How to Make Fried Chicken Like Thomas Keller and Ad Hoc

If there is one recipe I would recommend to my readers, this is the one. In the Ad-Hoc book, it’s the first recipe off the bat, and Mr. Keller even says, “If there is a better fried chicken, I have not had it”.

Ad-Hoc is an amazing restaurant in Yountville (Napa) that differentiates itself from Keller’s other restaurants by focusing on family style dishes and making it a more casual affair compared to Bouchon or French Laundry. Monday’s is fried chicken night, so either head on up there or give this recipe a try so that you can compare it to the real thing.

Cookbook – Ad-Hoc at Home

Ingredients –

Chicken – I am using boneless breasts (TK might kill me) because I can tell you from personal experience that your friends typically seek out the boneless pieces first, and they are much easier to deal with than butchering a whole bird. By all means, use bone in chicken, I am not going to this time.

Brine Ingredients –

5 Lemons – halved
Bay leaves – 12
Flat leaf parsley – 1 bunch (about 4 ounces)
Thyme – 1 bunch (about 1 ounce)
Honey – 1/2 cup
Garlic – 1 head – cut through the equator
Black Peppercorns – 1/4 cup
Salt – 1 cup (the normal recipe calls for 2 cups Diamond Crystal kosher salt @ 10 oz, with other salt, that comes out to about 1 cup. I made this mistake the first time I made a roast chicken with this brine and it came out very salty).
2 Gallons Water

For dredging and frying

Peanut or Canola oil – Peanut oil is very expensive
1 quart of buttermilk
Salt and fresh pepper

Coating

All purpose flour – 6 cups
Garlic powder – 1/4 cup
Onion Powder – 1/4 cup
Paprika – 1 tbsp + 1 tsp
Cayenne – 1 tbsp + 1 tsp
Salt – 1 tbsp + 1 tsp
Ground pepper – 1 tsp

Tools –

Deep fryer, Dutch oven, or stockpot for frying. I use a stock pot like this one
Candy Thermometer – Something like this
Bowls
Ideally, a drying rack

Step 1 – Make the brine

Put all the ingredients in most likely the biggest pot you have. I personally use a 20qt stock pot. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute to dissolve the salt. This will take a little time, 2 gallons of water is a lot.

Bring to completely cool. For a much very fast method, I will fill my sink with ice and water, and then an ice in the sink afterwards. This should bring the temperature down considerably. If not using immediately, set inside the refrigerator to cool. You need to brine the chicken for 12 hours, so pick a time and be strategic about pulling the meat out. I usually put the chicken in the brine at night, then pull it out in the morning and set in a separate container.

When the liquid has cooled, place the chicken in the brine for 12 hours.

I would make this 1 if not 2 days before you are planning to be frying. If you don’t use an ice bath, it’ll take hours to actually cool, sometimes overnight in the fridge.

Pull the chicken out of the brine after 12 hours and discard the brine. If not using the chicken immediately, set in a bag back in the fridge.

Step 2 – Ready to Fry? Get your stations ready.

After 12 hours, take the chicken out of the brine, rinse off any aromatics that may be on the chicken. Let temper to room temperature. Should take 1-2 hours. Trim any unwanted fat on your bird, and if using breasts, cut into smaller pieces.

When chicken is about tempered, start getting your oil ready. Heat oil to 325 over medium-high heat, use a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature. This takes a little time to get to ideal heat, so start getting your other stations ready.

I like having the flour stations close to where I am going to be deep frying, and also having the chicken and three bowls right next to each other for easy dredging. Have one hand be the flour hand, and the other be the buttermilk hand, your hands are going to get very dirty during the process. Once I have my round of chicken in the fryer, I go and wash the buttermilk/flour off my hands to be ready for the next round. Ideally you probably have some latex gloves, but I always forget to buy them!

In a large bowl, combine the flour and all of the spices, whisk together. Pour half of the mixture into another bowl, set both bowls by your station. Pour the buttermilk into a separate bowl.

Step 3 – Fry time

Once the oil is at 325F, time to get going, grab a piece of chicken, dip in first flour mixture, then buttermilk, then flour again. Set aside in the last flour bowl and make a few before carefully dropping into the frying oil. Fry in batches, do not overcrowd the fryer, I usually do 4-5 pieces at a time.

Cook until golden brown, and has a nice crisp, about 7-9 minutes. If you are not familiar with deep frying, do a few test pieces first and make sure they are at your desired doneness. Set said on a wired rack for them to dry.

Continue cooking the other batches.

Fry some thyme or rosemary to get it exactly like the photo.

Chicken is plenty good on it’s own, but feel free to serve with a meal, or ketchup or a good comeback sauce for the chicken tenders.

Seriously, guys and girls. This chicken is soooo ridiculously good. It takes more TLC than you normally treat your chicken, but oh my goodness the results are so worth it. When tasting, you can clearly tell the importance of a brine, and the double flour dip for how crunchy they get. Wow factor is huge, I’ve had multiple people tell me this is the best fried chicken they have ever had when I make this.

Now it is your turn! Let me know what you think or if you would change anything in the recipe.

And for the ratings –

Difficulty of ingredients to find – 3/5 stars – Should be a normal store run, nothing too fancy here
Perceived difficulty going into recipe – 4/5 stars – it’s a big time commitment
Difficulty after recipe – 4/5 stars – it’s still a big time commitment
Time taken – 5/5 stars – It’s two day affair with the brine
Taste – 5/5 stars – Absolutely ridiculous, have not had a better fried chicken
Make again? 5/5 stars – I have multiple times, it’s just too good. You house kind of smells like McDonalds after, but it’s worth it