Tell us what you have cooked lately (that's interesting)

I see two possible problems there. First, you used buttermilk in step 2 rather than just eggs, and second you didn’t let it sit before cooking.

Standard procedure:

  1. get the meat bone-dry
  2. lightest-possible coating of flour, dust as much as possible off
  3. egg dip
  4. final coating (bread crumbs or whatever)
  5. let sit for at least 10 minutes to hydrate the flour and get it all gummy
  6. cook it

Well, the first problem is also sort of the whole key to the recipe (that buttermilk tang in the breading, a staple in some southern fried chicken recipes), and I actually did do the second :P

But yes, your standard is also my standard, but I swear I am gonna crack these damned buttermilk-breaded chicken recipes somehow.

The usual recommendation in these recipes, brining the chicken in buttermilk, is basically a nonstarter or an enormous mess (no way to really do an initial dry flour coat without blowing a ton of paper towels wiping the buttermilk off, and, of course, dunking straight from buttermilk brine into final outer coat results in the same sort of breading-loss that my newest attempt produced).

Yeah, that’s no good. Maybe experiment with a buttermilk batter.

You can also try putting the chicken in the fridge on a rack to chill out for an hour, that dehydrates it and makes the coating even gummier.

Perhaps I’m doing it wrong, but whenever making something involving chicken with a crust (chicken parm, for instance) I just brush it with olive oil, roll it in the breadcrumb mixture, and bake it. If I want it crispier I’ll just spray it with more oil or Pam.

That tastes fine, but the breading won’t stick to the meat, which is what we’re discussing here.

And honestly, it might even be basically fine if you’re just gonna go at it with a fork and sharp knife. The sticking issue is more relevant when eating it in, say, a sandwich, where loose breading can result in unintentional chicken breast cannonry.

Which may be why I never noticed a problem.

All this batter adhering to food talk has me thinking about the time i tried deep frying nutella. It was mostly a disaster, but the few that ended up working were so damn good that I keep meaning to try again. Basically I filled a silicone ice tray with nutella, froze them, popped them out and dipped them in pancake batter. My issue was I couldn’t get the batter to stick. Any tips for that? (Not that I’ll be trying anytime soon because it made a mess of things the first time around.)

I would treat it like fried ice cream, freeze the little balls rock-hard, dip in whipped egg whites and finally in crushed corn flakes, then fry for like 20 seconds.

Except here, you presumably don’t want to crunch into sludgy, partially frozen Nutella slushy (wait, actually, that sounds sort of amazing), so I can see a batter being a bit nicer (should probably cook longer than the already crispy corn flakes, heating the center more).

Hmmmm. I sometimes dip fish into flour before tossing in batter to get a little better adherence. Gives it something with real texture to cling to.

Yeah, flour would work too, but typically you don’t fry iced cream long enough to cook out that raw flour flavor while whipped egg whites cook instantly. It’s basically just to get the coating hot and crispy, so you can enjoy the difference in texture and temperature.

Now if you want the nutella inside to be hot, and basically all ooze out, you’re going to need a much more substantial coating. I would try something like a chile relleno batter, also built around beaten egg whites. Probably dip it in crushed cornflakes too.

I am now polling Facebook regarding deep fried candy bar preferences. I think I might end up on the “put it in room temp and let it come out an ooey-gooey chocosplosion” camp overall, which probably informs my thought process on @MattN’s Nutella question.

Then again, I treat stuff like this as an annual thrill at the state fair, so the temporary discomfort of being covered in molten Snickers bar gets spread out and slowly forgotten over the course of the interceding 364 days. . .

That’s how the Chip Shop in NYC did it. You bring it in, they batter it and deep fry it. Except for M&Ms. They said that they just disintegrate in the fryer.

My ongoing Facebook poll is coming out roughly 50/50 :)

For candy bars, the scots do it, using standard batter from a chippery. As I recall, Mars bars are the gold standard.

The Nutella still comes out gooey, but then again that’s it’s default state.

Kenji appears to have done some research on the matter. My guess is you probably started with his information anyway. But I really like his tip on wetting the flour dredge ever so slightly. I think he is on to something with the single dip though.

You have me wanting to try to fry something now.

Ever been to the Atlantic Ave Chip Shop? Great stuff.

The liquid added to the dredge really is key. I actually first stole the idea from his General Tso’s Chicken recipe, but it works out even better with these big pieces and especially with the thick liquid of the buttermilk and eggs. It leads to that perfectly craggy crunchy bumpy textured breading that I’m craving for this specific recipe. Don’t get me wrong. I love a good thin and crisp breading, too! Hell, I made one in the form of tempura just a few days ago. But these chicken breasts demand the craggy crunchy, by Sanders!

Looks like next time I’ll omit the first dredge entirely, but keep the salt and sugar brine. Hmmmmm

Further photographic evidence.

Another salad as described above. Semi-twice-baked potatoes (I mix butter and shredded mozzarella into the flesh right inside the crispy, oil-and-salt-rubbed skin, top it with cheddar, and re-bake for about 5-7 minutes at 400F for ultimate meltiness). And the biggest of the four chicken breasts.

You can see that craggy crusty crust pretty well especially on the lower half, but you can also see where it tore clean off of the meat while I was pulling it out of the toaster oven and I hastily patched it back up. The underside is almost bare right now for the same reason, which is unfortunate, cuz that was the craggier side by far!