Chef John's Tiger Chicken Recipe

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In this video, Chef John brings the heat with his bold and flavorful Tiger Chicken recipe! Marinated in a punchy blend of garlic, chilies, fish sauce, and lime, this juicy grilled chicken is inspired by Southeast Asian street food and packs a serious flavor punch.

Transcript

00:00Hello, this is Chef John from Foodwishes.com with Tiger Chicken.

00:07That's right, chicken leg quarters are becoming very popular, which is why I'm very excited to be showing you my Tiger Cut Technique,

00:15which along with a few other tricks, is the perfect way to prepare this cut of chicken.

00:20Plus, I'm also going to show you one of the fastest, easiest, best paned gravies ever.

00:24But first things first, and to get started we will take our chicken leg,

00:28which of course is the drumstick and the thigh still connected.

00:32And what we'll do is take a sharp knife, starting about halfway up the leg,

00:36and we'll cut all the way down to the bone.

00:38And we will keep cutting like this until we get all the way to the end of the thigh.

00:43Oh, and one small tip here.

00:44When we get past the drumstick, if we kind of pinch both sides of the thigh,

00:49that'll sort of push the meat up and give us a little more to cut through.

00:52And when we're done, we're going to have something that resembles the stripes on a tiger,

00:56which is where I got the name.

00:59But besides looking cool, that's going to allow our seasonings to penetrate in nice and deeply,

01:03as well as, as you will see and hear, help our skin get beautifully crispy and crusty.

01:08So we'll go ahead and do that to four leg sections,

01:11and we will place those skin side down on a parchment lined baking sheet,

01:15at which point they're ready to season with a mixture of kosher salt,

01:19to which we will add some freshly ground black pepper,

01:21pepper, some garlic powder,

01:24some ground chipotle,

01:25which could also be cayenne or just regular sweet paprika.

01:29And then we'll finish this up with one secret ingredient before we give it a mix,

01:33which is going to be a little touch of baking soda.

01:36No, not baking powder, baking soda,

01:38which is going to chemically alter the composition of the skin

01:42and make it more alkaline,

01:43which is going to help us get it nice and crispy.

01:45And that's it.

01:47Once mixed, we will apply about half to the meat side of our chicken legs,

01:51and then we'll flip them over and apply the rest to the tiger cut skin side.

01:56And I probably don't need to tell you this, but I will anyway.

02:00You go ahead and put in whatever spices you want here.

02:03I mean, you are after all the meg of how to season your leg,

02:07and there are so many different directions we could go.

02:10But no matter what you use,

02:12the game plan here is going to be the same.

02:14Once these are seasoned very generously,

02:16we're going to pop them in the fridge uncovered with the skin side up

02:20and let them dry overnight,

02:23which is going to accomplish several things.

02:25All right, it's going to give our seasoning mix time to get in there

02:28and get in there deep.

02:29Plus, we'll end up with some really nice dry skin,

02:32which always makes it crispier when you bake it.

02:35And then lastly, we're going to lose some moisture as it sits in the fridge overnight,

02:38which is going to help concentrate the flavors

02:40and tighten up the texture a little bit.

02:42So like I said, we'll pop that in the fridge uncovered overnight.

02:47And if you can't fit a pan, just use a plate

02:49and transfer it onto the pan later.

02:51And that's it.

02:52After about 14 hours in the fridge,

02:54our chicken legs are probably going to look something like this,

02:57which is kind of dry and leathery.

02:59But that is exactly what we want.

03:02And no, we are not going to oil these before they go in the oven.

03:05Okay, sure, it's going to look a little better

03:06and maybe get browner.

03:08But for the crispiest, most delicious skin,

03:10we're going to roast this as is.

03:12So let's go ahead and transfer that into the upper center

03:15of a 450-degree oven for about 45 minutes

03:19or until our chicken is safely cooked

03:21and our skin is crispy.

03:22And it hopefully looks like this.

03:26But looking crispy and being crispy are two different things.

03:29So let's check.

03:30And as we like to say, fork don't lie.

03:33Oh, yeah, that does sound amazing.

03:41And you can just go ahead and start eating this now,

03:43however you normally eat roasted chicken.

03:45But what I think we should do is quickly transfer that onto a plate

03:48and pop it in a warm oven for about five minutes.

03:51Well, we make an incredible pan gravy

03:53using all these drippings on the parchment paper,

03:56which, because it's nonstick,

03:58is going to make it very easy to scrape all this goodness into a pan.

04:00And from four legs, we're going to end up

04:03with about two tablespoons of fat,

04:05which is going to be perfect for making a quick roux.

04:08So we'll place that over medium-high heat

04:10and we'll transfer in a couple tablespoons of flour

04:13and we'll cook that stirring with a whisk

04:15for about two minutes or so

04:17just to take the raw edge off the flour.

04:20And you kind of know you've gone long enough

04:22when the mixture smells like cooked pie crust.

04:24And also, it's probably going to look something like this.

04:28And once it does, we will quickly,

04:30but very safely transfer in some cold chicken broth

04:32or, if times are good,

04:34some of that slightly more expensive chicken bone broth.

04:37And we will whisk that in.

04:39And because we added cold liquid into a hot roux,

04:42which is what that fat and flour mixture is called,

04:45we are not going to get any lumps.

04:47And I know you think you see lumps,

04:49but those aren't lumps.

04:51Those are just those little particles of the pan drippings

04:53that haven't broken down yet.

04:54But anyway, we'll give that a whisk

04:57and wait for it to come up to a simmer.

04:59And like all flour-based sauces,

05:01as soon as it's simmering or boiling,

05:03that's when it reaches its maximum thickness.

05:06And of course, if it's too thick, add a little more broth.

05:09And if it's too thin, just reduce it down a little bit.

05:12And once we've reached this point,

05:14we can reduce our heat to low.

05:16And we can season this up with a pinch of salt,

05:18a little bit of freshly ground black pepper,

05:21and then maybe a pinch of cayenne just because.

05:24And we'll go ahead and whisk that in.

05:27And then because I had it,

05:28and it goes so good with chicken,

05:29I tossed in a sprig of tarragon,

05:31which we don't even have to chop.

05:33Just toss it in and bruise it with your whisk

05:36and give it a few stirs.

05:38And that's it.

05:39In about five minutes or less,

05:41you've created a delicious and beautiful chicken pan gravy

05:45that we can strain if we want,

05:47or we can serve it just like this,

05:50which is normally how I do it.

05:52And then we'll go ahead and sauce our plate generously with that.

05:56And of course, if you're serving mashed potatoes,

05:58which I insist you do,

06:00we'll make sure those get a good amount of this gravy as well.

06:03And we'll transfer on our still warm tiger chicken.

06:07And that, my friends, I truly believe

06:08is the best way to roast a chicken leg quarter.

06:12So I grabbed a fork and knife and went in for the official taste,

06:15which as usual was a huge challenge.

06:18All right, that skin was actually so crusty,

06:20I couldn't really even get the fork into it.

06:22And also I remembered I'm not left-handed,

06:24so I switched hands and I scooped it up

06:27and eventually got it into my mouth.

06:29But it was totally worth the wait,

06:31since that really was an exceptional bite

06:34of roast chicken and pan gravy.

06:36Right, the skin is crispy,

06:37the meat is succulent and beautifully seasoned.

06:41And while it's not a perfect analogy,

06:42it does remind me a little bit of duck confit.

06:45So flavor-wise and texturally,

06:47I could not love this technique anymore.

06:49And whether you're looking for a new way

06:52to cook chicken leg quarters,

06:53or like me, you're just looking for an excuse

06:56to eat mashed potatoes with gravy.

06:58Either way, I really do hope you give this a try soon.

07:02So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts,

07:06a printable written recipe,

07:07and much more info as usual.

07:09and as always, enjoy.

07:13Enjoy.

07:14Enjoy.

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