bad that chick fil a is the largest chicken restaurant in the world because of it. Surely they’re doing something wrong
Doesnt like pickles, the tastebuds of an infant.
Surprised 😮. Great video!
Egg and hot sauce mix with a planko breadcrumb. Push down on the chicken both sides, Have the chicken sit in the crumbs until you are ready to fry. Don't just dunk it in the batter the. Coat it and throw it in the pan. Let it rest and and dry
He's got that Zac Efron hair and eyes