Buffalo Chicken Finger Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

In college I lived on chicken wings.  Juicy, fatty, crispy little bits of deliciousness, covered in Buffalo wing sauce.  I was in the camp that wings should not be breaded - they should just be fried plain.  And yet somehow, I also liked 'boneless wings' served at the Wings Over X chain (insert multiple Northeastern cities for X) which, despite my proximity to Buffalo, seemed to take hold as an acceptable name and menu item.  A boneless wing?!  What the heck is that?  Do they mean a deboned wing, which would be a tiny lump of chicken skin, a whole bunch of fat, and about 0.1 ounces of actual meat?  Or perhaps a chicken finger, which is what it really was?  Oh well, you can't argue with people on things like this, although I frequently try.

'Boneless wings', AKA chicken fingers

Usually a conduit for various sauces, these 'boneless wings' were in reality heavily breaded chicken tenders, steeped in any of a number of different liquids or spice blends.  More often than not, the sauces were the best part, with tantalizing names like honey mustard, spicy teriyaki, and golden BBQ sticking in memory.  Trying to recreate these for me has been like trying to catch a butterfly in a tornado - you know you're probably close to your target, but you're pretty sure it's never going to happen.

I've decided it's time to crack this nut - both in how to make a good chicken finger, and how to make these dipping / tossing sauces.  As a start, I ran out and bought 40 pounds of chicken tenders.  Most of these have been frozen so I can time release their awesomeness.  But the first batch went towards my first chicken fingers attempt, and then into a standard (although excellent) Buffalo sauce recipe.  Though it wasn't the style I was shooting for, I liked these a lot, and they got incredible marks from my guests.  So I thought I would share them with all of you.  Note: these are NOT my New Year's double breaded wings, for the friends who are reading this and want to recreate them.  That recipe is still being tweaked, and will be posted shortly.


Buffalo Chicken Tender Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

Serves 4

• 1/2 cup white flour
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon water
• 2 cups panko
• 10 chicken tenders
• at least 1 quart frying oil, either vegetable, canola, or peanut
• salt, in an easy to dispense shaker

• 1 large head lettuce, preferably butter or Romaine (or, if you're boring, iceberg)
• 1 large tomato, sliced
• 1/2 large red onion, sliced very thinly into rings
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 1/2 pound roasted asparagus
• 1 large carrot, shredded
• 1 medium cucumber, sliced
• 1/8 pound sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Before we even start, you should know that you need a few pieces of equipment to even consider this.  First, a heavy pot or electric fryer.  Second, a good frying thermometer or digital thermometer reading up to at least 400 F.  Third, a metal mesh 'spider' for removing and turning the chicken pieces.  And fourth, a decent amount of counter space.

First off, get yourself organized.  I have been frying many things for many years, and if you're not set up and ready to both get things into and out of your frying vessel, you will make mistakes, possibly including burning yourself and those around you.  This means clearing the counter, considering how you're going to pre-treat your chicken, and determining what happens to them afterwards.  For this recipe, I'm going with a standard three-phase breading, so I laid that out on one side of the pot, and then had my drain plate and seasonings ready on the other side of the pot.  Sanitary, efficient, and workable by two people - smashing.

The 'raw' side of the house

The 'cooked' side of the house.

Now, consider your vessel.  Notice that I didn't say your fryer, even though I do have a pretty epic fryer.  You CAN buy a fancy electric number that precisely controls the temperature.  But if you just don't have the space, a heavy pot at least 3 times deeper than the oil level you plan to use will be just great.  Why so deep? Because of a few things - first, the oil will expand when you heat it.  Second, the oil level will rise when you put things in.  Third, this is going to bubble and splatter, and the taller the walls of the pot, the less mess you will end up with.

Note the vast amount of space I have left in the pot.  I actually used so little oil that I was really pan-frying these, and I had to flip them part way through cooking.

Finally, consider your breading method and sauces.  I mentioned the three-phase.  What is that?  It's a very common method for breading meats (and vegetables - consider eggplant Parmesan) consisting of flour, an egg wash, and then breadcrumbs.  Here I use panko, a delicious coarse Japanese bread crumb made by pushing stale bread through a series of mesh screens.  Highly recommended if you can get a big bag cheaply from the Asian grocery store.  Also of note, I seasoned my flour slightly with some cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper, but only just a little.  A lot of that gets wasted anyway since you don't use all the flour, so I would recommend seasoning the meat directly.  For the egg wash, take your eggs and the water and beat together to form a uniform consistency.  Arrange in the order shown in the picture above.

To prepare, heat your oil to 350 F, get your sauce ready on the other end (recipe follows), and bread half of your tenders.  Toss chicken in the flour, try to let the egg wash drip off when you dunk them in there for a second, then roll lightly but thoroughly in the panko (the chicken, not you).  You can either put them directly in the oil, or finish the lot one or two at at time, letting them sit on a rack for a second while you get them all ready.

Once ready, put your chicken in the oil, and boost the flame so the oil temperature doesn't drop too much.  You're looking to stay in the 325 - 350 range the whole time.  If you're deep frying, just give the tenders a nudge every once in a while so they cook evenly.  If pan-frying (not fully submerged), turn them when the edges seem browned and the fingers start bubbling a bit more slowly.  Just turn them once.  Keep your eye on the temperature, making sure you don't get too high or too low.

The completed and draining fingers, before saucing

When the fingers are done, remove to a plate lined with paper towels or a rack over a baking sheet, and season with salt immediately.  Place each finger in the Buffalo sauce and toss to coat.  Then serve over your salad, which I leave to you to create.

A Buffalo chicken finger salad with homemade dressing.

Buffalo Wing Sauce

• 8 tablespoons Louisiana hot sauce (Frank's is the brand used in Buffalo)
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine
• 1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• salt to taste

To prepare, melt butter in microwave or on stovetop.  Stir ingredients together in a large bowl.

 

Here's the sauce, with a couple of fingers going for a quick swim.  It doesn't look healthy, but that's because it isn't.  But man, is it good.

Blue Cheese Dressing

• 1/2 cup regular mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 3 oz blue cheese
• 1/2 tablespoon wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• few grinds black pepper
• 1/2 tsp sugar (optional, to taste)

To prepare, stir ingredients together in a large bowl.  Will keep in the fridge for at least a week.