Buttermilk Fried Chicken

071/18: Buttermilk Fried Chicken

071/18 – Buttermilk Fried Chicken:

I have cooked some great dishes out of the Breddos Tacos book this year and really enjoyed each cook so far. After the vortex chicken wing cook the previous week I wanted to try a fried chicken dish over the vortex to see if it would come out tasting “fried” – Buttermilk Fried Chicken, Pico De Gallo and Habanero Ailoi was the chosen dish!

This recipe is from the Breddos Tacos cook book – You can buy the book by clicking the link below:

The previous taco cooks from this book were:

029/18: Red Curry Paste Braised Short-Rib Taco

THE KIT:

The Vortex (Fuel Dome) – you can get one from Pro Smoke for £27.99. I did a write up on what it is and how it works in a previous post:

THE MEAT:

Two big 600g packs of Chicken Thighs from Gartmorn Farm – £6.73 per pack. This chicken is some of the best quality I have tasted so far. Slow growing birds left to mature properly with access to the outdoors, winning combination.

THE PREP:

The day before the cook I cut the chicken thighs in half lengthways then put the meat in a bowl with buttermilk and Maldon Sea Salt before giving it all a good mix round. The bowl was covered and left in the fridge for 24 hours, I did mix the chicken again about half way through.

On the day of the cook I made the seasoned flour mix: Flour, Panko breadcrumbs, Smoked Paprika, Cayenne Pepper, Chipotle Powder, Allspice, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder and Mustard Powder. Quite a lot of ingredients but what a fantastic mix of colours!

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Next up I made the Pico de Gallo by mixing Ripe vine tomatoes, red onions, coriander, jalapeno chilli, Maldon Sea Salt, Black Pepper, Sugar, Limes and Rapeseed oil.

The recipe also calls for Habanero Ailoi. I have never had any joy making Aioli properly, it never firms up but this time I was determined it would come out ok! In a bowl I crushed garlic and added Sea salt, egg yolks, Dijon mustard, white wine vinegar and black pepper. Very, very slowly and with patience I added rapeseed oil whilst blitzing the mix with a hand blender. The patience paid off as this time it was firm and wobbly! Habanero chillies and Mexican Oregano were then blitzed and mixed into the Aioli mixture.

The Charcoal:

Oxford Charcoal Sweet Chestnut, it burns hot and smells fantastic so I thought it would be a good one for the vortex. A full chimney was lit then poured into the vortex.

The Cook:

The chicken was taken out of the buttermilk, excess shaken off then dipped in the seasoned flour mix. I patted the mix on to the chicken to make sure it got a good coating then placed it onto the grill.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

The Panko breadcrumbs looked like they should add a nice crunch layer to the chicken. I added a chunk of Smokewood Shack Cherry Wood over the Vortex. Cherry was chosen mainly to add a bit of colour and just to add a light smoke taste that wouldn’t overpower the spices in the seasoned flour mix.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

15 minutes in, time to spin the lid 90 degrees. Nice colour on the chicken already.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Another 15 minutes in, looking quite crispy already.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

10 minutes later and almost done. I used the Thermapen to test the internal temperature of the chicken and it was approaching 75c, a few more minutes.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Time to Plate Up:

Chicken off the grill and onto a plate, it looked fantastic. The coating was really crisp and felt like it had been fried!

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

The view from above.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

With the Habanero Ailoi and the Pico de Gallo.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Time to Eat:

Wahaca Tortillas warmed in a dry pan, topped with the habanero aioli, chicken on top then a spoonfull of the pico de gallo and another dollop of the ailoi.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

View from above.  Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Awesome!

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

SUMMARY:

The vortex chicken wings were fantastic but this dish was even better! The chicken was so tasty, really crispy and generally just awesome! Panko breadcrumbs really helped to make the chicken taste fried and the seasoned flour mix had a nice little kick to it!

Chicken wings on the vortex are nice but boneless thighs are crispy cubes of fried chicken goodness! I can see more thighs getting cooked this way in future.

Cook Difficulty: 2/5 
Cook Duration: Medium: 3/5
Cook Equipment: Weber Kettle
Cook Method: Vortex
Charcoal: Oxford Charcoal Sweet Chestnut
Smoking Wood: Smokewood Shack Cherry Chunk
Cook temperature: Hot!
Cook time: 1 hour
Internal temperature: N/A
Notes: 1: Some of the chicken was a little over so cook it a bit less.
2: Some of the chicken had excess flour on, shake it off a bit next time.
3: The chicken was in big chunks, slightly smaller might be better but would affect cook times.

This recipe is from the Breddos Tacos cook book – You can buy the book by clicking the link below:

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