Fried Buttermilk Beer Chicken Salad with Sriracha Honey Vinaigrette

24.12.2014 Jackie Dodd-Mallory (Senior Editor) 4 Comments

If there is one type of book that I will always want in the print version, it’s a cookbook. I want to feel the pages, make my own notes, and someday pass it down to future generations. It becomes a conversation between decades, an engagement among generations, that connects people in a way that nothing other than food has the ability to do.

Maybe it’s the end of a brutal year that was illuminated by the writing of my second book, a lifeline to stability, that makes me want to defend the print cookbook. Maybe it’s the ghosts of the past that seem to haunt the holidays. Maybe it was a small moment over the weekend while standing in the middle of a book store in Portland and finding a note card written 50 years ago wedged in the middle of a antique Sunday Suppers cookbook. It doesn’t matter, I have an analog soul, I like things that I feel with my hands. I love the smell of old books. As much as I love innovation and the sexiness of new technology, my heart will always belong to what I can pass down, or what I can receive from those who have gone before me. Like old cookbooks and fried chicken recipes. Somethings are just made to be shared.

Table of Contents

Fried Buttermilk Beer Chicken Salad with Sriracha Honey Vinaigrette

Print Recipe

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

For the Chicken:

4 boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 tbs kosher salt
½ sweet white onion sliced
¾ cups buttermilk
6 ounces pale ale
2 tsp sriracha
2 cups flour
2 tbs brown sugar
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp onion powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp cayenne pepper
canola or peanut oil for frying

For the Salad:

2 heads red leaf lettuce chopped
1 large avocado diced
½ cup pomegranate seeds
8 wt oz Burrata Cheese or goat cheese

Sriracha Honey Vinaigrette

¼ cup honey
1 tsp sriracha
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
3 tbs olive oil

Instructions

Arrange the chicken in an even layer in a large baking pan.
Sprinkle evenly with kosher salt, top with sliced onions.
In a small bowl whisk together the buttermilk, beer and sriracha, pour evenly over the chicken, cover and refrigerate for 8 to 24 hours.
In a medium sized bowl stir together the flour, brown sugar, chili powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and cayenne.
One at a time remove the chicken pieces, dredge in the flour mixture then gently re-dip in the buttermilk/beer marinade and recoat with the flour mixture (double coating of the flour mixture will give you a crispier chicken), set on a wire rack that has been set over a baking sheet.
Allow the coated chicken to sit at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 200.
Add the oil to a large pot until about 6 inches deep, heat to 350 degrees using a cooking thermometer clipped to the pan, adjust heat to maintain that temperature.
Working in batches fry the chicken until golden brown and cooked through (between 4 and 8 minutes each, depending on the thickness of the chicken)
Once each piece is done, place on a wire rack over a baking sheet in the oven to keep warm. Slice the chicken.
In a small bowl whisk together the honey, sriracha and vinegar. While whisking vigorously, slowly add the olive oil until well combined.
Add chopped lettuce, pomegranates, and avocado to a large bowl, toss to combine.
Top with burrata cheese and sliced fried chicken, drizzle with dressing.