No idea what happened to the chicken. All I got was the entire skin, salted, pressed between two baking sheets and oven fried.
Chicken Skin will be the "bacon" of 2010.
How to Make Chicken Skin:
Ingredients:
chicken skin, rinsed and dried
salt
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Remove any large globules of fat from the skin, pull out any "hairs," (gross! sorry! the idea of chicken hairs makes me want to puke, too) rinse and pat skin dry.
Sprinkle a pinch of salt on both sides of chicken skin. Spread out onto baking sheet, top with another baking sheet, and place a cast iron skillet or other heavy, oven-proof pot or pan to weigh it down.
Bake until cooked through and crisp, about 45 minutes total, but check after 20 minutes.
At his downtown Los Angeles restaurant The Gorbals, Chef Ilan Hall serves a GLT sandwich that uses chicken skin ("gribenes") instead of bacon. His recipe is on Squid Ink | LA Weekly.
dawn says
wait, no chicken, just skin? damn girl you are a true lover of it. I didn't believe it, but now, oh yeah.
Sarah J. Gim says
dawn: it was so good, taking the entire thing, breaking it up into pieces and eating them like "chips." Geez, how amazing would these chicken skin chips be for nachos?!
Eddie Lin says
Where? Must try!
Sarah J. Gim says
Eddie: the chicken skin was a gift from someone - someone who clearly knows that fat-fried fat is the way to this girl's heart (attack).
I believe all you need to do is peel the skin off the chicken in one big piece and flatten it best you can between two heavy baking sheets.
Lori says
So funny, I love crispy chicken skin but at the same time find it utterly disgusting. What a dichotomy.
Aaron says
Chicken skin is already the new "chicken skin" of 2009... and pretty much every year before that we've been eating the bird. Where have you been?
JOE says
Y'ALL ARE SICK FUCKS! I have been eatin the bird all ma life and i aint never done eat none o dat chicken skin and globules of anythang! SICK!
FUCKS!
Sarah J. Gim says
Lori: I am with you. In fact, the sight of chicken skin in its raw state really grosses me out.
But damn does it taste good when it's fried.
Aaron: Chicken skin - in *any* format - has been the chicken skin of every year in The Delicious Life. I used to share fried chicken with my sisters - gave them the white meat of the breast to them after I pulled off the grease-dripping crisp, battered fried skin.
Then I discovered the pure skin of a roast chicken (which I didn't know growing up).
Only in the last few years have I gotten to know the joy that is pure chicken skin, fried.
Joe: Um...more for me, I guess? :)
Kevin says
I'm just going to trust you on the taste, but is there any real redeeming factor otherwise?
I know I "don't know what I'm missing" but perhaps we could set up a trade? My leftover chicken skins (which would otherwise go uneaten) for an extra bit of meat? :)
Sarah J. Gim says
Kevin: The taste is exactly what you remember the last time you peeled the chicken skin off a roast chicken (or fried chicken, though it's slightly adulterated with the fry batter). I think the fact that chicken skin is so crisp AND salty is what does it for me.
So yes, you send me your leftover chicken skins and you can have all the white meat and drumsticks you want (I could never give up a chicken thigh).
Laurel says
Wow! This was great. I had a recipe that called for a couple of skinless chicken breasts so I peeled of the skin and gave it your treatment. I left the little knobs of fat on and when the skin was mostly done, I poured the schmaltz off to use for something else. The crispy, salty skin didn't last 10 minutes in this house. Soooo good! So thanks Sarah. I love Google. Joe, not so much.
thegoldminer says
It was so funny to see the episode of the chicken skin. It is really "baked" chicken skin. I have been making chicken skin for 20 years and it is true fried chicken skin, although I call them chicken chips. Most don't realize when chicken skin is fried (baked) it changes consistence. Instead of slightly chewy if pulled off fried chicken, fried or bake just dissolves in you mouth. I stopped at the Farmers Market on Fairfax on a visit and got the chicken vendor to save me 5 lbs of skin and took it back to Sacramento and had a huge chicken chip party.
When I say the show I thought they had taped me laying out a breast skin as it is exactly like I have done it for years. I have found a whole skin does not fry as evenly as when I cut up the whole into 4 pieces, a really sharp knife. My recipe is linked below and there are step by step pics. I also have a recipe on the site for Fried Chicken and if you like prime rib, look for the "Perfect Prime Rib" . Totally yummy stuff and hope you enjoy another recipe for chicken skin (artery clogging, heart stopping good stuff. JJ.
http://www.grouprecipes.com/30815/chicken-chips.html