Chicken and hops are two obsessions of mine.
Bringing them together a few months ago, I tried to make Hopcorn Chicken but
failed to get the hop flavour into it – I didn’t use enough and the spices
overpowered it. I also used a hop pellet, which is harsher and more potent than
the flower of the same variety. So, Take Two took a different approach: chicken
legs and whole flower hops.
What I wanted was the hop flavour, aromatics,
floral quality and a little of the oily bitterness. In my mind they all
complement fried chicken’s typical herb and spice mix. Having grabbed a handful
of Citra flowers for some Home Hopping, I used one of the leftover flowers and
crushed it in a pestle and mortar. Into that I added salt, white pepper,
cayenne pepper, thyme, bay, cinnamon, paprika, turmeric, garlic salt, brown
sugar and a little flour. I coated chicken legs in the mix and then cooked them
in a hot oven until sizzling and golden (ignore that the name says ‘Fried’...
frying food freaks me out so I go for the oven instead).
This time I got a lot of hop flavour into it.
A citrusy bitterness, reminiscent of grapefruit pith, left a tang in the
background to all the other spices, like the smoke left behind after fireworks
have exploded. Next to it I had some of my homemade hot sauce, made with Sierra
Nevada Torpedo IPA, and a cooling mountain of coleslaw made with beer mayonnaise
(saison went in). A fantastic trio. The Hop Fried Chicken (aka Yakima Fried
Chicken) is definitely something I’ll be cooking again – the bitterness added a
little extra pow.
A triple-whammy of beer and food cooking. Sometimes
I do leave out the beer when I cook
dinner...
Woah. That sounds awesome!
ReplyDeleteYour hop fried chicken is ace. Looking at the photograph is making my gob water. I want a piece and I want one with beer! Splendid job!
ReplyDeleteHop Chicken? There's no way I'd have thought of that!
ReplyDeleteHello,
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RecipesUS.com, Hittarecept.se, Findeopskrifter.dk, Alleoppskrifter.no, Todareceta.es
We really want to try this - could you give me a hint as to where I can find the hops please?
ReplyDeleteBrewUK had Citra in stock when I looked at their website recently.
ReplyDeleteHop chicken. very interesting. I love chicken and want to try this soon.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing :)
Hi Mark! Your blog it's really fun! :)
ReplyDeleteI love beer, too. I became your fan :)
This recipe is interesting, I'll try.
Have a nice day,
Noemi
An italian food blog.