Bakesale Betty's Fried Chicken Sandwich

ITsyBItsy's Note:

From one of my favorite restaurants in Oakland. Grabbed this recipe from muffintop's blog when I got a hankering. Also made this sandwich using fried tilapia. Still good but I found that all I really wanted to eat was the coleslaw filling. Hope you have an appetite cause this is one huge sandwich.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 45 mins
• Prep Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 4

Yield: 4.0 sandwic ...

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, about 6 ounces each
• kosher salt
• 1 quart buttermilk

The vinaigrette

• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (Edmond Fallot Dijon mustard is what Betty uses)
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (Bariani extra virgin olive oil is what Betty uses)

The coleslaw

• 1 small red onion, very thinly sliced
• 1 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 jalapenos, seeded, cut in half and sliced crosswise (I've used a green bell pepper instead and it's still wonderful)
• 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
• 1/2 green cabbage, core and outer leaves removed, and very thinly sliced
• kosher salt

The breading

• 1 lb all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt (or more to taste)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper
• 2 quarts vegetable oil, for frying
• 4 rolls, sliced lengthwise (Betty uses Acme Bakery torpedo rolls)

Directions:

1. Season chicken breasts with kosher salt. Let sit at least 5 minutes. Fill a wide, shallow nonreactive bowl or casserole dish with buttermilk. Add the chicken and soak in the refrigerator for 1 hour up to overnight.
2. For the vinaigrette: Combine mustard, vinegar and salt in a bowl. Slowly whisk in olive oil until well blended.
3. For the coleslaw: Macerate onions in the cup of red wine vinegar, and let sit at least 20 minutes. Remove onions and discard vinegar. Toss onions with jalapeno, parsley, cabbage and salt. Toss with vinaigrette until evenly coated.
4. To fry chicken: Pour vegetable oil into a large stockpot. Do not fill up more than halfway, or the oil could splatter. Bring oil up to 365°, using a digital thermometer/candy thermometer to monitor the heat. Prepare the the breading while waiting for oil to heat up.
5. In a wide shallow bowl, mix flour, cayenne, salt and pepper. Pull a chicken breast out of the buttermilk one by one, letting excess drip off, and dredge completely in flour. To create a thick crust, place in buttermilk and dredge in flour a second time. Do not drain or shake off excess buttermilk or flour during the breading process.
6. When the oil is at 365°, carefully place chicken pieces into oil one by one. Let it cook for a minute before disturbing chicken, then help it “swim” in the oil with tongs, until it is evenly cooked, about 5-7 minutes. Remove chicken from oil and drain on paper towels. Season immediately with salt.
7. For the sandwich: Place fried chicken breast on bottom of torpedo roll and top generously with coleslaw.
8. Per serving: 995 calories, 52 g protein, 63 g carbohydrate, 58 g fat (8 g saturated), 95 mg cholesterol, 1,497 mg sodium, 6 g fiber.

Reviews

[Chef #1206893]

is there such thing as 14 stars, because that is what bakesale betty's fried chicken sandwich really deserves!

[amyheu]

Yummy sandwich. Very delicious. More authentic when you cook it at home. Hot and fresh! I had all the ingredients except cayenne and kosher salt. I had sea salt and paprika on hand and it's just as good. The coleslaw was oily-licious messy. I bought a pre-cut coleslaw package at the store. It has julienned carrots in it, which is good too. There was no need to slice up a whole cabbage. Make sure you don't overheat the oil or else it burns quick. I prefer to dip the chicken in the flour mixture once; instead of dipping it twice into the buttermilk. It has a nice light crunch that way. If you dip it twice, that's fine too. It'll just have a thicker batter and lots of crunch to it. I made four sandwiches and gave it to my boyfriend and his friends. They all loved it!! It was delicious. Thank you for the recipe! It's very close to Bakesale Betty's Sandwiches.

[Nancy Leigh E]

This was absolutely wonderful and authentic to the real Bake Sale Betty's! Now that I live in SF, it's not been so easy to get over to Oakland and wait in the crazy line and try and make their three hour window of openness. This very much hit the mark! Thank you for the great recipe!!!!