Dirty Fried Chicken Martini Gives Crunch
My great love for olives led me to create Dirty Martini Fried Chicken. I wanted to eat olives and chicken in a different way, and I didn’t care how it turned out. So I turned to alcohol. Fate (or science) decreed that olives and alcohol make an excellent team. For the crunchiest and most flavorful crust on any fried food, make this messy martini dough.
In addition to the spectacular name of the recipe, gin plays an important role in this test. As Serious Eats explains , strong spirits – in their case, vodka – evaporate faster and more vigorously than water, especially in the high heat of a deep-fryer. In general, less moisture is retained, resulting in a crispier crust. I paired my alcohol with another fried chicken: potato starch.
Potato starch is the secret to mega-crispy karaage chicken , as it contains the perfect combination of amylose and granule size . I mixed these ingredients with crushed martini olives to make a dough with umami and a crust that doesn’t get soggy. I expected it to be crispy, of course, but it was surprisingly so. After frying, I left the chicken to cool and then photographed it, meaning the chicken hung around for about 20 minutes before I could season it. A smaller fried chicken skin would have become soft thanks to the moisture at the bottom, but those tendencies were still crispy.
How to make Dirty Martini Fried Chicken
Take a small food processor or blender. Add olives, gin, olive juice and salt. You can substitute gin for vodka if you like; the taste is not revealed at the end. Beat for 20-30 seconds. With olives, the mixture will still look thick, we just break them up a bit. Add flour, potato starch and baking powder to a food processor. Pulse a few times and scrape the sides of the machine. Pulse again. If dry ingredients rise again, scrape again. Mix for about 30 seconds or until the mixture is smooth.
Dredge raw chicken legs in a thin layer of flour, then dip them in the martini batter. Allow excess batter to drain for a second and carefully lower one or two molds into 350°F frying oil (I used canola). Fry the chicken for about five minutes until it is well browned and cooked through. Drain onto a wire rack and refrigerate for at least five minutes before eating.
I was afraid that the olives would have no flavor after frying, but to my great delight, the flavor is not only palpable, but gorgeous and mellow. The dough is fried into a light, almost lacy crust, but by no means fragile. This dough was delicious for chicken, and it could easily go with any savory food meant for an air fryer. I can already imagine killer onion rings, a savory, (actually) flavorful version of fish and chips, or olives with battered fried olives.
Dirty fried chicken wings with martini
Ingredients:
- 8 large olives (about ½ cup)
- 3 tablespoons gin (or vodka)
- 2 tablespoons olive juice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons potato starch (may substitute corn starch)
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 6-8 chicken breasts
- 3 or 4 tablespoons extra flour to coat the chicken
Heat about two inches of oil in a tall saucepan. The goal is to keep the oil temperature around 350°F, so I recommend using a frying thermometer to keep an eye on it.
In a small food processor or blender, prepare the dough. Mix olives with gin, olive juice and salt until they are cut into small pieces. Add flour, potato starch and baking powder. Mix, scraping down the sides as needed, until you get a smooth paste. In a bowl, dredge raw chicken in flour, shaking off excess. When the oil is hot, dip the chicken in the batter. Allow the excess batter to drain for a few seconds and carefully dip one or two pieces of chicken into the hot oil. Fry for 5-8 minutes or until well browned. Drain the fried chicken on a wire rack over a baking sheet and let cool for a few minutes before eating.