Go Back
+ servings
Servings: 2 people

Half grilled chicken with French fries

My take on a delicious homemade "bird in the nest" - which of course has been in the deep fryer.
Author: Per Asmussen
Course: Dinner
Cuisine: Danish
Keyword: Chicken, cucumber, Danish food, Denmark, Dinner, Junk Food de Luxe, Potato, raw pickling
Prep Time: 8 hours
Cook Time: 50 minutes

Equipment

  • Dehydrator
  • Mandoline Slicer
  • Deep fryer
  • Bowl
  • Pot
  • Knife

Ingredients

Wave Fritters

  • 10 pcs. Potato
  • Water
  • 30 gram Vinegar stock
  • Oil neutral flavor - for the deep fryer

Cucumber Salad

  • 0.5 pcs. Cucumber
  • Salt to draw the juice out of the cucumbers
  • 50 gram Vinegar stock (clear)
  • 50 gram Water
  • 3 gram Salt
  • Pepper from grinder

Remoulade with pickles

  • 95 gram Mayonnaise
  • 125 gram Pickles
  • 0.5 pcs. Pickles
  • Turmeric
  • Salt and Pepper

"Grillkylling"

  • 1 pcs. Whole Chicken

Brine

  • 2 l Water
  • 150 gram Salt
  • 50 gram Sugar
  • 6 gram Pepper
  • 5 pcs. Bay Leaf

Deep-frying chicken (part 1)

  • Salt and Pepper
  • Baking Soda

Deep-frying chicken (part 2)

  • 52 gram Flour
  • Salt and Pepper

Sides

  • Ketchup

Instructions

Wavy fries

  • The potatoes were cut using a mandolin slicer. My slicer has an option to make waves. Since my potatoes weren't big, the fries naturally didn't turn out too big either.
  • The potatoes were placed in a large bowl of cold water. After about 10 minutes, the (now very murky) water was changed to new cold water.
  • After a total of 20 minutes, the potatoes were boiled in water with vinegar.
  • After 12 minutes in the water, they were taken out and spread in an even layer on a rack/tea towel and placed in the freezer for at least 30 minutes. This dries them.
  • Meanwhile, heat a deep fryer (pot with oil) to 140 degrees Celsius (284 degrees Fahrenheit).
  • Be careful not to add too many cold fries at once - this lowers the oil temperature and you won't get the desired effect.
  • Cook your wavy fries in the pot until they take on a bit of color - this typically takes 5-7 minutes.
  • Take them out and place them in a clean tea towel and pat them dry of oil.
  • Put them back in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
  • They should be finished in the deep fryer at 180-190 degrees Celsius (356-374 degrees Fahrenheit) until they are golden. This typically takes a couple of minutes.
  • Take them out of the deep fryer and place them in an ovenproof dish with grease-absorbing paper/tea towel and season with salt.

Cucumber salad

  • Slice the cucumber into super thin slices - possibly with a mandolin slicer.
  • Place them in an even layer on a plate/platter and sprinkle with salt.
  • Let them sit and marinate. If you have plenty of time, they can sit for a couple of hours. This makes them firmer and draws the liquid out of them. Let them sit for at least 15 minutes.
  • Put all the other ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil, so the sugar dissolves.
  • Drain the cucumbers of liquid and place them in a sterilized jar.
  • Pour the brine over and seal the lid.
  • Refrigerate them, preferably 30-60 minutes before serving.

Remoulade with pickles

  • Mix mayo and pickles together. Use homemade or store-bought, it's up to you (I used this immersion blender mayonnaise and these pickles for the recipe).
  • Add chopped gherkin and season with salt and pepper.
  • Use turmeric to color it, so it looks nice and yellow. My mayo was made with a whole egg, so it was much whiter than a homemade version where I usually only use the yolk.

"Grilled chicken"

  • The name "Grilled chicken" is actually misleading: it has never been near a grill.
  • Brining:One of the biggest challenges is getting enough flavor/salt into the chicken, so I chose to brine it for 6 hours. Why not longer? Because that's the time I had. It could probably have brined for 10-12 hours.Place the chicken in a large pot and add salt, sugar, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir well and refrigerate. It's important that the entire chicken is covered with water.
  • Boiling:Take the chicken out of the water and rinse it under cold running water to stop the brining.Halve the chicken down the middle, so there is a breast, wing, and thigh per piece. I used a poultry shear. I cut along the backbone, trimming a bit more of the back from both pieces.Boil the chicken for 20-25 minutes - it should be tender but not falling apart. Depending on the size, it may need only 15 minutes.Take the two half chickens out of the boiling water and dry them off - with a clean tea towel.Place them in the freezer for 30 minutes to cool them down thoroughly and stop the cooking process.
  • Deep frying:Having no experience with making this before, I chose to divide the "breading" of the chicken into 2 different parts:
  • Part 1:1 dl flour was placed in a bag with a lot of salt and pepper.Then the half chicken was placed in the bag and shaken well.The chicken was fried for about 12 minutes at 180-190 degrees Celsius (356-374 degrees Fahrenheit).
  • Part 2:The half chicken was seasoned with salt and pepper.Then I put baking powder in a small sieve and from about 40-50 cm height, sprinkled it over the chicken. The idea is that the baking powder helps the skin become crispy - the chemical explanation I can't provide :-( The chicken was fried for about 12 minutes at 180-190 degrees Celsius (356-374 degrees Fahrenheit).
  • Let both pieces drain on grease-absorbing paper (or a clean tea towel) and give them a good sprinkle of salt before serving.

Serving

  • Of course, it's a matter of preference whether you want to serve the dish with ketchup or not. I didn't eat remoulade as a child, so I always had ketchup with my half grilled chicken. Recently, I made my own homemade Heinz ketchup, which I of course ate with the dish.
  • Otherwise, it's just about getting a bit of everything on the plate: 1/2 grilled chicken, French fries, remoulade, ketchup, and cucumber salad.
  • Enjoy your meal.

Notes

Both versions of the chicken became crispy, but it's definitely the version with salt, pepper, and baking powder that I'll make again next time.