Buffalo Sandwich Fried Chicken Oh. Hi. I m not sure we ve met yet. My name is Whitney Fisch. A few things about myself: 1. I have two daughters who are so cute sometimes I scrunch up my face and make a, GAH! noise in order to manage the overwhelmingness of the cuteness. 2. I am a school counselor so I spend a lot of my time hanging with high schoolers, which I never thought I would love but, as it turns out, I do! 3. I LOVE BUFFALO WINGS! I WANT ALL OF THEM ALL THE TIME.
If you ve been reading this blog for a while now, you may have already known the above information. I have written about my love of wings before here. It s not so much the wings as it about the sauce. I LOVE buffalo wing hot sauce. I love it so much. I want to take a bath in the stuff. As a teenager, a favorite snack of mine was canned corn mixed with my mom s buffalo wing sauce and blue cheese salad dressing. Also, did I mention that I led a super healthy lifestyle as a teenager?
As a foodie and someone who loves Instagram and therefore
follows other foodies on Instagram (especially LA-based foodies), I was seeing Chef Ludo s Buttermilk Fried Chicken Sandwich all over people s feeds this summer. And then Bon Appetit magazine came out with their most perfect fried chicken sandwich ever and I was done. I needed a kosher-fied fried chicken sandwich and I needed it drenched in buffalo sauce STAT! Conveniently enough, I had bottles and bottles of oil in my pantry as the Chanukah season requires some serious frying. Therefore, I made my own dang buffalo fried chicken sandwich based on Bon Appetit s recipe and it was AMAZING. Make no mistake, the sandwich is all about composition. Do not attempt this sandwich without allowing yourself the time to pay attention to the details. This sandwich is the perfect marriage of spicy sweetness mixed with tangy coleslaw and a lightly non-dairy buttered bun. It s also crispy and crunch while still being juicy! It s a sandwich to be enjoyed on a Sunday night surrounded by loved ones who will still love you as you sniffle and slop your way through spicy hot buffalo sauce ecstasy. Pass the hand towels, this one is a keeper!
Buffalo Fried Chicken Sandwich Chicken 1 1 1 4 tablespoon Diamond Crystal or 2 teaspoons Morton kosher salt teaspoon light brown sugar teaspoon baking powder skin-on or skinless, boneless chicken thighs Seasoned Slaw 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 3/4 cup mayonnaise 2 tablespoons finely chopped chives 1 teaspoon celery salt ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 2 green onion stalks, finely diced (green parts only) 1 tablespoon of Bread and Butter pickle brine 2 cups thinly sliced green cabbage Buffalo Wing Sauce 3/4 cup Frank s Hot Sauce (I use Frank s and have only used Frank s since I was a kid so have no idea how this would taste with any other hot sauce). 2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce 1 tablespoon margarine 1 tablespoon brown sugar Assembly 1½ cups all-purpose flour ⅓ cup cornstarch 1 tablespoon garlic powder 1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon paprika 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper 2 tablespoons kosher salt, plus more 1 large egg, beaten to blend 1 cup almond or coconut milk 3 tablespoons hot sauce (such as Frank s) Peanut or vegetable oil (for frying; about 8 cups) 4 soft seeded hamburger buns 3 tablespoons unsalted vegan butter, melted Bread and butter pickles (optional but HIGHLY recommended) plus 1 tbsp brine Freshly ground black pepper Directions for Prepping Chicken: Mix salt, sugar, and baking powder in a small bowl. Season chicken all over with salt mixture (you won t need all of it). Chill uncovered on a wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet or on parchment paper, at least 2 hours and up to 1 day. Seasoned Slaw: Combine all ingredients up until the cabbage into a mediumsize bowl and mix well. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired. Add in the cabbage and stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes before serving. Directions for Cooking Chicken: Whisk flour, cornstarch, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, cayenne, and 2 Tbsp. salt in a medium bowl. Whisk egg, almond milk, and 3 Tbsp. hot sauce in another medium bowl. Working with 1 piece at a time, dredge chicken in flour mixture, turning to coat and packing into crevices. Shake to remove excess; return to rack. Pour 3 Tbsp. almond milk mixture into flour mixture and work in with your fingers. Dip chicken into remaining almond milk mixture, allow excess to drip off, then pack moistened flour mixture firmly onto chicken. Gently shake off excess; return to rack. Chill at least 30 minutes and up
to 12 hours. Pour oil into a large heavy pot fitted with thermometer to come halfway up sides. Heat over medium-high until thermometer registers 350. Working in 2 batches, fry chicken, turning often and adjusting heat to maintain temperature, until deep golden brown, 5 8 minutes per batch. Transfer to a wire rack set over paper towels to drain. Directions for Buffalo Wing Sauce: In a medium-sized sauce pan, add the hot sauce and heat over medium flame. Add in Worcestershire sauce, brown and margarine and stir well. Bring to a low boil, stirring frequently. Turn heat to low and let simmer for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste a bit (if you dare) and add more brown sugar at 1/2 teaspoon at a time if you like your sauce a little sweeter. The sauce should taste spicy and sweet with a hint of sour from the vinegar in the Frank s. Turn off the flame, cover the pot with a lid and keep warm while you prepare the buns and assemble the sandwich. Directions for Assembly: Heat a dry large skillet, preferably cast iron, over medium. Brush cut sides of buns with margarine and, working in batches, cook, cut side down, until deep golden brown, about 2 minutes per batch. Once done, take your cole slaw out of the refrigerator and spread a heaping spoonful onto one of the sides of buns. Add pickles to the other bun. Pour the hot sauce into a large bowl that is big enough to dip the whole fried chicken in. Working in batches, dip one fried chicken (one at a time) into the bowl and cover with sauce. Let some of the sauce drip off into the bowl and then transfer to the buns. Do this until all chicken is complete. Serve hot and with TONS OF NAPKINS.
brisket wedding pie for molly yeh
our girl, molly, is getting married. she s getting married and dang it, i m coming out of my self-imposed (kind of not self-imposed but LIFE-imposed) blogging hiatus to make her a pie. but not just any pie, brisket pie with honey garlic mashed potatoes and topped with a little brocollini bouquet, you know, to class it up and stuff. and the super coolest part for me? molly and her mama will be recreating this pie for her wedding day. pretty cool, right? (you ll also notice, to further honor our kallah, bride, i ve adapted her quirky little habit of only writing in lower case. it s killing me but you know, what we do for friendship).
the story of how little ol me got asked by THE molly yeh to
make a recipe for her wedding is an interesting one, to me at least. if the food blogging world were a high school, molly would be its queen bee, only she d be everyone s ideal queen bee; the one that is nice and is inclusive of everyone. the thing is, the food blogging world is a little high school and a lot of the top bloggers who could really be amazing mentors to up-and-comers like me don t actually engage with outside their successful network of fellow bloggers. not miss molly. we became pen pals after she left a comment on my shakshuka recipe from almost a year ago. i was so frikkin excited that a fellow food blogger, whose talent and skill inspire me so much, had read my blog and commented on it that i immediately emailed my kosher connection gang. one of them, melinda, suggested that i send molly an email thanking her for her comment and telling her how much i admire her work. so i did and, long story short, we ve been writing to each other ever since. heck, she even made a cake for my kiddo s 2nd birthday. the least i could do is rep her jewish heritage by putting brisket in pie form. let s break down this pie. because it s for a wedding (you should know that molly requested only savory pies) and out of the insanely amazing bloggers that she asked (talented folks such as renee shuman of will frolic for food, stephanie le of i am a food blog, izzy hossack of top with cinnamon, and emma galloway of my darling lemon thyme), i m the only one repping the kosher/jewish crowd. knowing that, i wanted to make sure that the pie was dripping in kosher/jewish wedding, or smachot (hebrew word meaning celebrations ), symbolism. the world knows that jews love to eat, especially when it comes to any kind of jewish celebration of any kind. it s basically your usual, ain t no party like a jewish party cause a jewish part has tons of booze and food situation. but, what the world might not know is that a lot jews believe that there MUST be meat at a celebration or ceremonial meal in order for it to be considered a true celebration. as with a
lot of immigrant communities, our history is steeped in poverty but no matter how little we had (and by we, i mean my great, great, great grandparents and so on and so forth), we would make sure that if there was a celebration to be had or a holiday to commemorate, there would be meat. meat came to symbolize celebration and happiness. the same can be said for wine. no holiday meal or celebration is complete without the blessing over the wine, otherwise known as kiddush. in fact, tradition has it that if a single person were to drink from the kiddish cup at a sheva brachot, they would be the next to marry. so, let s just all agree that meat and wine are a big deal for jews. and finally, the honey. there s yet another custom, this one involving challah and honey. tradition has it that newly weds should dip their challah in honey during the first shabbat meal they spend together so as to guarantee a sweet life together. my husband and i took it one step further and continued that tradition with every shabbat we ve ever shared together as a married couple. i mean, also, it s honey and honey is good. ok, let me get serious for just one moment. it is an honor and a privilege to have been asked to create this post. blogging and having time for myself just doesn t happen these days. this temporary single parent/full-time director of school counseling gig has sucked all my energy/time. i can barely set up a seen for a photo, much less the energy it takes to keep up with it multiple times a month. my viewership has plummeted and my love of cooking has suffered because of it. that being said, this small request has reinvigorated my quest for creativity. whether through tweets, actually reading and commenting on my rare post or telling all of China to check out jewhungry, molly has been 100% supportive throughout my sojourn from blogging by not-so-silently encouraging me to get back out there and i am eternally grateful to her for it. molly is one of the greats. she is living our food blogging
dream. but more than anything, she is living her dream and i wish her and her eggboy all the best for this very inspiring step in their lives. marrying my husband was the #1 best decision i ever made in my life and i am deeply touched by the kavod, honor, molly has given me to be a part of this beautiful decision in her life. mazal tov, molly. brisket ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 large onions sliced into rounds 2 3 pounds beef brisket coarse kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 6 cloves garlic, minced 3/4 cup whole baby carrots 1 cup beef/mushroom/vegetable broth 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce 1/2 cup red cooking wine (or the real stuff if you re a
baller) 1 tablespoon soy sauce cooking the brisket: heat a deep sauté pan over medium heat with the olive oil. add the onions and cook on medium-low to medium heat, stirring frequently, for about 20 minutes or until the onions have caramelized lightly. while the onions are cooking, take the brisket out of its packaging and pat it dry. season the meat generously with salt and pepper. heat a large skillet or sauté pan over medium-high heat and turn on your vent or fan, if you have one. sear the brisket until a golden brown crust appears on both sides of the meat. Remove and place in a slow cooker insert, fatty side up. sprinkle the minced garlic over the meat. when the onions are lightly browned, pile them on top and around the meat. Mix the broth, worcestershire sauce, and soy sauce, and pour into the slow cooker insert. cover and cook in the slow cooker on low for 6 to 8 hours or until the brisket is very tender. let the brisket rest for at least 20. using two forks, shred the brisket until there are barely any large chunks. cut up the carrots while you re at it so that they are bite-sized. scoop the meat and carrots into a pie pan with some of the meat juice enough so that there is roughly half a cup or so of meat juice in the pan along with the meat but not so much that it s meat soup. ingredients for honey garlic mashed potatoes: 3 pounds of yukon gold potatoes (roughly 5 6 potatoes) 2 tablespoons kosher salt plus more for seasoning 1 cup almond milk
4 cloves garlic, crushed 3 tbsp earth balance 3 4 tbsp honey cooking the honey garlic mashed potatoes place the potatoes and garlic in a large stock pot. cover with 1 to 2 inches cold water and season generously with salt. bring the pot of water to a boil and cook until the potatoes are fork-tender, about 20 to 25 minutes. drain out the water from the pot. keep potatoes and garlic in the stock pot and using either a masher or large fork, mash up the potatoes. add the earth balance and almond milk. stir all together with mashed potatoes and garlic. add the honey. if potatoes are not fluffy enough, add a little more almond milk until you reach desired fluffy mashed potato consistency. taste as you go, adjusting seasoning as needed. i like my mashed potatoes a bit sweet to juxtapose the brisket but you should season and flavor yours to your liking. using a spatula, scoop out mashed potatoes onto brisket in pie pan and smooth. you should have at least a 1/2 in. layer of mashed potato on there. broccolini bouquet is optional. enjoy! mazal tov, molly! Crockpot to the Rescue! BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwich
w/zucchini Slaw This month s Kosher Connection round-up was all about comfort food. I feel as though I jumped the gun a bit with my last post, which was dedicated to that siren of temptation and comfort Macaroni n Cheese. So since I already have that box checked, I went for more specific and that s comfort food, Southern Shabbat-style. As a full-time working mom, I struggle daily with trying to get all I need to get done. As much as I love blogging and cooking, I d say the number one thing that keeps me up at night are thoughts like, When am I going to have time to get this done?! Grocery shopping and cooking for Shabbat have kept me for roughly a week, if you combined all those hours laying awake trying to concoct a plan for getting it all done. As a side gig (because I have SO much time), I ve taken on doing some personal cooking for a family of 9 in conjunction with my regular client, whom I still cook 3 Paleo meals a week for. So, by the time I m done with cooking for all my clients, including my own family, I m in no mood to cook for Shabbat. It happens every Thursday evening. I finally sit down after a
loooooong day at school where I spend an hour or so trying to convince my daughter to eat dinner then followed by everyone s favorite pastime, the bedtime routine. By the time it s all done, I cannot be bothered to spend the next couple hours cooking for Shabbat. There are a few occasions when I can trick myself into actually cooking but that usually involves copious amounts of coffee from earlier in the day and not sitting down AT ALL. That s usually when all goes to hell sitting down. The minute I do, it s all over cause mama is not getting up for no one once I finally allow myself to relax (unless, of course, it s to get more wine or some chocolate. Mama s gotta take care of mama, am I right?). So because I wait until the last-minute to cook anything for Shabbat, I am forced to break out that holy grail of suburban living, the crockpot. Sure, I could go cholent, but we live in Miami and when it s 80 degrees outside, the last thing we want to eat is cholent. Therefore, as long as I have chicken breasts on hand, we will be having BBQ pulled chicken sandwiches with zucchini slaw. It s delicious, it s easy and it s messy but, whether you re crunched for time or you just love a nice, sloppy sandwich, this recipe never disappoints. Enjoy y all (and don t forget your wet-naps). Set it and forget it.
Oh, before I forget, my latest piece for the Huffington Post was posted last Friday! You can find it here. The feedback has been humbling and nicely overwhelming. I was nervous about putting it all out there but, thank Gd, the crazies kept at bay... this time. Thanks y all and enjoy your sandwiches! A lone sandwich. Crockpot BBQ Chicken Sandwiches w/zucchini Slaw Ingredients for Chicken: 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts 1 1 3 1 2 purple onion cut into thin rounds cup barbecue sauce (a flavor you like) tablespoons honey tablespoon Worcestershire sauce tablespoons apple cider vinegar Ingredients for Zucchini Slaw: 2 medium zucchinis Kosher salt 1 small purple onion, diced
1 bunch cilantro plus stems, chopped 1 jalapeno, diced 1/2 cup mayonnaise (warning: I like mine slaw SUPER mayonnaise-y so start with 1/4 cup and add if you want more) 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar Dash of celery salt Garlic powder How to Chicken: 1. After washing and rinsing your chicken, place it in the slow cooker and top it with your purple onion rounds. Top your chicken and onions with the ingredients for the BBQ sauce. Set it for 6-8 hours, tasting along the way (after chicken is cooked). Add spices if need be. 2. Once chicken is ready, remove the chicken to a cutting board. Using two forks, shred the chicken into small shreds. Return the shredded chicken to the slow cooker and stir. Add additional barbecue sauce if more sauce is needed or desired. Cover and continue cooking on low for 45 minutes. How to Zucchini Slaw: 1. Using a knife, food processor or julienne peeler, cut the unpeeled zucchini into thin matchstick-sized pieces, though perfection is not necessary here. Place the julienned zucchini into a container, toss with the salt and refrigerate for an hour. 2. Drain off the excess liquid, and then place the julienned zucchini in a medium bowl with the rest of the ingredients EXCEPT FOR CELERY SALT AND GARLIC. Stir until they are wellcombined. Add a pinch of garlic powder and salt to taste. The Final Step: Once all is prepared, scoop some chicken on one side of the bun (we used mini challah rolls) and some slaw on the other.
If you re feeling extra spicy, add some pickles in there too. Put them together, put a bib on and enjoy! Upclose, messy and amazing.