BREAKING BAD: 'los pollos hermanos' fried chicken

From the telly to your belly, recreating recipes from television

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SKIP TO: RECIPE

Welcome back, fellow food and TV lovers! 🍽️🎬 This is our series ‘Gobblebox’, where we show you how to recreate recipes from the small screen, so you can bring the telly to your belly and eat along with your fave characters. This week, we’re dusting off our bunsen burners, throwing on our lab coats, and stepping into the world of BREAKING BAD.

When he is not busy battling Tony Soprano for the top spot on the list of greatest TV shows of all time, Walter White loves to cook. There are many notable cooking moments in the series from bright blue crystals, to Walt's annual birthday bacon, to Tuco Salamenca's deadly burrito.

We've settled on our fave, fried chicken inspired by Los Pollos Hermanos, Gus Fring’s deceptively charming fictional fast-food chain. The grammatically incorrect "The Chicken Brothers" may primarily exist as a distribution front for Gus' operation but, as an aside, they also know how to rustle up some finger licking chicken.

Welcome to... "Los Pollos Hermanos, where something delicious is always cooking."

RECIPE NOTES

Whole bird: For our fried bites, we prefer to portion up a whole chicken as you get a lot more bang for your buck, but if you don't fancy sharpening your knives, just use 1-1.5 kg of bone in skin on pieces of your choice.

Brining: To get perfectly juicy moist chicken, don't skip brining the chicken. Yes, it means you gotta practice patience, but good things come to those who wait and all that...

Seasoning: This Sazon coriander + annatto seasoning forms the basis of our spice blend, but you can substitute this for a mix of ground coriander, turmeric and paprika.

Thermometers: It's all too easy to have the oil too hot, and burn the coating without cooking the chicken all the way through. We use both a laser thermometer to keep an eye on the oil temp, and a probe thermometer to ensure it's cooked through. The ideal oil temperature is 180°C, and the internal temperature of the cooked chicken should be 75°C.

In Breaking Bad, you can spy the chicken at Los Pollos Hermanos being served in cute little red baskets. We naturally had to follow suit, and chose to serve it alongside bags of curly fries, in honour of this fictional commercial for the restaurant.

You can find our recipe below, but for lots of extra tips (and of course a raucous good time) be sure to check out our Breaking Bad video here.

Without further ado, it's time... TO COOK! 🍗 🧪

LOS POLLOS HERMANOS - fried chicken

INGREDIENTS (serves 6)

1 whole medium chicken portioned
or 1- 1.5 kg of skin on bone in chicken of your choice (thighs, drumsticks, wings)

BRINE

1 litre whole milk
5 cloves garlic- peeled & smashed
1 tbsp whole peppercorns
3 bay leaves
1 lemon - quartered
50g kosher salt

SPICE BLEND

4 tbsp Sazon coriander + annatto seasoning
2 tbsp ground cumin
2 tbsp onion powder
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp lime powder
2 tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp hot cayenne pepper
1 tbsp black pepper

SEASONED FLOUR

300g plain flour
1/2 the spice blend

BATTER

100g plain flour
100g cornflour
1/2 the spice blend
50 ml tequila
300 ml water
Neutral oil for frying - eg. vegetable or groundnut

METHOD

FIRST...

Place the chicken in a large bowl, cover with the milk, add all the brine ingredients.

Cover with cling film, and brine the chicken in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.

NEXT...

In a medium bowl, mix together all the spice blend ingredients, and set aside.

For the seasoned flour, in a large bowl, add 300g plain flour, half the spice blend, and mix to combine.

For the batter, in a large bowl, add 100g plain flour, the cornflour, the other half the spice blend, and mix to combine. Create a well in the centre, and slowly pour in the tequila, and the water, whisking to combine.

THEN...

One piece at a time, remove the chicken from the brine, dredge in the seasoned flour, then dip into the wet batter, then dredge in the flour for second time.

Place the covered chicken on a wire rack, making sure the pieces don't touch. Continue until all the chicken is completely covered.

Fill a heavy bottomed pot with a few inches of oil and heat to 180°C or, when a little flour immediately sizzles when placed in the oil.

Fry the chicken in batches, being careful not to overcrowd the pan. The chicken will require approx 10 mins, depending on the size of the piece. The internal temperature checked with a probe thermometer should be 75°C.