Fry A Little Tenderness

Welcome back to Off The Deep End! I took a little time off… about 8 years… some “me time”… I moved... changed jobs... got married... got a pet… and now find myself quarantined amidst a global pandemic.

As my healthcare skills are limited, my contribution to this worldwide effort will be dusting the cobwebs off the old blog and raising morale through deep frying. I don’t know how many posts I have in me, but I do have a lot of time on my hands, the Fry Gal by my side, and a stocked pantry that, like the US Department of Energy, features a strategic oil reserve filled to the brim to mitigate any potential supply disruptions.

Where to (re-)start?

Trying times like these call for comfort food, so we’ll begin with a simple, down-to-Earth meal. And after this long a layoff, I need to ease back into things anyways. Because the world needs some tender loving care right now, what better return to deep fried blogging than with a delicious basket of chicken tenders?

Here's a stock image from Google. We’ll see how mine compare...

There are plenty of ways to make chicken tenders, and I’ve tested a few while on hiatus. I’ve settled on what I find to be the simplest and most reminiscent of the tenders of my youth. I don’t care if this isn’t the best recipe. I’m not looking for a gourmet experience; that’s not why we eat chicken tenders.

I want the kind of tenders you’d get at a fast food restaurant (Remember going to restaurants? That was so much fun!), a poolside snack shack (Remember hanging out with people? What a blast!), a sporting event (Remember sports? They were awesome!), or a pub (Well, I am still enjoying plenty of beverages.) — the places you go for chicken tenders.

First things first, I’m making chicken tenders, not chicken strips or chicken fingers. I’m using the actual tenderloin of the chicken (strips of white meat located on either side of the breastbone, under the breast meat). I’m not just cutting up another part of the chicken into this shape.

When I’m picking out tenders for frying, I look for packages with the smallest ones I can find.

These were larger than I’d like, but panic shopping had taken hold in my town, and the grocery selection was limited. Any chicken tenders will do, but the smaller ones will cook through more quickly and will have more breading vs. actual chicken (a good surface-area-to-volume ratio).

In addition to the tenders and the oil, you only need two other ingredients, which most people will have around the house: eggs and flour.

(I tried a buttermilk coating once, which the Fry Gal requested. It was delicious, but one step made me wait 15-20 minutes while the chicken soaked in buttermilk. That’s a dealbreaker, as I am not typically willing to add that kind of time between me and tendies.)

Roll the defrosted tenders in flour, dip them in an egg wash, and then coat them with another layer of flour.

While that’s all you need to do, I also add some seasoning at this point. Here you can be as simple or as fancy as you want. Colonel Sanders, for example, built his reputation off this step with his secret mix of 11 herbs and spices. I add an “Old Bay” type seasoning we buy at Lazy Susan’s Hot Fat Crabs, a restaurant in Lewes, Delaware.

You can tell it’s a quality seasoning, because, like most fine spices, you purchase it by the pint in a takeout container:

After I add a dash of Lazy Susan’s seasoning, they are ready for the fryer, which is heated to about 370F (the max on my fryer).

My fryer can usually hold 4-5 chicken tenders at a time, and I cook each batch about 5-6 minutes. Since these were larger, I cooked them in batches of 3, still for 5-6 minutes.

They should be totally submerged in the oil, but if any parts aren’t, just flip them at least once while frying. (In the above picture, the basket was lifted slightly out of the oil for a better action shot.)

When they come out of the fryer, I add another dash of seasoning, and that’s it — they’re ready to eat! You’ll need to let them cool down though.

Not too shabby!

In this Off The Deep End reboot, you’ll notice I've upped the production value with fry baskets and liners. They’re fun to eat out of, make for an easier cleanup, and, for just a split second, you might even feel like you’ve left the house!

If you’re like me, you'll want to enjoy these dipped liberally in honey mustard, BBQ sauce, or ketchup. (One of many ways I'm attempting to ward off insanity while quarantined is by rotating between different condiments to make each bite new and exciting.) Another great decision is coating them in buffalo sauce and dipping in ranch or blue cheese dressing.

I hope this delicious, comforting, and easy-to-prepare meal can lift some spirits and help you all stay nourished in the difficult weeks ahead. That’s it for now, but I have a few ideas to keep this tiniest bit of momentum rolling for some more posts over the next month.

Until then, stay safe and stay away from each other!