- They have Chicken Kiev,
butter squirts everywhere.
(door clicking)
- Oh, I don't even need to look, Chicken Kiev.
- They make you wear a bib.
- Come on, let's have some fun.
- Two Chicken Kievs.
- [Babish] Hey, what's up guys and welcome back to
"They said it on TV and I wanted to eat it,
"so I'm gonna make it," with Babish.
Chicken Kiev is an indulgent 20th century staple
that requires a bit of butchery.
So, on a clean cutting board
stabilized by a moistened towel
we're plopping down a pair of chicken breasts
and butterflying them, that is,
carefully placing a cut directly down the center
of the breast and opening it up like a book.
I say carefully, because we wanna do this
as evenly as possible and minimize holes
through which our herby butter stuffing can leak out.
Once they've been butterflied,
we're going to sandwich the breasts
betwixt sheets of plastic wrap
so that we can pound them out as thin as possible.
Again, this is a little tricky,
you don't want to pound them out too thin
because they could form holes.
Some holes are gonna be fine, but bigger ones,
especially in the middle of the breast,
are going to be problematic.
Ultimately we want them to be
about one and a half times their original size.
And then we must stuff our chicken with compound butter
which we are compounding with some fresh herbs.
I've got about two tablespoons of fresh dill,
one tablespoon of teragon, and three tablespoons of parsley
which I'm going to mix together
with six ounces of room temperature,
high quality, unsalted butter.
I'm also going to grate a couple cloves of garlic in there,
give it a little pinch of salt,
a few twists of freshly ground black pepper,
and then give it a good paddling until the herbs
and garlic are evenly distributed throughout the butter,
making sure to leave no butter behind.
Once that's ready to go,
we need to form the butter into logs
which we're going to do with wetted hands.
This will prevent the butter from sticking
to your hands too much and help you shape them
into cleaner, rounder, smoother logs.
Once you've shaped the butter
into two separate three ounce logs,
we need to firm them up in the fridge
for at least 20 minutes
before inserting them into our chicken.
First, we're going to season the inside
of the chicken with a little bit of kosher salt
and freshly ground pepper.
Place the butter at the narrowest end
nearest you and roll it up like a burrito,
that is, roll it a little bit,
tuck in the sides, and continue rolling
for maximum chicken ensconcement.
Then, to get a really clean cylindrical shape
I like to wrap these guys up in plastic wrap
and utilize the Gordan Ramsay "whipsy flipsy" method
to wrap them up into a tight chicken tube
which I'm gonna place in the freezer for 15
to 20 minutes to firm up so they're ready for breading.
We're going with a standard three stage breading station
but to the one cup of flour,
I'm going to add half a cup of cornstarch
which will hopefully help seal
any minor gaps in our chicken.
I'm also adding a little bit of kosher salt
and freshly ground pepper, tiny whisking to combine
and likewise whisking the eggs into a slurry.
Then we're dropping the chicken
straight in... disastrous...
Into the flour mixture first,
making sure that it is thoroughly coated
before transferring over to the eggs
and likewise ensuring that every nook
and/or cranny is coated.
Then, it's headed over to the bread crumbs
where, you guessed it, we gotta make sure
that it is thoroughly coated
and I'm going to double dip the chicken.
So, it's headed back into the eggs
and then back into the bread crumbs,
which will hopefully secure its buttery payload.
We're letting that hang out
on a rimmed baking sheet covered in breadcrumbs
while we complete the second chicken breast.
And, if you have any problematic cracks or gaps,
you can always try to seal them up
by repeatedly dipping them in egg
and breadcrumbs respectively.
But, don't worry too much,
because even though we are deep frying these
in 350 degree fahrenheit oil,
we're only doing so for about two minutes,
just enough time to give the outside some color
and create a crispy, crunchy barrier
that will keep the melted butter in place
while these guys finish in the oven.
First, we're going to drain them on paper towels
which is gonna help soak up any excess oil.
I'm also frying them one at a time,
both because it's scary, and so we don't drop
the temperature of the oil too much.
Then, these guys are headed onto a rack
set in a rimmed baking sheet
and baking in a 350 degree fahrenheit oven
for anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes
depending on the size of your chicken.
You know that it's done when you start hearing
butter sputtering on the bottom of the pan.
Then, these guys have to rest
for at least 10 minutes before being served up
with some era appropriate sides.
Having mashed potatoes is the ideal base for this dish
because it's about to get positively showered
in butter and herbs.
And there you have it folks, the only chicken I know of
that you need to eat with a bib.
The sort of butter cavity left inside the chicken
is a little odd looking to me
but lets see what it tastes like.
And, big surprise, this tastes really, really good.
Turns out if you stuff chicken
with garlic herb butter and then deep fry it
it turns out pretty tasty.
And what really cool is the liquidous
gold treasure within transforms
everything else on the plate
which makes it both an obvious
entrant into the clean plate club
and a great motivator to go hit the gym.
(enthusiastic music)