Fried Chicken with Honey, Habanero and Pickled Cucumber
Ok, so don’t expect immediate results with this recipe, you have to anticipate the crave for some home made fried chicken weeks in advance, but once you are all set up on the ferments and pickles then you are good to go!
Obviously you can just follow the dredge and marinade recipe and forget the rest, by buying some Hellman’s, Sriracha and some gherkins… We won’t judge.
Just give me the chicken…
Chicken Marinade
500g chicken breast
1 litre water
50g salt
250g buttermilk
25g chilli powder
25g cracked black pepper
Cut the chicken into bite size nuggets, then in a bowl whisk the salt into the water until fully dissolved and submerge the chicken in the brine for 12 hours.
The next day rub the chicken in the cracked black pepper and chilli powder so the spices stick to the chicken, then finally into the buttermilk brine, ideally overnight again.
Chicken Dredge
100g plain flour
100g potato starch
100g cornflour
5g onion powder
5g garlic powder
5g paprika
5g white pepper
5g cayenne
Simply mix all these ingredients together and store for at least a month, so feel free to batch it up if you plan on making this regularly. Dredge the chicken a few hours before serving and store on a wire rack to allow air flow underneath, this will start to dry out the dredge and help get the chicken extra crunchy when fried.
Pickled Cucumber
1 cucumber
10g salt
200g cider vinegar
100g water
50g sugar
5g turmeric
½ red chilli
Cut the cucumber into roughly 0.5cm thick slices. In a colander add the salt and leave for 30 minutes to allow the salt to remove some moisture. Meanwhile make the brine by heating up the vinegar, sugar, water, turmeric and red chilli into a sweet yellow brine. Put the salted cucumbers into a jar or container and pour over the brine once it has cooled down.
Fermented Chilli
500g red chilli
15g salt
Blend the chili then weigh the mash and calculate 3% of its weight (500g chilli = 15g salt). Add the salt to the mash and allow to ferment in a jar for 5 days. Make sure the jar is sterile!
Mayonnaise
2 egg yolks
300g neutral oil
25g miso
25g Dijon mustard
20g sugar
25-30g cider vinegar
10-15g salt
If you are familiar with emulsions then this should be easy. Mix the yolks, sugar, miso, mustard, vinegar into a bowl/food processor then slowly start to whisk/blend in the oil until you find yourself with a rich and creamy mayonnaise. Add salt to taste.
After five days or so the chillies will be fermented and you can add them to the mayonnaise. We do five parts mayonnaise one part chilli. But you can decide on the level of heat that’s best for you!
Fermented Honey
250g raw honey
50g water
2 cloves garlic
2 scotch bonnets
In a jar add all the ingredients and mix well. The added water will allow the honey to start to ferment. Give it a stir daily for around 5-6 days then you can start using it. You can also just top it up as you go!
Cooking and Assembling
Assuming this has all gone to plan you can finally cook some chicken! Heat up a pot of oil to 170C, either use a thermometer or a cube of bread (it should turn golden in 20 seconds). Once you achieve the temperature then fry the chicken for around 3 minutes. In the meantime take a bowl and add 2 tablespoons of the fermented honey and 1 tablespoon of the cucumber pickle brine and mix with some Maldon salt and black pepper. Once the chicken is fried to perfection toss it in the honey glaze and serve with a healthy amount of chilli mayo and a round of pickled cucumber.
September, 2023
