A ranch fried chicken sandwich.
So Janette, I'm giving you two essential tasks.
Bake our bacon.
Got it. To crisp.
Got it.
I put on a couple extra pieces for us.
Thank you.
(Jeanette and audience laughing)
And then perfectly, lightly.
Lightly? Ooh.
Lightly toast, which is very delicate procedure,
our buttery brioche buns.
On it.
Online you can get my quick refrigerator pickle recipe.
Or you could just go to the grocery story
and buy your favorite bottle of pickles.
It's basically just some sugar and salt,
some mustard seed, coriander seed, black pepper,
lots of fresh dill, fresh bay, cracked garlic.
In a jar, bang, throw it in the fridge.
It'll last you a couple weeks.
For the ranch dressing that we're going
to put on the sandwich and marinate the chicken in,
we're going to start with a cup and a half or so
of sour cream or Greek yogurt.
I've already got that in a bowl,
to that we're going to add about two teaspoons
each of Frank's Red Hot or cayenne pepper sauce.
A little superfine sugar
or you can use a little light agave if you prefer.
And about the same amount or two-thirds of a pump full
each of granulated onion and granulated garlic.
Salt and pepper.
About a quarter cup of buttermilk.
One, two, three, four.
Couple of fat splashes of white vinegar.
And then a good tablespoon each of dried
parsley, chives and dill.
A ranch classic combo.
And then we're going to whisk this up.
And we're going to take a plastic food storage bag
drop in your chicken.
Salt and pepper.
And I halved the breasts horizontally
so each chicken breast will yield two chicken cutlets.
Drop it into your plastic food storage bag.
Pour in half the dressing.
Let this marinate.
Put the rest into squeeze bottle
for when you're building your sandwiches.
For the breadcrumb mixture,
you're going to take fine breadcrumbs
and panko or homemade breadcrumbs
and combine them so you get extra crunchy chicken coating.
And we're going to season that with a tablespoon
each for a couple of cups of the breadcrumb mixture
smoked sweet paprika and granulated onion and garlic.
Salt and pepper of course goes into the breadcrumb
mixture as well.
You want to season every layer of flavor.
We're going to shallow fry this
in a large cast iron skillet.
Over medium to medium high heat,
right in the middle there.
And you do it in small batches so you don't crowd the pan.
Keep it warm in a hot oven on a wire rack.
(air whooshing) Here's what
the guys look like when they come out,
you put them on a rimmed baking sheet.
I've got the oven getting hot.
And we're going to melt on some cheese.
I have good old American cheese
since it is Fourth of July weekend.
Pepper jack, also delicious on this.
I'm gonna shred up a little Napa.
And I've got nice looking tomato,
a hot tomato.
And a white or red onion.
And we're just gonna to thinly slice all these guys.
(air whooshing)
Okay Jeanette is back
which is why we have perfectly toasted buns.
And beautifully crisp bacon.
So we put our cheesy chicken on the buns.
No, no, no Jeanette.
Oh whoops.
You're going way ahead.
(Jeanette laughs)
Every bite has to be the same,
that's why we cut them in half.
Everybody gets two slices of bacon,
but instead of the criss-cross
you go across the top of the chicken.
Oh.
So every bite of the chicken
I'm with you now, I'm with you
Has bacon on it I'm with you.
(audience wow's)
I like that, so it doesn't slide out
and then you don't have any bacon-less bites.
Exactly. Got it.
No bacon-less bites, you see.
Got it, got it.
No bacon-less bites in this kitchen.
(pans clatter)
So we have chicken, cheese, bacon, tomatoes.
'Kay.
And then you go around behind me with the,
our lettuce choice today was Napa.
Crispy Napa.
Okay.
And then on top of the Napa, our ranch.
(audience oh's)
Don't go too high with the Napa or I can't put the ranch.
(Jeanette laughs)
There you go.
'Kay
And then we pop our lids on.
And you can start doing your festive little
blue and red flags that you're so excited about.
(audience cheers) (chime tinkling)