Chicken thighs for 180 people, how to

For a church dinner. Is it okay to marinate the thighs in buttermilk, refrigerated, for 4 hours on early Saturday morning, then flour them, place them directly on racks and back in the refrigerator. Then on Sunday, bring to near room temp, then pan fry at high heat until the skin is very crisp, and finish in the oven. Does this sound reasonable? Thank you!


Laura
  • Posted by: Laura
  • September 2, 2024
  • 534 views
  • 3 Comments

3 Comments

Nancy
Nancy September 4, 2024
Laura - This sounds like a tried-and-true, reliable recipe for fried chicken. I don't know how many people you have working on this, or at how many cooking stations.
But for safety, take care to NOT have the chicken out at room temperature more than two hours.
So, when doing the buttermilk dip or flour dredge or frying, have some of the chicken out on some kind of pan, and leave the rest in the fridge. Complete the process on some, return to fridge, take more out.
Similar rotation when you're doing the frying.
I hope all goes well!
 
Laura
Laura September 4, 2024
Thank you Nancy. Only three persons are dealing with the chicken, and we will ensure immediate re-refrigeration as batches are prepped.

If we flour coat the marinated chicken then shingle them into a large pan and place into the refrigerator overnight, will the flour coating become soggy and skin not crisp the next day when we sear it in iron pans (then finish in the oven)?

Or, should we flour coat, then pan-fry on high heat to sear the skin, THEN refrigerate over-night - then the next day directly place into the oven until temped at 170?

Which method will lessen flabby skin?
 
Nancy
Nancy September 4, 2024
Ooh, Laura, not sure I have enough info about the set up to give sure solution(s)...

I doubt that dredging the wet chicken thighs and then storing in fridge nesting on one another will give you much time saved vs benefit of texture.

If you were working in a big kitchen (restaurant or institution) and had space for sheet pans with wire racks in them, you might be able to store the floured chicken thighs on them. Otherwise, I fear not.

My suggestion (maybe other members of food52 have more ideas) is to just store them in the marinade, bring out from fridge, dredge in flour, fry.

If there are hours between the frying and serving, store partly cooked chicken in fridge, then later put in oven, finish cooking and serve. If there is only a short time between the frying and serving (an hour or so), then put the lightly fried chicken directly in oven to finish cooking.

I hope this helps, Nancy.
 
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