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Broasted Chicken
Have you ever had Broasted Chicken? No that isn't a typo...for those who don't know about this delicious delicacy of a time gone by Broasting is the process of pressure frying. Typically chicken is Broasted in paprika and spices
Broasting can not be done at home, and the equipment is only sold by one little company in Wisconsin - this was big in the 1950's and really hard to find today. If you've never had it then go find some, and if you have had it please post here and let us know where it is! Below is my list.
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Such things feature prominently in one of my favorite books by William Gibson, Spook Country:
She ate dollar-fifty-nine barbecue beef rib with broasted potatoes off a paper plate on the trunk of the Passat, waiting for Alberto to turn up at Mr. Sippee, a blessed oasis of peace and mutual respect situated in a twenty-four-hour convenience store at the Arco gas station at Blaine and Eleventh. Nobody messed with you in Mr. Sippee. She knew that from her previous stay in Los Angeles, and that was what brought her here now. Close to the tents under the freeway, Ms. Sippee catered to an eclectic clientele of the more functionally homeless, sex workers of varied gender and presentation, pimps, police officers, drug dealers, office workers, artists, musicians, the map-lost as well as the life-lost, and anyone in serious search of the perfect broasted potatoes. You ate standing up, if you had a car to put your food on. If you didn't, you sat on the curb out front. She had often thought, while eating there, that the United Nations could do worse than investigate the pacific powers of broasted potatoes. [...] She studied the pattern of potato grease on her empty paper plate. If you knew enough Greek, she thought, you could assemble a word that meant divination via the pattern of grease left on a paper plate by broasted potatoes. But it would be a long word. |
I thought all KFC was pressure fried?
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Had it in Richland WA. Can't remember the name of the restaurant. It was about 30 years ago.
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I remember a place in either Lanesboro or possibly Cheshire, Ma. It had a big rooster out front and a sign advertising Broasted Chicken. My father in law would pick it up about once a month. Some of the best chicken I've ever eaten. Juicy but never greasy.
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Broasted Chicken
It's pretty common in the Detroit area. I'm pretty sure chicken shack is broasted chicken, and a few of the Coney Island type restaurants here serve it. It's a little greasy, but better than KFC. :)
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I love broasted chicken. And it's not as gone as you'd think. The Broaster company is very much in business and has a store locator here: http://www.broasterexpress.com/store-locator/
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This brings back memories of Gladstone, Michigan
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Learn something new every day. I'll keep an eye out for it when I am next in the USA. Sounds good
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Originally Posted by MAN Pax
(Post 25116377)
I thought all KFC was pressure fried?
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It's big around Harrisburg, PA.
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Presumably the reason why you'd broast a chicken rather than roasting one in America is because it is both quick and less healthy ?
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Originally Posted by uk1
(Post 25119505)
It is
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Originally Posted by SimonB77
(Post 25119891)
Or it was. If it still is you could have fooled me. KFC tastes nothing like it used to.
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Originally Posted by SimonB77
(Post 25119891)
Or it was. If it still is you could have fooled me. KFC tastes nothing like it used to.
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Originally Posted by Madone59
(Post 25120490)
+1 I agree KFC tastes nothing like Broasted Chicken no matter what technique they use to cook it. The broasted chicken i have had wasn't breaded just seasoned and the skin was crispier than a breading would be.
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Originally Posted by uk1
(Post 25120643)
KFC chicken has crumb and yours didn't ... and KFC, might not be as good as it was ..... nertheless it is all cooked in a pressure fryer........:)
All this talk of chicken is making me hungry. |
Originally Posted by Clint Bint
(Post 25119885)
Presumably the reason why you'd broast a chicken rather than roasting one in America is because it is both quick and less healthy ?
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Originally Posted by BamaVol
(Post 25120763)
Breading plus 11 herbs and spices. Do I have that number right? It's been so long since I've been in a KFC or seen an ad. I assume broasting doesn't have a seasoning requirement, so broasted chicken from different restaurants would likely have different flavor profiles.
All this talk of chicken is making me hungry. Funnily enough ..... I don't enjoy the drive down to our place in Devon so left home at 1am and arrived at 3am this morning. The special treat was bbq wings cooked in the airfryer and an elegant box of wine as a reward for getting us down safely. Happy days! :):) http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...33285C03_1.jpg http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...08314163_1.jpg |
Originally Posted by BamaVol
(Post 25120763)
Breading plus 11 herbs and spices. Do I have that number right? It's been so long since I've been in a KFC or seen an ad. I assume broasting doesn't have a seasoning requirement, so broasted chicken from different restaurants would likely have different flavor profiles.
All this talk of chicken is making me hungry. 2 things about KFC. 1) The chicken is absolutely no where as good as it once was. For starters, the pieces are much smaller. I swear that they are frying pigeons in that place now. 2) Those 11 herbs and spices have changed as well. To the point where eating the chicken leads to a sure fire trip to the restroom a little later. Thus...I no longer eat KFC. Plus, my own fried chicken tastes much better!!! |
Originally Posted by BamaVol
(Post 25120763)
I assume broasting doesn't have a seasoning requirement, so broasted chicken from different restaurants would likely have different flavor profiles.
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Originally Posted by phillygold
(Post 25121214)
Yep, made from the Colonel's secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices! I can still hear the commercials now.
2 things about KFC. 1) The chicken is absolutely no where as good as it once was. For starters, the pieces are much smaller. I swear that they are frying pigeons in that place now. 2) Those 11 herbs and spices have changed as well. To the point where eating the chicken leads to a sure fire trip to the restroom a little later. Thus...I no longer eat KFC. Plus, my own fried chicken tastes much better!!! |
Just a few details:
The term "broasted" is trademarked by the Broaster Company of Beloit, Wisconsin (as at least one person mentioned above). A restaurant or food-service business that uses that or related terms to describe the equipment or process they use must be licensed to to so. As this article on Broasting explains, "Colonel" Harlan Sanders, the founder of KFC, pioneered the use of pressure cookers for frying chicken. As the article also says, KFC chicken is still pressure fried (as uk1 said), although various types of pressure-frying equipment are used. As it happens, there are at least three places that serve "broasted" chicken with equipment from that company within 5 miles of my house. KFC and Chik-Fil-A, among other fast-food restaurant chains, serve pressure-fried chicken, but they do not advertise it as broasted chicken because they do not use equipment from the Broaster Company. How broasted chicken differs from otherwise-pressure-fried chicken, I don't know, but I do know there's a lot more to fried chicken than the oil temperature and cooking pressure. |
I recall broasted chicken as being largely available in gas stations -- those types of gas stations that had a large fry station selling hot food along with the gum, drinks, and gas.
And yes, KFC is not what it used to be. My tastes have changed over the years, though, so I wondered whether that is a large part of it. |
Originally Posted by Delta Hog
(Post 25127189)
I recall broasted chicken as being largely available in gas stations -- those types of gas stations that had a large fry station selling hot food along with the gum, drinks, and gas.
And yes, KFC is not what it used to be. My tastes have changed over the years, though, so I wondered whether that is a large part of it. I remember the first KFC I had in the US, a long time ago. Not far from the Big Chicken in Atlanta. We still recall that experience. Everything changes. |
Is this change in KFC taste a result of moving away from hydrogenated oil? Krispy Kreme certainly changed significantly when they did, and not for the better.
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I'm still not quite sure how broasting is any different from deep-frying a piece of chicken coated in flour ?
The tastiest chicken I cook is always upside down in its own juices with nothing added. |
Originally Posted by Clint Bint
(Post 25129929)
I'm still not quite sure how broasting is any different from deep-frying a piece of chicken coated in flour ?
The tastiest chicken I cook is always upside down in its own juices with nothing added. |
Originally Posted by uk1
(Post 25130160)
I think the theory is that adding the pressure cooker aspect ensures the chicken is cooked quicker and more safely (pasteurisation) and is juicier as "drying out" is greatly reduced.
I'm not really an expert however - I haven't eaten a fast food takeaway in decades. |
Originally Posted by Clint Bint
(Post 25130468)
I understand the fast food concept of broasting but juicier ? To me anything fried in oil tastes more of the oil rather than the meat juices.
I'm not really an expert however - I haven't eaten a fast food takeaway in decades. There is also a myth that all fried food is unhealthy. This is untrue. Most fried food is unhealthy because of it's preparation, but there has been a lot of interesting counter intuitive work ...including a PHD thesis from a guy in New Zealand that worked out what had been going "wrong" with chip frying .... and devised a methodology of making chips healthier and tastier. It is close to the Blumenthal approach .... slightly different. :) |
Originally Posted by Clint Bint
(Post 25129929)
I'm still not quite sure how broasting is any different from deep-frying a piece of chicken coated in flour ?
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Originally Posted by Clint Bint
(Post 25130468)
I understand the fast food concept of broasting but juicier ? To me anything fried in oil tastes more of the oil rather than the meat juices.
I'm not really an expert however - I haven't eaten a fast food takeaway in decades. |
My local diner has the BEST broasted chicken. It's delicious. I do believe they put crack into the spices. Drooling - want some for dinner now.
http://www.kountrykettle.net/restaurant.htm OF course, they claim to be home to the original curly fry - doubt it, though they do date to 1940, and their curly fries ARE great. Skin on, and tasty. |
Originally Posted by Green Dragon
(Post 25320637)
My local diner has the BEST broasted chicken. It's delicious. I do believe they put crack into the spices. Drooling - want some for dinner now.
http://www.kountrykettle.net/restaurant.htm OF course, they claim to be home to the original curly fry - doubt it, though they do date to 1940, and their curly fries ARE great. Skin on, and tasty. Established 1940 That's what I like to see ^ |
Originally Posted by Green Dragon
(Post 25320637)
My local diner has the BEST broasted chicken. It's delicious. I do believe they put crack into the spices. Drooling - want some for dinner now.
http://www.kountrykettle.net/restaurant.htm OF course, they claim to be home to the original curly fry - doubt it, though they do date to 1940, and their curly fries ARE great. Skin on, and tasty. |
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