Grilling: Chicken Fajitas
[Photographs: Joshua Bousel]
It was two years ago when I first started posting here—right before my top eating holiday, Cinco de Mayo—and shared one of my all-time favorite grilling recipes for skirt steak fajitas. I can't even count how many more times I've made those since then, being such a quick and easy meal that packs an insanely good combination of flavors It's in my regular rotation
Although I contend that skirt steak = fajitas, over 100 recipe posts forces some give, and I'm evolving to the next generation in my fajita diet—chicken.
Keeping with the quick and easy part, I threw together a marinade with some standard standard Tex-Mex ingredients I had on hand and tossed in a few chicken breasts pounded to a half-inch thick Being heavy on lime juice, this had to be a fast marinade, so as soon as I had a fire going, I took the chicken to the grill over high heat until browned and cooked through Sliced up and piled in a flour tortilla with sauteed peppers, onions, and a little sour cream, it was time to dive in.
A short half hour marinade packed the breasts with the unmistakable flavors of lime and cilantro, and the grill gave it a nice slight-crisp crust that held the sugar and cumin portion Quick, easy, and full of flavor, these fajitas were delivering—to the full extent of skirt steak, not totally, but enough to take a high position on any Cinco de Mayo menu.
Chicken Fajitas
Ingredients
For the marinade:
1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup lime juice
3 cloves minced garlic
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded to 1/2-in thick
For the vegetables:
1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch strips
1 large green bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch strips
1 large white onion, cut into 1/4-inch strips
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Sour cream
Flour tortillas
Procedure
1. In a small bowl, mix together all of the ingredients for the marinade Place the chicken breasts in a large Ziplock bag and pour marinade all over Seal the bag, removing as much air as possible and allow to marinate for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
2. Light one chimney full of charcoal When all the charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and spread the coals evenly over the charcoal grate Remove the chicken from the marinade and cook over high heat until browned on both sides and cooked through, about three to five minutes per side Remove the from the grill and allow to rest five to ten minutes Slice into 1/2 inch strips.
3. While the chicken is resting, toss the peppers and onion with a little olive oil and a pinch of salt Place a cast iron skillet directly on the hot coals in the grill, and when heated, add in the peppers and onions Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until they are soft and nicely browned, about 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Heat the tortillas on the grill or in the oven until soft Assemble fajitas with the vegetables, chicken, and a dollop of sour cream.
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Double Down Throwdown: Our Homemade Version Takes on KFC's
“Never in my life did I ever expect to ingest something called 'The Colonel's Special Sauce,' much less spend a morning trying to recreate it.”
KFC's Double Down Sandwich [Photographs: J Kenji Lopez-Alt]
By now, everyone knows what this is, right? It's the new Double Down “sandwich” from KFC. Two slices of bacon, two slices of cheese, and a big squirt of the “Colonel's Special Sauce” sandwiched between two deep-fried chicken cutlets in lieu of bread Most people online seem to be in agreement, with Sam Sifton leading the charge: This thing is gross.
Most of the panty-twisting revolves around its nutritional qualities But is it really that bad for you? After all, conceptually and nutritionally, it's no different than a Chicken Cordon Bleu, right? Is there no room in our diet for fried chicken or bacon?
To me, the grossness of this sandwich is the same as what's gross about all fast food: convenience and quality It's simply too easy to walk up to a window, hand over five bucks, and get 600 industrially produced calories prepared by a worker who couldn't care less.
As a culinary concept, on the other hand, chicken, bacon, and cheese sounds pretty good to me So what if I were to recreate the Double Down with time and care using quality ingredients? How would it compare to the original? Find out, after the jump.
This morning, we did just that (yes, I was up frying chicken before 8 a.m.) Here are the results.
The Chicken
KFC's Chicken cutlets are not bad as far as fast food goes They are clearly made from whole (albeit grisly and slightly dry) pieces of chicken breast, not ground and formed chicken meal The problem is the crust. In the two sandwiches I had, it lacked crispness except around the very edges It also seemed to be adhered to the breast with some sort of industrial-strength food glue Finally, while the Colonel is proud of his secret 11-herb-and-spice blend, it overwhelms not just the chicken but the bacon, sauce, and melted cheese, as well—not a minor feat!
To improve matters, I started with good, air-chilled chicken breasts, which I split in half horizontally into cutlets and soaked overnight in buttermilk seasoned with black pepper, fresh garlic, and paprika in order to help tenderize and flavor the meat I also added plenty of salt to the mix, turning the buttermilk into a brine, helping the chicken breast pieces retain more moisture as they cooked, ensuring juiciness.
Standard fried chicken breading will have you drop the buttermilk-soaked pieces into seasoned flour To get a bit of extra crispness, I worked a bit of extra buttermilk into the flour mixture with my fingertips before adding the chicken This creates little crisp nubs that stick to the exterior of the chicken for extra crunch. I tried frying in lard and shortening, but they proved too heavy, leaving an offputting waxy coating on your tongue Peanut oil fared much better.
Since the chicken breast cutlets are so thin, I didn't even need to break out the deep fryer—they stayed submerged just fine in a 12-inch skillet, making cleanup much more appealing.
I once had a chef who used to yell at cooks, “I don't care if you're cooking fried dogs**t If it comes out of the fryer, you salt it the second it comes out!” He's right: Salt sticks much better when the food's still hot and slightly greasy.
The Bacon
KFC's bacon was by far the most disappointing part of the sandwich After digging through the cheese-mayo mixture with a pair of tweezers, I was finally able to locate the two floppy, anemic slices Even when tasting them on their own, it was tough to discern any particular pork flavor All I got was a vague hit of chemical smoke Blugh.
In order to stand up to the flavor of the chicken, I decided to go with thick-cut applewood-smoked bacon. My normal go-to method is to lay the strips out on a sheet tray in the oven, but it makes collecting excess fat a little more difficult, and I had definite plans for that bacon fat Instead, I cooked the bacon (two full slices cut in half per sandwich, plus three extra for my wife*) in the skillet, reserving the fat to combine with my chicken-frying oil, rendering the chicken extra-crisp and flavorful.
The Cheese
KFC claims to use a slice of Monterey Jack and a slice of pepper Jack. Though I did see vague flecks of green and red in the pepper Jack, I honestly could taste no difference between the two slices Not only that, but by the time the chicken had cooled sufficiently to eat, the cheese had solidified into a solid plastic sheath Not for me, thank you.
Instead of going with slices, I figured I'd get better, more even coverage by applying a layer of grated pepper Jack directly to the fried chicken and melting it with a brief stay in the oven. I didn't even both with two different cheese After all, pepper Jack is just Monterey Jack with hot peppers added to it Did the chefs at KFC really decide that two full slices of pepper Jack was just too spicy? Really?
The Sauce
Never in my life did I ever expect to ingest something called “The Colonel's Special Sauce,” much less spend a morning trying to recreate it. Unlike the sweet and sour McDonald's Special Sauce, the Colonel's got a spicier background I did ask the employee at KFC what kind of sauce it was His response: “Special,” along with a smug “look-at-that-joke-I-just-made” smile on his face.
Clever. Tout sur la lingerie coquine. Very clever.
In the end, I went with a mix of mayo, ketchup, fresh garlic, paprika, and a dash of Frank's Red Hot sauce. Exactly the same? No, but trust me—you don't want your sauce to taste exactly the same as the Colonel's.
Assembly
There's not much to the assembly I cooked the bacon, fried the chicken, melted the cheese, slathered the sauce, then put it all together Was it better than the original? How could it not be?
The main advantages were that in the original, everything kind of melts into one salty, spicy, mealy bite, whereas with the homemade version, all the elements are of a high enough quality that they remain distinct, while still managing to come across as a harmonious whole. Aside from the absurd portion size, I'd happily make this for myself a couple of times a year.
And as luck would have it, I think I've discovered a portion-size solution as well: The Double Down Junior.
Made from the tenderloins that I removed from the chicken breasts before cooking, each Double Down Junior is just the right size for a single strip of bacon, packs all of the flavor and excesses of its bigger brother, but can be consumed in two single bites How's that for fast food?
So what about you? If you could make or buy a higher quality version of this sandwich, would you be more likely to try it?
* Who would leave me if I ever cooked bacon without making extra for her.
About the author: After graduating from MIT, J Kenji Lopez-Alt spent many years as a chef, recipe developer, writer, and editor in Boston He now lives in New York with his wife, where he runs a private chef business, KA Cuisine, and co-writes the blog GoodEater.org about sustainable food enjoyment Become a fan of The Food Lab on Facebook for play-by-plays on future kitchen tests and recipe experiments.
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