Cinco de Mayo - Chicharrones de Pollo
May 5, 2008
So we celebrated Cinco de Mayo today by eating Chicharrones de Pollo, which is actually, um, a specialty not of Mexico, but of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, but we did have Mexican rice, tortilla chips and guacamole. It was an unhealthy, but intensely delicious and soul-satisfying meal. (I had planned to make this last week, before I was felled by the plague, so it came in handy to have everything ready for a Latin American, if not actually Mexican meal). The recipe for the Chicharrones is from the September 2007 issue of “Gourmet,” and I pretty much followed it to the letter.
Chicharrones de Pollo
- 1/4 cup amber or dark rum
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 1/2 lb skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces (you could use breasts, but they are less flavorful)
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- About 2 cups vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika (I used hot)
-Mix rum, lime juice, soy sauce and sugar in a shallow bowl until sugar dissolves. Add chicken, stir to coat, and let marinate for 25 minutes at room temperature.
-While chicken is in the last 5 minutes of marinating, heat 1 inch oil in a deep, 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers.
-Whisk flour, paprika and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a second shallow bowl. Drain chicken and pat dry. Dredge in flour, shaking off excess, then transfer to a plate.
-Fry chicken in three batches, turning occasionally, until deep golden brown and cooked through, 6-7 minutes per batch. Transfer to paper towels to drain.
We ate ours with LOTS of very hot, hot sauce.
Entry Filed under: Chicken Recipes, cooking, food, recipes. .
6 Comments Add your own
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed
1.
Eric Williams | May 5, 2008 at 6:26 pm
OMG, this sounds sooo good, and Ann, it LOOKS great, too. I’ll not believe your protestations, nor lamentations that you cannot take great pictures–well done on both counts. What is that little white cakey thing? I wanna make that, too. Also, have you used saffron to make the rice–how did it get that luscious yellow color? C’mon, you can tell me! Que deliciosa comida hoy!
2.
Mr. Annie | May 5, 2008 at 8:19 pm
OH let me. We have the crispy chicken, rice, a dollop of guac, and a tortilla chip. I will say that my plate was not quite that nice looking. Same stuff but piles of it, all overlapping. Yum.
3.
imagineannie | May 6, 2008 at 7:27 am
Eric, thanks! There is saffron in the rice. It was really, really good, and you should have some (and then hike somewhere for five hours). Its worth it.
4.
jayedee | May 6, 2008 at 9:56 am
oh my goodness! that looks sooooooo wonderful! we had a seafood feast last night in honor of scott and nick’s 21st birthday!
i broke the bank but as this will probably be their last year at home, it was all good!
i may try your cinco de mayo recipe over the weekend though! i know it would be a hit here!
5.
Eric Williams | May 6, 2008 at 11:43 am
I see it now. That chip looked like a dollop of some sort of white polenta, kind of an optical illusion–perhaps if there had been two chips in the image, I wouldn’t have been fooled. Dale made shrimp with peppers and “tried” to Mexicanize it a bit for Cinco de Mayo and I made saffron rice, so we were somewhat dining-appropriate for the day. (Mazatlan has the biggest shrimp industry in Mexico) so I guess we were paying tribute. Oh, and Pacifico beer is made there too…burp.
6.
imagineannie | May 7, 2008 at 7:38 am
jayedee, seafood sounds pretty good, too, and if you can’t break the bank for your kids who would you do it for? (That was an awful sentence, but you get my drift). The chicharrones are very kid friendly, and I hope your family likes them as much as we did.
Eric, your Cinco de Mayo sounds pretty good, too. I wish we could eat shrimp here, but real ones are incredibly expensive and the kid won’t eat them (yet) so I hate to spend money on them. Pacifico beer. Hmmmmm.