Post by justme on Jul 28, 2020 3:18:36 GMT
Life isn't all about KFC! There are some things you can do at home to try to copy Bojangles fried chicken. Here are some tips that I was following the last time I did it. I can't lay my hands on the exact proportions I was using, but it was nothing complicated at all.
1) The fresh chicken arrives in pieces at the store, gets a rub put on it, and sits all day the next day in the cooler. Then it's ready for use. If you pull Bojangles chicken apart, there is no red from paprika or cayenne or hot sauce like you would find in Popeye's. I tried hot sauce, and it came out tasting like Buffalo wings. Not correct. Salt, onion powder, a tiny pinch of garlic, and of course MSG are my best guess. Ultra fine black pepper also is in there I think.
2) There is no egg and no milk in the breading. See their web site.
3) Corn meal is a staple for southern frying anything, and I think you can taste it in Bojangles. I replicated the taste with corn meal, but it's very coarse unlike Bojangles. It has to be corn flour (not corn starch!) It's not easy to find the stuff where I live. It is available online. Beware that it browns very, very quickly in the fryer! I was using 50/50 self-rising flour and corn meal last time I remember. Corn meal is like gravel. Get corn flour. It's a basic dry-wet-dry with the wet being water that turns itself into a thin batter as pieces get dunked in it. Some say carbonated water or something like 7 Up. I don't think so. Just the leavening in the self-rising flour. No egg and no milk. Classic southern frying. My mom would fry okra, oysters, and fish with nothing but cornmeal stuck on their wet surface.
4) Coleman's dry powdered mustard is a good, mild source of heat. Don't use too much because it gets bitter. A little white pepper rounds out the heat. Don't use too much of that either or else it comes out with that distinct KFC white pepper taste. I don't think there are any special spices except onion powder. I quit using garlic because it overpowered everything. It might be in the rub, but if so there isn't much at all.
5) You can't fry it without beef fat. You just can't. They use SCP All Fry or All Fry ZT. www.southchicagopacking.com/shortening-oils-tallow-fat So what to do? Well, if you are bound and determined, render your own beef fat. I do it every year at Christmas to make Yorkshire Pudding separate from the rib roast. If you can talk your butcher into saving a few pounds of pure white beef fat trimmed from roasts and steaks, that's great. Sometimes they will and sometimes they refuse because they sell it to rendering plants. One year at Christmas when I couldn't get any fat, I bought the fattiest ground beef I could get and cooked all of the fat out of that. Strain out the beef for sloppy joes or something, let the debris settle to the bottom, and then harden it in the fridge overnight. Cut off the bottom with the debris in it and you have pure white beef fat. Try about 1/3 beef fat and 2/3 sunflower oil. I tried true lard, not the grocery store hydrogenated stuff, and it tasted way too much like a pork chop.
6) MSG is mandatory. Use the same amount as any other recipe.
Try a rub in this proportion (make a big batch and store it): 1/2 tsp ultra-fine black pepper, 1/8 tsp white pepper, 1/4 tsp onion powder, 1/16 tsp garlic powder or none at all, 1/8 tsp MSG. Sprinkle a little all over wet chicken and let it sit in the fridge for an entire day. Don't overdo it. Bojangles isn't very strong stuff. What you really want is the salt and MSG to get into the meat. A "dry brine."
Try this breader: 1.5 c 50/50 corn flour (not starch) and self-rising flour, 1 tsp table salt, 1/8 tsp onion powder, 1/8 tsp Colemans powdered mustard. Be careful adding any more white pepper or it tastes like KFC. I have added a little cayenne, but then it tastes like Popeye's and cayenne tends to turn black if it's in the breader. if they are using it, then it would be in the rub and not enough to give any color.
You have got to fry it in a huge amount of oil (beef tallow!) at a lower temperature than usual because that corn browns very, very quickly. I have in my notes to reduce the corn to 25%. Never tried it. You can use just flour with 1/8 tsp annato powder added for color, but it's not the same at all. No corn flavor, just a floury crust like any other fried chicken.
Experiment away. I have moved on to pressure frying and KFC. Bojangles is open fried, as is Popeye's.
1) The fresh chicken arrives in pieces at the store, gets a rub put on it, and sits all day the next day in the cooler. Then it's ready for use. If you pull Bojangles chicken apart, there is no red from paprika or cayenne or hot sauce like you would find in Popeye's. I tried hot sauce, and it came out tasting like Buffalo wings. Not correct. Salt, onion powder, a tiny pinch of garlic, and of course MSG are my best guess. Ultra fine black pepper also is in there I think.
2) There is no egg and no milk in the breading. See their web site.
3) Corn meal is a staple for southern frying anything, and I think you can taste it in Bojangles. I replicated the taste with corn meal, but it's very coarse unlike Bojangles. It has to be corn flour (not corn starch!) It's not easy to find the stuff where I live. It is available online. Beware that it browns very, very quickly in the fryer! I was using 50/50 self-rising flour and corn meal last time I remember. Corn meal is like gravel. Get corn flour. It's a basic dry-wet-dry with the wet being water that turns itself into a thin batter as pieces get dunked in it. Some say carbonated water or something like 7 Up. I don't think so. Just the leavening in the self-rising flour. No egg and no milk. Classic southern frying. My mom would fry okra, oysters, and fish with nothing but cornmeal stuck on their wet surface.
4) Coleman's dry powdered mustard is a good, mild source of heat. Don't use too much because it gets bitter. A little white pepper rounds out the heat. Don't use too much of that either or else it comes out with that distinct KFC white pepper taste. I don't think there are any special spices except onion powder. I quit using garlic because it overpowered everything. It might be in the rub, but if so there isn't much at all.
5) You can't fry it without beef fat. You just can't. They use SCP All Fry or All Fry ZT. www.southchicagopacking.com/shortening-oils-tallow-fat So what to do? Well, if you are bound and determined, render your own beef fat. I do it every year at Christmas to make Yorkshire Pudding separate from the rib roast. If you can talk your butcher into saving a few pounds of pure white beef fat trimmed from roasts and steaks, that's great. Sometimes they will and sometimes they refuse because they sell it to rendering plants. One year at Christmas when I couldn't get any fat, I bought the fattiest ground beef I could get and cooked all of the fat out of that. Strain out the beef for sloppy joes or something, let the debris settle to the bottom, and then harden it in the fridge overnight. Cut off the bottom with the debris in it and you have pure white beef fat. Try about 1/3 beef fat and 2/3 sunflower oil. I tried true lard, not the grocery store hydrogenated stuff, and it tasted way too much like a pork chop.
6) MSG is mandatory. Use the same amount as any other recipe.
Try a rub in this proportion (make a big batch and store it): 1/2 tsp ultra-fine black pepper, 1/8 tsp white pepper, 1/4 tsp onion powder, 1/16 tsp garlic powder or none at all, 1/8 tsp MSG. Sprinkle a little all over wet chicken and let it sit in the fridge for an entire day. Don't overdo it. Bojangles isn't very strong stuff. What you really want is the salt and MSG to get into the meat. A "dry brine."
Try this breader: 1.5 c 50/50 corn flour (not starch) and self-rising flour, 1 tsp table salt, 1/8 tsp onion powder, 1/8 tsp Colemans powdered mustard. Be careful adding any more white pepper or it tastes like KFC. I have added a little cayenne, but then it tastes like Popeye's and cayenne tends to turn black if it's in the breader. if they are using it, then it would be in the rub and not enough to give any color.
You have got to fry it in a huge amount of oil (beef tallow!) at a lower temperature than usual because that corn browns very, very quickly. I have in my notes to reduce the corn to 25%. Never tried it. You can use just flour with 1/8 tsp annato powder added for color, but it's not the same at all. No corn flavor, just a floury crust like any other fried chicken.
Experiment away. I have moved on to pressure frying and KFC. Bojangles is open fried, as is Popeye's.