chicken? or... not?

 intro

This is my Action project for the ‘Food For Thought” class unit 3. For this project, I was assigned to recreate a dish at a restaurant I enjoy at home. I originally chose to recreate the fried chicken rice from a restaurant called phodega. unfortunately, i wasn't able to and instead chose a restaurant called honey butter fried chicken. Once we had finished recreating it we would taste both of them and either film a video or write an essay on the two dishes. I decided to do an essay on my ingredients, to show weather or not my dish was better than the restaurants, and if organic is better.

I have created an interesting and exciting new dish for my household. Now, what comes to mind when you hear “fried chicken”? A nice, golden brown sliver of meat, breaded with herbs and spices, batter and simmered in oil for a few minutes, then put on a paper towel to dry, right? Well, that’s what I made. But, I did it better. The restaurant couldn’t even compete. I first took the pre-cut slivers of chicken and marinated them in buttermilk for thirty minutes before mixing them, and laying them out on a pan of hot oil. After I completed the chicken, I ordered honey butter fried chicken, I got chicken strips and compared them with the chicken I made. 

First things first, we took all the herbs and spices we needed and mixed them in a bowl. This was going to make them taste better. I put smoked paprika, a marron spice that tastes almost fruity and bright, contouring the chicken to be almost like springtime. Then there is the salt. Now, salt gives it that savory taste, making the chicken more enjoyable. The black pepper itself doesn't add much flavor, but it brings out the spice in the other ingredients, so it is essential to the recipe. Onion powder is similar, but it gives the chicken some earthy flavor. Poultry seasoning gives aspects to the chicken, specifically for chicken, I think it's like adding sprinkles to a cupcake. The flour is for battering the chicken, making it fry well. 

The appearance of each chicken, the chicken I made, and the chicken I ordered from honey butter fried chicken. The chicken I made, had a fiery red color to it. But the chicken I ordered was nearly the same color as the box it came in. I noticed this and I thought it apply to the taste, but I was wrong. It didn’t taste bad at all. Although the one we made was much higher quality. This relates to Michael pollan's five food transformations, quantity over quality. Since we have hit this time in agriculture since we started genetically modifying products. Though, just because it tastes better, doesn’t mean it’s nutritionally better.

 “Took pains to return nutrients to the local soil on which they depended, "our modern civilization returns exceedingly little of what it borrows. Vast fleets are busy carrying the limited minerals offar-flungg districts to distant markets." Renner documents how Christ eventually came to see the problem of diet and health as a problem of ecological dysfunction. By breaking the links among soil's, local foods, and local people's, the industrial food system disrupts the circular flow of the new industrial system, it could no longer meet the biochemical requirements of the human body , which, not having had time to adapt,  was failing in new ways.” POLLAN, Michael (2009). In Defense of Food. New York: Penguin Press.

Ingredients 

• 4-6 Pcs Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

• 1 1/2 c All-Purpose Flour

• 1 tsp Salt

• 1/2 tsp Black Pepper

• 1/4 tsp Onion Powder

• 1/2 tsp smoked Paprika

• 1/2 tsp dried thyme

• 1/8 tsp Poultry Seasoning

• 3-4 dashes of Hot Sauce (like Texas Pete)

• 1 c Buttermilk

• Cooking Oil - enough for frying (about 1/2 " in a large skillet)

 

Instructions

1. Combine hot sauce and buttermilk and add chicken to marinate for 30 minutes.

2. In a separate bowl combine flour and seasonings and herbs.

3. Heat the cooking oil over medium until heated.

4. Take each chicken breasts from the buttermilk marinade and dredge in the flour mixture and add to the skillet.

5. Fry on each side turning every 3 minutes until cooked, cooking time is 12-15 minutes depending on the thickness of the chicken.

6. Transfer cooked chicken from skillet to a paper towel-lined plate to remove excess cooking oil before serving.