A stellar brunch dish and a wonderful Valentine’s breakfast, brining optional, but recommended (it’s a labour of love for sure).
This has to be one of my favourite indulgent dishes on any of our menus. This isn’t exactly something I would eat every day, but it is definitely something worth consuming a week’s worth of calories in one sitting. It’s become so popular that when we opened for brunch at The Greenhouse at Victoria we just had to bring it there too! While the dish at the restaurant features a couple of poached eggs, rich hollandaise, and house-made hot sauce, I’m only going to focus on the two key recipes here, the fried chicken and the waffles. I’m assuming if you’re ambitious enough to prepare this dish, you’re likely skilled enough to poach an egg or whip up some hollandaise. This is a good combination dish, that both items could be prepared separately.
Let’s start with the chicken. I like to use Morinville Colony chickens for this. We usually use the breast for entrees and save the leg for fried chicken. Use your preferred chicken, and your favourite cuts. I like the drum and the thigh, because they are juicy and tend to cook a little more quickly. I elect to brine the chicken. Listen, if you don’t want to have to prepare this a day ahead, then don’t sweat it, but, if you want amazingly moist and delicious chicken, then do the right thing. –Paul Shufelt, exec chef Workshop Eatery, Woodshed, the Greenhouse at Victoria.
Brined chicken
| 1 | chicken, cut up into 9 pieces |
| 1 | lemon, halved |
| 2 | bay leaf |
| 4 | sprigs fresh parsley |
| 4 | sprigs fresh thyme |
| 2 T | honey |
| 2 cloves | garlic, peeled, smashed |
| 5 T | kosher salt |
| 1.6 lt. | water |
Make the brine: in a pot combine all of the ingredients, except the chicken. Bring to a simmer and let the salt and honey dissolve. Let cool completely, then pour over the chicken and ensure it is all submerged. Let the chicken brine for at least 2 hours and up to 12, but no longer than that. Once brined, remove and refrigerate the chicken until ready to cook, and discard brine.
Waffle Batter
| 2⅓ c | pastry flour |
| ¼ c | malt powder |
| 1 T | sugar |
| 2 t | dry active yeast |
| 1 t | salt |
| 1 t | baking soda |
| 1½ c | milk |
| 1 T | butter |
| 1 | egg |
Place all of the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine.
In a pot, slowly heat the milk and butter, just enough to melt the butter. Let cool slightly (this is the key, do not let the milk be over 100ºF when adding to the dry ingredients or you’ll kill the yeast). When cool enough, add the milk and the egg into the dry ingredients, whisking well, until smooth. Let stand at room temperature about 20-30 minutes.
Chicken Dredge
| 2 c | flour |
| 2 T | garlic powder |
| 2 T | onion powder |
| 1 t | cayenne |
| 1 t | paprika |
| 2 t | salt |
| 1 t | pepper |
Place all of the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine well.
To finish the dish:
| 2 c | buttermilk |
| oil for deep fryer (preferably in a proper deep fryer) | |
| oil for waffle maker |
Preheat the deep fryer to 350ºF.
Preheat the waffle maker to medium-high (about a 7 or 8 out of 10).
Place the buttermilk in another small bowl, next to the dredge.
Starting with the larger pieces, take the brined chicken and place in the chicken dredge, coat all sides, then tap off excess flour and set aside. Repeat this process until all pieces are dredged.
Quickly take a piece of chicken, place it in the buttermilk and coat all sides, then quickly back into the flour, coating all sides again, and then gently place piece into the fryer.
Fry the chicken in batches, so as not to overcrowd your fryer. Large pieces will take 12-14 minutes, smaller pieces 8-10 minutes, but I highly recommend using a probe thermometer for safety. 180ºF internal temperature is a nice safe number.
While the chicken is frying, lightly grease your waffle maker and then place a generous ladle of batter in, covering all of the maker. Close the lid and let cook until crispy on both sides, about 3-4 minutes, depending on your maker.
Serve the fried chicken and waffles with some hot sauce and real maple syrup and you’ll be in heaven!
Serves 4-6.