Bacon got REALLY expensive the year before I left the chef life for the wide world of food sales. I ended up running this as a special on the bars but it’s become a staple for me whenever I get the craving.

Sourdough, dukes mayo, good tomato, lettuce, battered and fried chicken skins. You get that crunch and savory you want from a BLT at a WAY better price.

  • prole@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Fried chicken skins? Do you make the chicken just to use the skins? How are you using the de-skinned fried chickens?

    • heirloomvegtattoo@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      Distributors package the skins separately. It’s basically boxing up all the skins from the boneless skinless chicken breast you buy in the store. I got it for something ridiculous like $0.49/# and use it so it doesn’t go to waste.

      • the_eric@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        How much do you have to buy to get that price? Or is getting a pound ok from your distributor?

        • heirloomvegtattoo@lemmy.worldOP
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          1 year ago

          The cases I have on hand are usually 10#.

          NOW if you have a local butcher chances are they’re still getting some stuff from the big boys, (US Foods/Sysco/Performance) and all of them will have cases on hand. Just need to convince them to get it in and move it. Odd’s are any markup is only going to be about 10%, you’ll still get a good price.

          End of summer’s a good time to push since you’ll have football season kicking off, it’s good for them to sell as a game night snack.

    • Rhodin@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      If it were me, I’d buy packs of chicken thighs or legs, take the skins off, then use the meat for soup to serve with the sandwiches.

      • prole@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        So you remove the skins from the fried chicken for the “CLT” sandwich, then you bread the de-skinned chicken and fry it again? Lol

    • elscallr@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Buy bone in, skin on chicken thighs. Remove the skin, set aside. Remove the bones, set aside. Portion your new boneless, skinless chicken thighs and throw them in the freezer (I recommend a vacuum sealer). Throw the bones in a reusable silicon freezer bag. Bread and fry your chicken skins.

      Use the chicken thighs for whatever you might want boneless, skinless, chicken for. It’s got uses beyond counting.

      For the bones, you’re going to make stock. I keep a silicon bag of vegetable scraps in my freezer. Crack the bones so the marrow can get out, throw them in a boiling pot with all manner of vegetable scraps (onion tops/roots, carrot ends and skins, celery tops and roots, the), some herbs, and some salt. Strain this through a fine mesh to prevent any accidental broken chicken bones, and you’ve got a great stock.

    • WildlyCanadian@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Buy a whole chicken, when you’re breaking it down remove and save the skins. Little oil in a pan, add your raw skins and cook until crispy. Then you also have a bunch of raw chicken and a carcass to use for whatever you want and stock.

      Also, fun tip, the fat that comes off the chicken skins is schmaltz, and is really delicious. I like to put a bit into my ramen.

  • SouthFresh@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I misinterpreted the C as standing for Chicharon, and the image of it cut the inside of my mouth.

  • 15liam20@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I would never have thought to do that, thanks for this. It looks delicious, I could really go for some Chicken, Lettuce including Tomato right now.

  • lemontea@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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    1 year ago

    This sounds really good to me - probably because I’m a huge fan of fried chicken skin. A lot of places have picked up on it here, and some burger joints will sell them as a side like fries.

  • meteotsunami@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Wow. I want that so bad. And the fact you use Dukes tells me you are a chef of refined taste. I need to stop by my butcher and see if he has chicken skins, I never stopped to consider what they do with those to sell the abomination of skinless, boneless breasts.

    • heirloomvegtattoo@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      Dukes & Heinz, we might have been putting out $40 plates at night, but this is the South baby. They should definitely have it, if not they’ll have access to it. They’re pretty versatile. I jumped to the sales side of the industry and I’m constantly suggesting this stuff as a way to push your cost down if you need to.

      Bar bites with some chicken skins, bibimbap sauce with benne seed instead of the sesame (cos it’s classier right?) and pimento cheese… you’re good to go.

  • dudebro@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    That looks really really fucking good.

    Did bacon really get that expensive? I just buy the Great Value bacon and the price seems fair to me.

    • heirloomvegtattoo@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      Of course! We tried it two ways, but the most effective was this

      -Dry your chicken skins

      -Hold them in a brine of buttermilk, hot sauce, egg mix (purely for ease of use on line, I’d only leave them 15-20 minutes if you’re doing it at the house)

      -Toss them in a flour dredge

      -Once coated deep fry, you could probably get away with a pan fry with shallow oil but I was blessed with a deep fryer.

      Drying the skins and then frying without the wet/dry mix did not yield the crisp you would want (just a warning).

      • RustedSwitch@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Thank you!

        Did you ever try blanching the skin before frying it? Here’s an article for getting crispy skin on chicken cooked sous vide, which isn’t exactly the same, but I wonder if the technique could apply here.

        • heirloomvegtattoo@lemmy.worldOP
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          1 year ago

          I’m going to look into that a little more, I get how it would work by making the skin on the breast contract but I feel like a quick pan fry before sous vide would give you the same effect with their application?

          I feel like it should work? I’ll try it next time and get back with results. I’m wondering if leaving it with salt (the same way you would fake dry age a steak) would pull enough moisture out to crisp it without breading.

          Thanks for giving me something to play with!

        • heirloomvegtattoo@lemmy.worldOP
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          1 year ago

          It was a crap shoot but I used the old two fry baskets together trick. Keeps them reasonably flat. You’ll still have a couple that get through… for home anything metal that you can hold something down with?

    • Bonehead@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      My process…place chicken skin in frying pan flat over medium heat. They release their own oil to fry them. They’ll release from the pan when they are ready to flip, but they will almost fry completely crispy by that point. Drain on paper towel, season with salt immediately out of the pan. You don’t need to do anything fancy to get nice crispy chicken cracklings. And you get smaltz out of the deal too.

  • cabbagee@sopuli.xyz
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    1 year ago

    That’s gorgeous. I’ve never fried chicken skins before, how do you prepare and season them?

    • mailerdaemon@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I like to lay them out on paper towel or newspaper and salt them. Let it draw out a bunch of moisture, then I put them on a sheet pan in the oven until crispy.