#71: Fried Chicken Sandwiches
There inarguably exists a sandwich monarchy and on its throne sits the queen of all the sandwiches. A sandwich that is as lovely to behold as it is to ingest. A sandwich that manages to be both a comfort food and an ever on-trend food. A sandwich that sees one of the world’s most delicious foods and dares to make it somehow more appealing. We’re talking about fried chicken sandwiches this week, my friends. Oh how I have waited for this post! Basically since I did fried chicken last summer and realized not enough people are making fried chicken at home, I vowed to be the change I wished to eat in this world.
Am I giving you a shortcut for avoiding frying today? Sadly, no. I am rigidly sticking to the ‘fried’ in ‘fried chicken’ this time around. Each recipe’s style of fry is quite different though, with my own recipe sporting a crispy crumb coating and BA’s a buttermilk-flour batter. Really in every way, these sandwiches are so completely different while both being just such goddamn good examples of fried chicken sandwiches done right. My own favourite take on a fried chicken sandwich is a chicken milanesa cemita (basically a variant on the traditional Mexican torta), which is a sensory explosion of textures and flavours. Imagine layers of all your favourite Mexican foods (avocado! beans! salsa!) snuggled up in a butter-toasted brioche bun alongside the crispiest chicken cutlet and a scattering of fresh, green crunchiness (cilantro! romaine! jalapeño!). Heaven, right? BA’s version is like a divinely classed-up McChicken that still pays homage to all of the fast food chicken sandwich must-haves, from the secret sauce to the sesame seed bun.
Ughhhh, I can see this is going to be another of those times when even though I recently made and ate MANY fried chicken sandwiches, after writing this post I’m going to be absolutely unrelenting in my renewed craving for one. That’s just the power that a queen has over her people, I suppose…
