Fried Chicken at Foreign Cinema
-- Restaurants & Institutions, October 1, 2009
At Foreign Cinema in San Francisco, Chef Gayle Pirie recasts comfort food as sophisticated, seasonal cuisine with dishes such as Madras Curry Fried Chicken. “We used to just offer it as a special but then decided to have it on the menu all the time,” says Pirie. “It’s become one of our trademarks.”
Pirie eschews heavy side dishes in favor of lighter, season-appropriate accompaniments. “It has to be a nice counterpoint to the richness of the chicken,” she says. “We might do pickled pearl onions or asparagus in the spring, simple white corn in high summer or mixed chicories in the fall.” The version pictured here is served over an escarole salad tossed with golden raisins, dried cranberries and a simple Champagne vinaigrette.
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Foreign Cinema’s recipe starts with organic chickens that are seasoned with the chefs’ signature rub. The meat is allowed to sit in the spices overnight to ensure that the flavors fully penetrate the chicken.
Fried chicken is usually finger food, but Pirie bones the meat to create a knife-and-fork dish. “The presentation is exciting, and it’s a lot of food,” she says. “People feel they’re getting value because there’s some left to take home.”
Pirie advises letting the cooked chicken rest for approximately 4 minutes before serving it. “It’s not just true for steaks and roasts,” she says. “Letting fried chicken rest helps the meat become extra juicy.”
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