Ultimate Fried Chicken Sandwich with Pickled Vegetable Slaw

So, here is the run-down on how to make the ULTIMATE fried chicken sandwich.

The chicken: Marinate a six-ounce chicken breast in buttermilk. Next, dredge it twice in a spiced flour mixture and shallow-fry. This technique creates that satisfying crispy skin surrounding a perfectly juicy chicken breast.

The bread: Use an untoasted potato roll. The sweet and soft potato rolls contrasts nicely against the salty, crispy chicken. This is all about texture and contrast of flavor.

The pickles: Add dill pickle chips to help cut through the richness of that delicious fried chicken sandwich. But, if dill pickles are not your thing, substitute those with the pickles you do love.

The toppings: Make a pickled coleslaw using a colorful mixture of cabbage, chile, carrot and red onion pickled with coriander seeds, then tossed with honey and mayo.

The secret sauce: Mix together mayo, ketchup, Dijon and gochujang.

Now, all that is left to do is to roll up your sleeves and start eating.

_____

First it was the unveiling of David Chang’s Fuku and Fuku+ spicy fried boneless thigh chicken sandwich, treated like the second coming by some of our media brethren. Then feathers ruffled further in our chix-obsessed world when news broke in January that Shake Shack would serve its herb buttermilk dressing-slathered Chick’n Shack™ nationwide.

The fried chicken sandwich fad doesn’t stop there, though, with even more casual joints dedicated to the dish in the works around the country. Clearly, we’ve got birds on the brain—or have we all just gone clucking crazy?

We’re going to go with no—because, hey, fried chicken is delicious. Crisp on the outside, juicy on the inside, and you can eat it with your hands—it’s pretty sublime. Marry that with our general fascination with bread, and it’s easy to see why the fried chicken sando has taken flight of late (although Chick-fil-A claims to have invented it way back in 1967).

Mark Rosati, culinary director of Shake Shack, certainly understands its appeal: “Fried chicken sandwiches are pure comfort all the way. A juicy and crunchy fried chicken sandwich can tickle our pleasure senses, much like a freshly cooked, hot and juicy cheeseburger. Add a pickle or two, and it’s game over.”

Given all of the hype, we decided it was time to make an Official Tasting Table Fried Chicken Sandwich (see the recipe) to rule the roost. Here’s how ours stacks up.

Read the full article here.