Two key ingredients that your fried chicken batter is missing
Author Frankie Gaw explains why egg white and sweet potato starch are key to crispy, tender fried chicken.
“It gets so crispy when fried and reminds me so much of the fried chicken in night markets,”
Fried chicken is incredibly popular worldwide, and international chefs have a lot to offer in perfecting the technique. Frankie Gaw, author of "First Generation: Recipes from My Taiwanese-American Home" and creator of the website Little Fat Boy, shares his thoughts on ingredients that might be missing from fried chicken batter.
“My family is from Taiwan, so my favorite way to coat fried chicken is to marinate it in a mixture of soy sauce, garlic, cooking wine, a little flour, and egg white, and then roll it in sweet potato starch,” Gaw explains. The egg whites are especially important because they soften the meat, a popular Chinese technique for tenderizing it with a marinade, like the one used in takeout broccoli and beef dishes. This technique helps the dry ingredients adhere better.
“When you fry it, it gets so crispy that it reminds me a lot of the fried chicken you get at night markets,” Gaw explains. Potato starch is also key to crispy chicken. It’s unique among starches because of its high gelatinization temperature, which means it doesn’t absorb as much liquid. Combine the flavor of the marinade with the properties of sweet potato starch, and you get a dish that’s as tasty as it is crispy.
When you combine these two ingredients, after draining off the excess marinade, the sweet potato starch and egg whites create a special combination. You can substitute cornstarch or potato starch for the starch, or whole eggs for the egg whites, but Gaw recommends these two because they work so well together.
Baking soda also tenderizes meat, but it lowers the gelatinization temperature of starches, so it traps moisture in the breading instead of letting it escape as steam, resulting in a soft and chewy coating. Egg whites, on the other hand, tenderize chicken while allowing moisture to escape. This is why baking soda impairs the crispiness of the breading.
Finally, add basil to the oil while it's heating for a touch of herbs. Strain the leaves before frying the chicken to prevent the basil from burning and becoming bitter, and sprinkle with a little salt while draining the fried chicken.
