FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 • COOK’S COUNTRY 15The Slice Is Right
Slice the chilled breasts lengthwise into
1⁄2-inch-wide strips.
Turn the strips on their sides and cut
them into 1⁄2-inch pieces.POPCORN CHICKEN Serves 6 to 8
Use a Dutch oven that holds 6 quarts
or more. We prefer Frank’s RedHot
Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce here,
but you can substitute your favorite hot
sauce, if desired. Freezing the chicken
breasts makes them easier to cut.
11⁄2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken
breasts, trimmed
23⁄4 cups all-purpose fl our
1⁄2 cup cornstarch
11⁄2 tablespoons granulated garlic
11⁄2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
Kosher salt and pepper
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1⁄2 cup water
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
11⁄2 quarts peanut or vegetable oil
6 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons Frank’s RedHot Original
Cayenne Pepper Sauce
- Place chicken on large plate and
freeze until fi rm but still malleable,
about 40 minutes. - Whisk 2½ cups fl our, cornstarch,
granulated garlic, sugar, baking pow-
der, 1 tablespoon salt, onion powder,
cayenne, and 1 teaspoon pepper
together in large bowl. Add water and
rub fl our mixture between your hands
until tiny craggy bits form throughout
and mixture holds together like damp
sand when squeezed.- Cut chicken into ½-inch pieces.
Toss chicken, eggs, and 2 teaspoons salt
together in second bowl. Transfer half
of chicken to fl our mixture and toss
with your hands, pressing on coating
to adhere and breaking up clumps,
until chicken is coated on all sides. Pick
chicken out of fl our mixture and spread
in even layer on rimmed baking sheet.
Whisk remaining ¼ cup fl our into fl our
mixture until combined, then repeat
coating process with remaining chicken. - Line second rimmed baking sheet
with triple layer of paper towels. Add
oil to large Dutch oven until it mea-
sures about 1 inch deep and heat over
medium-high heat to 400 degrees. - Using spider skimmer or slotted
spoon, carefully add half of chicken to
hot oil in several spoonfuls. Immedi-
ately stir to break up clumps. Fry until
chicken is evenly golden brown and
cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes, stirring
occasionally. Using clean spider skim-
mer or slotted spoon, transfer chicken
to paper towel–lined sheet. Return oil
to 400 degrees and repeat with remain-
ing chicken. Let cool for 5 minutes. - Whisk honey, hot sauce, and pinch
salt together in small bowl. Serve
chicken with honey sauce.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDEDImmaculate Baking Organic Flaky Biscuits
Price: $3.99 for 16 oz ($0.50 per biscuit)
Biscuits per Package: 8 Packaging: Canned, refrigerated
Sugar: 5 g Sodium: 600 mg
Comments: Our winning biscuit had a “crispy” exterior and was “fl aky and tender inside,”
creating a nice textural contrast. We also liked the well-defi ned layers that “pulled apart
easily.” Tasters described these biscuits as “sweet” and “buttery and smooth.”RECOMMENDEDAnnie’s Organic Flaky Biscuits
Price: $3.99 for 16 oz ($0.50 per biscuit)
Biscuits per Package: 8 Packaging: Canned, refrigerated
Sugar: 5 g Sodium: 600 mg
Comments: Our runner-up had a nice “fl aky texture,” with a “crispy” outside that provided
a “good contrast” to the tender interior. Even though these biscuits had the same ingredi-
ents as our winner, tasters found them “very sweet” and more “fruity” than buttery, which
we surmise is because of diff erences in the “natural fl avor” added.RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONSPillsbury Grands! Buttermilk Biscuits
Price: $2.99 for 25 oz ($0.25 per biscuit)
Biscuits per Package: 12 Packaging: Bagged, frozen
Sugar: 2 g Sodium: 531 mg
Comments: This biscuit—the only nonlaminated one in the lineup—
had a “golden” exterior and a “soft” interior that “looks and feels more
homemade.” But some tasters thought it had a “lackluster,” “bland”
fl avor and seemed “more like bread than a biscuit.”NOT RECOMMENDEDPillsbury Grands! Flaky Layers Butter Tastin’ Biscuits
Price: $1.98 for 16 oz ($0.25 per biscuit)
Biscuits per Package: 8 Packaging: Canned, refrigerated
Sugar: 5 g Sodium: 442 mg
Comments: The layers in these “sweet and bready” biscuits were “hard to distinguish,”
and the biscuits lacked textural contrast—the “soft and doughy exterior” was similar to
the interior. Testers also noticed an “odd” “fake butter” fl avor.Are Ready-to-Bake Biscuits
Any Good? by Emily Phares
CENTURIES AGO, BISCUITS closely resembled crackers, which made
them easy for travelers, sailors, and soldiers to pack and transport. Modern-day
biscuits are fl uffi er and softer, thanks to leaveners and more fat, but people still
care about convenience, as evidenced by the popularity of
packaged ready-to-bake biscuits.
Our winning premade refrigerated biscuits were dis-
continued, so it was time to retest. We tasted four widely
available biscuits, and this time we included one product that came frozen in
addition to three that were refrigerated.
Biscuits can be broadly categorized as either laminated (created using a pro-
cess in which buttery pastry dough is folded repeatedly to create defi ned, fl aky
layers) or tender (softer and more uniform in consistency). Our lineup included
three laminated biscuits and one tender-style off ering. The latter was bread-like
throughout, with no noticeable distinction between interior and exterior, and
tasters lamented the lack of fl akiness. Another biscuit was also downgraded
because, though it had layers, they weren’t well-defi ned and were chewy, not
fl aky. We preferred laminated-style biscuits that had great textural contrast, with
distinct layers that “pulled apart easily.”
Tasters noted fl avor diff erences, too. Our winner had a “neutral butter” fl avor,
while our runner-up tasted “almost fruity.” Both had the same ingredients and
nutritional information, so the diff erences likely were due to each one’s natural
fl avor—lab-created chemical formulations made from natural ingredients such
as plants. Tasters also generally preferred biscuits with more sugar and sodium.
Our winner, Immaculate Baking Organic Flaky Biscuits ($3.99 for 16 ounces),
had the “best fl avor of the bunch.” Though we still think homemade biscuits are
worth the eff ort, these are an excellent alternative if you’re pressed for time.PRODUCT
TASTINGWhen Gagliardi Brothers, a family business that sold hamburgers and other meat to
restaurant chains in the Philadelphia area, found its sales declining in the mid-1960s,
Eugene Gagliardi Jr. got creative. First came his most famous patent: Steak-Umms. To
broaden the appeal of making Philly cheesesteaks at home with meat that was easy to
chew, he pressed unused meat scraps into a 22-ounce loaf
before freezing, slicing, and packaging it. The beef slices,
which took only 30 seconds to cook on both sides, fl ew off
grocery store shelves across the country. He eventually sold
the product to the Heinz Corporation for $20 million.
He patented several other novel methods of meat preparation—including popcorn
chicken, which he sold to Kentucky Fried Chicken for $33 million in 1992. KFC sold
15 million pounds’ worth of his invention in the fi rst fi ve weeks after introducing it.
While it seems a stretch to patent a way of cutting meat, holding the patent on these
products secured Gagliardi’s reputation as a small inventor and gave him leverage when
selling or licensing his ideas to big food companies.
THE
AMERICAN
TABLE