Skip to main content

Fried Chicken 101 at Root & Bone

Do you like fried chicken? Wait, who are we kidding—everybody loves fried chicken! However much you enjoy the crispy goodness of an excellent, fried bird, you may not know the tricks of the trade that go into making something so simple, so delicious. Since we know many of our readers like to try things out at home, we decided to present you with our own crash course in Fried Chicken 101.

For our own edification, we stopped by one of New York’s hottest new restaurants, Root & Bone, to try their much-talked about fried chicken (full disclosure: we also had waffles, carrot cake and a cocktail). Located in the heart of Alphabet City, Root & Bone is dishing out high-grade Southern cuisine on a nightly basis to throngs of satisfied city-dwellers.

Recommended Videos

After we had polished off our meal and recovered from a food coma, we spoke to Chef de Cuisine (and former Top Chef contestant) Janine Booth about the basics of fried chicken and what has made the bird at Root & Bone so popular.

Root & Bone Main Dining
Image used with permission by copyright holder

What are the essential aspects of frying chicken?

In my opinion, starting with a good bird is of the utmost importance. We get our chicken out of Pennsylvania. There’s a bunch of small, free-range Amish farms out there and the chickens are collected and put into a co-op, which is where we buy our birds.

The brine is also really important. And basic brine is just water, salt and sugar. You want to brine the chicken for twenty-four hours. Also, you have to make sure that you are controlling the temperature of your fry.

And what is a good temperature for frying?

We fry our birds between 325 and 350 degrees.

How would you recommend frying chicken at home?

If you don’t have an open fryer, you want to make sure you are using a cast-iron pan, which controls heat better than any other pan. It also helps circulate the oils around the bird.

For someone frying at home do you recommend soaking the chicken in buttermilk?

I definitely like using buttermilk and we tested it out for the restaurant. It helps tenderize the meat and creates a thicker crust. We decided not to use it at Root & Bone because we were looking for something crispy, but on the lighter side.

It’s definitely a good technique and I would recommend it for anyone frying at home because it does help bring a really great crust to the chicken.

Jeff McGinnis and Janine Booth
Image used with permission by copyright holder

What do you think separates your chicken?

First, we add a bunch of spices to our brine: paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, bay leaves, and black peppercorns. We also do something different, which is that we take our sweet tea that is made daily and use that as the base for the brine.

How did you come up with the tea brine method?

We really wanted to get as much flavor into our bird as possible, so the brining process was obviously going to be key. Our approach was just inspired by the taste of sweet tea and its Southern tradition. When I drink sweet tea, I like a lot of lemons and that is what inspired a key part of our dish, which is that after the chicken is brined, dredged in flour and fried, the outside is covered with our special seasoning. The seasoning is made from dehydrated lemon slices that turn into chips basically, which we pulverize and combine with sugar and salt. So you get this amazing bright, sweet and salty flavor for the outside.

Basically, we were trying to create a lemon sweet tea flavor for a chicken.

How did you develop the Tabasco honey sauce?

Coming from Australia, I’ve been exposed to a lot of Asian cuisines, so just the balance of sweet, spicy, salty and tart is always in my mind. So for the chicken, we wanted something spicy but also a little sweet to go along with the sweet tea vibe. So we experimented with a lot of different sauces—orange blossom and honey, bourbon and peppercorn—but in the end it was just the balance of spicy and sweet with the Tabasco and honey that made up our minds.

Were there any influences for your fried chicken? Any bar you were trying to top?

We’ve definitely had our fair share of fried chicken, especially since we’ve been in New York. ABC Kitchen does a boneless version with waffles that was really interesting, since we serve all of our chicken on the bone. Obviously, David Chang does a great fried chicken at Momofuku; we’ve also tried a lot of Korean fried chicken, which is always really good. And we went to a really cool event this year at Hill Country Fried Chicken where we tried an Indian fried chicken that was just awesome. There were intense flavors of curry leaves, coriander and that blew my mind. It was the same technique, but just a completely different flavor profile, which really inspired me.

There’s no one method or recipe that we really wanted to “beat”; everyone has their own approach and we think that’s really cool.

Amanda DePerro
Former Former Digital Trends Contributor, The Manual
Amanda DePerro is a Midwest-based freelance writer and journalist who loves video games, gardening, and true crime. She is a…
Love s’mores and coffee? This Joel McHale-approved treat combines both
The s'mores and coffee combination you didn't know you needed
Joel McHale

Just in time for s'mores season, Seattle's Best Coffee is taking coffee beyond the brew with Coffee Roast Mallows, a limited-edition variety pack created in partnership with XO Marshmallow. Inspired by the smooth taste of Seattle's Best Coffee, this cozy treat is approved by Seattle-native Joel McHale, an actor, comedian, and coffee aficionado.
Launched today, the coffee-inspired marshmallow variety pack features four toasty flavors along with a bag of Seattle's Best Coffee Campfire S'mores Flavored ground coffee. Dan Gaul, co-founder of The Manual, interviewed McHale to get the scoop on this latest release. Here's what he shared.
Why McHale loves Coffee Roast Mallows

Known for his sharp wit and passion for coffee, McHale brings the perfect blend of humor and hometown pride to “toast” as the hilarious face of Seattle's Best Coffee's new “May Smoother Coffee Bring Smoother Days” campaign. "These limited edition [coffee marshallows] are flavored and inspired by their coffee roasts—like the light roast, the dark roast, the medium, and then s’mores," says McHale. "Now, you can have this sweet treat with your coffee, or just put them in the cup like I do and eat them that way."
Growing up in the Northwest in Seattle, s'mores hold a special place in McHale's heart, reminding him of camping memories from his childhood. "You know, [our family didn’t have much money. I’m the youngest of five, so it’s not like we had a ton of money to go somewhere else. So, camping was our vacation in the summer," he shares. For him, this nostalgic coffee and s'mores duo evokes campfire feelings, taking him back to the good ol' days.
Though McHale is also a huge fan of iced coffee, he loves adding marshmallows to hot coffee for a cozy campfire feeling. Unaffected by coffee's caffeine, McHale says it doesn’t make his heart race.
What's inside each box

Read more
Wolves and Willett are collaborating on a new, limited-edition whiskey
Wolves and Willett are collaborating on their third whiskey
Wolves Whiskey

Wolves is a luxury California whiskey brand. Willett Family Estate is a renowned, historic Kentucky whiskey brand. The two companies are again partnering to release an exciting, limited-edition whiskey. The third installment of the collaboration between the two brands is a rye whiskey that was matured for a decade.
Wolves x Willett 10-Year Rye Whiskey

This limited-edition expression is a blend of rye whiskeys. First, Willett hand-selected 10-year-old Kentucky rye barrels. The Wolves Head Blender Eddie Gonzalez picked a 10-year-old rye whiskey that was matured for seven years in Indiana before being finished for three years in Northern California. The two whiskeys are blended to make this complex, multi-layered expression.

Read more
A summery cocktail duo for National Tequila Day
Summer-approved drinks that put the famed spirit on a pedestal
A glass of Summer Sangria in between a plate of watermelon slices and a bottle of 1800 Silver Tequila.

National Tequila Day is coming right up, falling on July 24th this year. And while we believe most days are suitable for fine agave spirits, a day solely devoted to the stuff seems extra fitting. This year, instead of the standard Margarita or Paloma, perhaps it's time to try something a little different.

We were offered a couple of options from 1800 Tequila and after mixing a few up on a hot summer's day, we thought it was time to share the goods. By adding things as simple as fresh fruit and syrups, these cocktails deliver extra layers of enjoyment. Sometimes, a little twist is all it takes from something to seem new and refreshing.
Blackberry Ranch Water

Read more