The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

dipped in buttermilk and tossed in flour seasoned with salt and black pepper, then fried in peanut oi ...

Looks crisp outside, but inside this chicken is dry. First, the ability of the meat to hold ...

allowing dissolved proteins to cross-link with each other. This is the main principle behind sausage ma ...

Unbrined chicken on the left versus brined chicken on the right. I’ve experimented with tossing certain ...

buttermilk. Not only did the chicken come out just as moist as with water brine, it was actually significan ...

A double coating of flour creates a thick crust that falls off the chicken. Much better was to simply add ...

crust that was lighter and crisper, with increased surface area (and we all know that more surface are ...

the chicken is cooked through to the center—was simple to solve. Just fry the chicken until golden brown, then t ...

you’ve got the time, allowing your regular fried chicken to rest at room temperature or in ...

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EXPERIMENT: Is It Best to Rest? ...

Here’s a question that has always vexed me: many existing recipes for fried chicken advise you ...

instead of the crisp, crunchy crust of the chicken dropped into the fryer immediately after dr ...

EXTRA-CRUNCHY SOUTHERN FRIED CHICKEN SERVES 4 2 tablespoons paprika 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper 2 tea ...

One whole chicken, about 4 pounds, cut into 10 pieces (see “How to Break Down a Chicken,” here) or ...

the oven to 350°F. Heat the shortening or oil to 425°F in a 12-inch straight-sided cast-iron chicken fryer o ...

completely crisp, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack set on a rimmed baking sheet to drain, th ...

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EXTRA-CRUNCHY CHICKEN-FRIED STEAK WITH CREAM GRAVY Once you’ve perfected crispy fried chicken, it’s only ...