Pearls of Wisdom #7 (Crunchiest Coating Ever)

“This is a great batter for everything that you want super crunchy: fish, pork, vegetables. It’s the crunchiest batter that I know how to make,” said Michael Symon on the Food Network Kitchen app. “I don’t want fried chicken - or anything that is fried - to lack that epic crunch.”

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Use Cornstarch or Rice Flour

Michael says that cornstarch or rice flour in combo with flour will give you the crunchiest batter. Even cake four will cook up crunchier than all-purpose flour because it doesn’t have a high gluten level. Michael does warn that these alternative coatings will brown less than all-purpose flour. He suggests that you, “Play around with different spices to up the color”.

Start with a Dry Dredge

Blend together cornstarch, baking powder and salt and use it to coat the chicken before it goes in the wet batter. This dry mixture is going to help the batter stick. One of the things that makes him crazy with fried chicken is when he takes a bite, the crust goes one way and the meat goes the other. You could even coat what you plan to fry overnight in the dry dredge to help the batter adhere.

Use Vodka

Vodka is another secret ingredient in Michael’s batter. “Vodka evaporates faster than any other liquid leaving you with that incredible shell-like crust,” says Michael.

Finally bring Your Item to Room Temperature

“If you take whatever you are frying out of the fridge 30 minutes before frying it will cook more evenly,” according Michael.

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Carried this off from:

Google The Crunchiest Coating Ever Food Network