Buttermilk Fried Chicken Burger

Ingredients

• 8 boneless chicken thighs
• 400 ml buttermilk
• 2 tbsp hot sauce
• 200 g plain flour
• 50 g cornflour
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 2 tsp garlic granules
• 1 1/2 tsp cayenne
• vegetable oil, for frying
• 4 brioche burger buns
• 6 tbsp mayonnaise
• 200 g white cabbage, finely shredded
• sliced dill pickles

Method

1. Brine in buttermilk

   Submerge the thighs in the buttermilk and hot sauce with a tablespoon of salt and leave overnight, or at least 4 hours. The acid and salt tenderise the meat and season it right through, which a surface rub cannot do.

   4 h

2. Mix the coating

   Combine the flour, cornflour, paprika, garlic granules, cayenne and a teaspoon of salt. The cornflour is what makes the crust shatter rather than go bready.

3. Craggy, not smooth

   Spoon four tablespoons of the buttermilk marinade into the flour and rub it in with your fingers so it goes lumpy. Dredge each thigh, pressing hard. Those lumps become the crunchy shards everyone actually wants.

4. Fry at the right heat

   Fry at 170°C for about 7 minutes until deep golden and cooked through. Hotter and the crust burns before the thigh is done; cooler and it drinks oil.

   7 min

5. Build

   Rest on a rack, never on paper on a plate, then build in toasted buns with mayonnaise, shredded cabbage and pickles. A rack keeps the underside crisp; a plate steams it soft in under a minute.