You have to take pleasure in the small gifts life sends your way
- Scott Daniels: We Ate Well and Cheaply
- June 29, 2018
- 1317
You may remember that I spoke of moving to a different house some time ago, which has now been accomplished. Gone is the tiny kitchen, the unreliable range and the sticky cupboard doors. Hello plenty of space to move, a full-size fridge and 16 linear feet of usable counter space.
There were a few surprises in moving. Somehow, some really high-quality pans went missing, though we distinctly remember seeing them at several points.
And we had to unexpectedly replace the toaster. You see, the old one made the move in the final last-sweep carload when we were exhausted and just wanted to get the whole business finished: You know, when you start tossing things in whether they fit or not and without regard to packing. So the toaster, we found out later, ended up with several old family photo slides in it.
This weird accident revealed itself two weeks later when the bagels smelled like burned plastic. I hope they weren’t long-lost slides clearing up Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance or something.
With all this glorious space, we’ve been cooking and baking pretty much constantly. I say “we,” but I’ve happily stepped back into a prep and clean-up role and allowed a remarkably budding kitchen star to develop skills and shine.
With little help from me, we’ve turned out grilled Hawaiian chicken I embarrassed myself wolfing down like a Neanderthal, a few Indian dishes, several rounds of homemade tortellini, Cajun salmon, a pie and an almond-gin-rhubarb-pastry cream cake.
For me, I have made two batches of croissants and several loaves of bread. The former are getting close to satisfactory. Another two or three tries should do it, but it will have to wait. They take at least two days of rolling, folding, chilling and labor to do, and they’re mostly butter. The work probably doesn’t cancel out the fat content.
Last night it was fried chicken and waffles. We had sworn off deep frying because it left the house smelling of it for days. But we moved the deep fryer out to the patio and left the smell out there, setting it up on a pizza pan to prevent permanent grease-splatter stains. We got our fried chicken, and the house still smells like whatever candle is burning at the moment.
You have to take pleasure in the small gifts life sends your way.
My wife does frequent waffle experiments. (I doubt I’ll ever see a plain breakfast waffle outside a Waffle House ever again.) This time they were a perfect accompaniment to the chicken, which was fried with fresh tarragon and red pepper flakes under the skin and coated with egg, flour and breadcrumbs.
I can attest to the versatility of waffle additives. This time the batter got chopped scallions, a serrano chili, shredded cheddar and plenty of pepper folded in. The flavor combination of spicy and sweet is addicting.
If you attempt deep-fried chicken, there are a few things to keep in mind. The oil must be kept at about 350 F without allowing big drops when the food is added. Allow the chicken time to come close to room temperature before proceeding.
Use a cooling rack set over a cookie sheet to drain the oil after frying. If you set the pieces on paper towels, they’ll steam themselves and go soggy.
Allow 12-15 minutes in the oil, avoiding overcrowding. Dark meat takes longer. Check pieces as you take them out or use a meat thermometer to be sure it’s done. You want it to at least be 165 F internally.
Use a high-smoke-point oil like canola, never olive oil.
And fry that stuff outside.