Skip to main content

A whole chicken, part 7: the finale

Don't worry: there will be an epilogue in a few weeks about broth. I keep my promises. But for now, it's time for the wings. Ladies and gentlemen, please hold your orgasms - shit's getting real...

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

So I usually avoid breading chicken because the breading just...never works for me. I decided to say "fuck it" tonight and went for broke. I patted the wings dry with some paper towels, then gave them a nice flour coating, followed by an egg wash (two egg whites and one yolk; you can see the other yolk in the background for nefarious purposes), then some bread crumbs seasoned with salt, black pepper, and a few dashes of cayenne.

Once the chicken was breaded, I put them in my air fryer at 400℉ for about 20 minutes, flipping them after about 7 minutes, and again after another 10. When they were done, I threw one on my plate.

Of course, my plate wasn't bare. While the chicken was going, the first thing I did was poach that egg yolk. I got the water boiling, added in some white wine vinegar, got the water swirling, and carefully laid the yolk in. I let it cook for about 30 seconds before killing the heat, then let it sit in the hot water for about another 45-60 seconds before removing it.

I also took a radish, sliced it thinly, then cut those slices into thin little...radish sticks. I tossed those with some barley and alfalfa sprouts for a nice little salad. That's when we kick into overdrive:
My younger brother sent me some new plates for my birthday, and this was the night to put them to good use. I started off with a line of balsamic vinegar across the plate with a drizzling spoon.
That egg yolk went perfectly into the corner.
I had to top that yolk with some of the radish and sprout salad, and I put another small mound of it a little off-center on the opposite end of the plate.
Oh, yeah. Remember the FUCKING CHICKEN?! Anyway, just plopped that bastard down right in the middle and holy shit did it taste good. I ended up gnawing the bones to get every bit of flavor I could.
Oh, yeah, and that egg yolk? It was perfect.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I don't understand food

Part 1 the morning after, while eating a sausage, egg, and cheese everything bagel from Bergen Bagels Last night, I had the pleasure, privilege, and audacity to eat at a Brooklyn restaurant named Aska . I know it's cliche to refer to a fancy restaurant meal as a life-changing experience, but this was straight up paradigm-shattering. I've written before about food being a medium of communication, about how I strive to reduce food waste as much as I can, about sharing our cultures and stories with each other through the meals we create, but seeing how Chef Fredrik Berselius is able to do this at such an intricate, elegant, and elevated level is both humbling and inspiring. The experience started before the first bite. I walked into the 10 table restaurant, and they knew me by name. I was shown to my table (right in the middle of the place, looking directly into the open kitchen), and they even pulled my chair out for me and pushed it up under me. I was a little uncomfortable with...

Perspective

 I used to drive a 1986 pickup truck that was a heap of trouble on wheels. Mind you, I learned to drive in 2002. That piece of shit loved to just, you know, die. In the middle of intersections. While turning onto side streets. While accelerating from a stop sign. While braking for a stop sign. While cranking. It just died whenever it felt like it. It had AM radio and hand crank windows. That's literally it. No FM, no AC or heat. There were seatbelts for 2 of the 3 seats. I fucking hated that truck. On the other hand, it was my truck. I drove it to church, to work, and to the library; that was as far as I was allowed to take it, and I took it all of those places. I remember the first time I got it to idle while parked. I remember singing "The Prayer" over its dying engine multiple times. I think my younger brother probably has some flashbacks of some of those moments. But, as old, beaten up, shitty, annoying, and objectively terrible as it was, it sure was nice to have it ...

Why not give a shit?

About a month ago, I cooked up a big pot of a miso vegan stew. It was a Sunday evening, so I knew I needed to cook enough for Sunday night dinner and Monday's lunch. A vendor was taking us out for dinner on Monday, so I needed enough to cover Tuesday's lunch, too. I had plans with a friend on Tuesday night, so I wouldn't have time to cook, so I needed enough for Tuesday dinner and Wednesday lunch, too, so I said, and I quote, "Fuck it. I'll just cook enough for the week." Unfortunately, as I packed away my leftovers that night, I realized that I cooked enough for a week and a half. Normally, that wouldn't be a huge issue, except that I was leaving town Friday morning and wouldn't be back until Monday evening and did not have room in my freezer to store more than a bowl. Luckily, I was able to pawn a few bowls off on coworkers, so it all worked out alright. However, when I told this story to someone close to me, they said I should think about donating t...