For the past six months or so I've been hearing about Melbourne's new love affair with American-style Southern Fried Chicken. I've read reviews for many places in the cooler, more hip suburbs of Brunswick and Fitzroy. I'd love to go and try it, but to be honest I'm not one to go out to eat very often. I think it comes from the way I was raised and the years I spent working in the hospitality industry. I know that hard work goes into the meal you've made for me, Food Establishment, but I like doing that hard work myself, and testing my skills and abilities when it comes to cooking and creating. As kids we weren't taken to restaurants because my mum was convinced that for the amount of a single steak dinner she could make a hearty beef stew that would feed six people, and you know what? She has a point. If you're budgeting in any way it is cheaper to prepare your own food. It's just a good thing for myself and my partner that I happen to really enjoy cooking.
Yet even before the Melbourne love affair with fried chicken, I had watched an episode of SBS Food Safari USA which featured a Buttermilk fried chicken recipe. It looked and sounded AHMAZING. Here is a link to the show's recipe: http://www.sbs.com.au/food/foodsafarirecipe/index/id/666/n/Southern_fried_chicken
and to the video from the program : http://www.sbs.com.au/food/video/11724355984/Fried-Chicken-Recipe-from-USA-Safari
But the one reason why I haven't attempted this recipe before now is because it's fried. I just can't square with the idea of frying at this point in time, and I think it's because I know how easy fried food is to make, and how delicious it can be. So I try to steer away from food in hot oil, apart from roasting veggies as a side to a meal. What changed my mind about trying this buttermilk recipe is the understanding that I can just bake the chicken in a hot oven and get a similar result with less oil.
For this attempt I'm using chicken 'ribs', which are a cut of chicken taken from the scapula. I discovered these little delicious nibbles after eating out at a Vietnamese restaurant and asking about them. I like chicken cooked on the bone, there is just so much more flavour present, and while the meat on 'ribs' is white meat, it doesn't have a chance to dry out like breast does. I also prefer using this cut over using wings, as there is more meat on the 'ribs'.
As I've said before, I rarely follow a recipe to the letter, as I find it more freeing to get the basic idea of the method and basic flavour profiles and then tweak them to my own tastes and pantry stock. So I've made a few changes.
I soaked 14 ribs in 220 ml of Buttermilk for about 3 hours in the fridge, turning once.
For the crumb mix I used standard bread crumbs mixed with paprika, peri peri salt, ground white pepper, ground corriander, cround cumin, fenugreek and nigella seeds.
After crumbing I placed the ribs in a roasting pan on the removable roasting rack, as pictured
and after baking for 25 - 30 minutes, dinner was ready!
I really liked the flavours of fenugreek and nigella seed, and the little black spots make for an attractive crumb.
We had these little ribs with a potato mash and peas.
Recipe
Ingredients
breadcrumbs
spices
Method
Preheat oven to 220c. Take the chicken ribs out of the buttermilk one at a time and let excess drip off. Place rib in crumb and spice mix and coat well. Place coated chicken ribs in an oven tray with a roasting rack big enough to accommodate them all. Bake in hot oven for 10-12 mins, turning once, and bake a further 15 mins until cooked.
Notes:
Next time I will not be making so many ribs. I used a packet from the freezer which was far too large, but needed to be cooked after defrosting in the fridge overnight. Next time I buy a bunch of chicken ribs I'll have to portion out before I freeze. I think this will help in the baking too, as the fit in the roasting tray was a little squeezed. More circulation of hot air means a crispier coating, so I will be re-visiting this meal again to experiment. I also think next time I might blot off all the excess buttermilk and use an egg wash before coating with the crumbing mix. Well, what is all this about if not for learning? I think I ought to use a different pan, as the roaster I used has quite deep sides and that could have impeded that air flow I needed for crisper chicken.
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