Cook the Book: Northern Fried Chicken

Posted by Caroline Russock, April 8, 2010 at 1:00 PM

[Photograph: Caroline Russock]

All of you fried chicken traditionalist out there take warning: This is not a typical Southern fried chicken recipe. There are ingredients and techniques within this recipe for Northern Fried Chicken from Bromberg Bros. Blue Ribbon Cookbook by Bruce Bromberg and Eric Bromberg that will go against all previous fried chicken notions.

Now that we have that out of the way, let's get down to the genius and timeliness of this recipe. In the week following Easter folks are always looking for creative uses for their leftover eggs, but this recipe addresses another holiday leftover: Passover matzo. The Bromberg Brothers' fried chicken is coated in a mix of matzo meal and flour, which gives it a crust that is worlds away from your typical fried chicken. It's lighter and crisp in a way that brings to mind a cornmeal crust. Using egg whites to adhere the coating to the chicken ensures that the crust stays put, even if your chicken sticks to the bottom of the frying pan. The last bit of atypical preparation is sprinkling the hot chicken with the Bromberg's Fried Chicken Seasoning once it comes out of the fryer. Since the coating is not seasoned at all, this post-fry application of the Old Bay-like spice mix is where the majority of the flavor comes from.

So, there you have it: Northern Fried Chicken thought up by two French trained Jewish boys from New Jersey. This fried chicken was like no other recipe ever attempted at home, or eaten out for that matter, but it was really tasty. On the scale of making fried chicken it was not all that time consuming since there was no need to soak or preseason. All and all, pretty good, and even when served with some honey as the Brombergs recommend.

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Northern Fried Chicken

- serves 4 -

Adapted from Bromberg Bros.Blue Ribbon Cookbook by Bruce Bromberg and Eric Bromberg.

Ingredients

6 cups soy oil
1 (3-pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces (2 legs, 2 thighs, 4 breast pieces)
4 big egg whites, whisked
1/2 cup matzo meal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Perfect Roast Seasoning (recipe follows)
1 teaspoon Fried Chicken Seasoning (recipe follows)
Mexican honey (or any honey you prefer), for serving

Procedure

1. Fill a pot with about 3 inches of oil. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until a deep-fat thermometer reads 375°F.

2. Rinse the chicken pieces and pat dry with paper towels. Place the egg whites in a huge shallow bowl. In a separate shallow bowl, combine the matzo meal, flour, and baking powder. Dip each chicken piece in egg white and let excess drip back into the bowl. Next press each chicken piece into the matzo mix and tap off excess.

3. Working in 2 batches, if necessary, fry the chicken until dark golden, about 10 minutes for white meat and 13 minutes for dark meat. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Sprinkle immediately with the perfect roast seasoning, then coat the pieces with the fried chicken seasoning. Serve with gravy if you like, and honey, for dipping.

Perfect Roast Seasoning

- makes about 2/3 cup -

Ingredients

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons kosher salt
3 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

Procedure

Combine the salt, pepper, and thyme, and store in a covered container.

Fried Chicken Seasoning

- makes about 3 tablespoons -

Ingredients

2 teaspoons hot paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Procedure

Combine the paprika, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, basil, and cayenne
pepper, and store in a covered container.

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Farmers Squawk Back At Chicken Cruelty Videos

The Humane Society of the United has released some damning footage of egg farms, but farmers' organizations are firing back, claiming the group wants “to remove meat from our dinner tables and eventually — pets from our families.”

According to the video above (shot undercover at Iowa farms, and extremely difficult to watch), many chickens suffer gruesome injuries when being moved from cage to cage, or get stuck in the wires of battery cages and are trampled to death. P.J. Huffstutter of the LA Times writes that in addition to releasing the footage, the Humane Society is reaching out to in 4-H to instruct them humane farming practices. The group has also stock in food companies to influence them to make more animal-friendly decisions, convincing Wendy's, IHOP, and Wal-Mart to switch to cage-free eggs. But farmers aren't happy that the interference, and they accuse the Humane Society of far more nefarious goals. Kansas Farm Agency President Steve Baccus writes, “HSUS seeks to remove meat from our dinner tables, leather goods from our closets, animals from zoos and circuses and eventually — pets from our families.” He also says the group is “a powerful, well-funded activist organization pursuing what most reasonable observers would consider an extreme anti-animal agenda.”

But Baccus's words seem alarmist, given that the Humane Society's position is basically pretty moderate. The organization's president Wayne Pacelle stated Wednesday, “We're not asking for an end to the confinements of animals in buildings. We are asking they not be crammed into cages and crates barely than their bodies.” The Humane Society isn't PETA — they do not run billboards of naked women, or ask that we all go vegan. And, perhaps as a result of their more modest approach, they've had major successes — Huffstutter mentions California's Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act (Prop. 2), which will ban restrictive cages for calves, hens, and sows. So farmers may be right to fear the Humane Society, insofar as changing their practices might make things difficult for them for a while. But far from being “anti-animal,” these changes will be good for livestock, and for humans who care about treating them well.

Egg-Farm Video Is Latest Salvo In Humane Society's Animal-Rights Campaign
Shocking Egg-Farm Film Reignites Animal Debate

Send an email to Anna North, the author of this post, at annanorth@jezebel.com.