Tiger Chicken and 5-Minute Chicken Gravy Pan Sauce | Food Wishes

Hello, this is Chef John from foodwishes.com with tiger chicken. That's right, chicken leg quarters are becoming very popular, which is why I'm very excited to be showing you my tiger cut technique, which along with a few other tricks is the perfect way to prepare this cut of chicken. Plus, I'm also going to show you one of the fastest, easiest, best pan gravies ever. But first things first, and to get started, we will take our chicken leg, which of course is the drumstick and the thigh still connected. And what we'll do is take a sharp knife, starting about halfway up the leg, and we'll cut all the way down to the bone. And we will keep cutting like this until we get all the way to the end of the thigh. Oh, and one small tip here. When we get past the drumstick, if we kind of pinch both sides of the thigh, that'll sort of push the meat up and give us a little more to cut through. And when we're done, we're going to have something that resembles the stripes on a tiger, which is where I got the name. But besides looking cool, that's going to allow our seasonings to penetrate in nice and deeply, as well as, as you will see, and here, help our skin get beautifully crispy and crusty. So, we'll go ahead and do that to four leg sections. And we will place those skin side down on a parchment line baking sheet. At which point they're ready to season, with a mixture of kosher salt, to which we will add some freshly ground black pepper, some garlic powder, some ground chipotle, which could also be cayenne or just regular sweet paprika. And then we'll finish this up with one secret ingredient before we give it a mix, which is going to be a little touch of baking soda. No, not baking powder. Baking soda, which is going to chemically alter the composition of the skin and make it more alkaline, which is going to help us get it nice and crispy. And that's it. Once mixed, we will apply about half to the meat side of our chicken legs. And then we'll flip them over and apply the rest to the tiger cut skin side. And I probably don't need to tell you this, but I will anyway. You go ahead and put in whatever spices you want here. I mean, you are, after all, the meg of how to season your leg. And there are so many different directions we could go. But no matter what you use, the game plan here is going to be the same. Once these are seasoned very generously, we're going to pop them in the fridge uncovered with the skin side up and let them dry overnight, which is going to accomplish several things, but it's going to give our seasoning mix time to get in there and get in there deep. Plus, we'll end up with some really nice dry skin, which always makes it crispier when you bake it. And then lastly, we're going to lose some moisture as it sits in the fridge overnight, which is going to help concentrate the flavors and tighten up the texture a little bit. So, like I said, we'll pop that in the fridge uncovered overnight. And if you can't fit a pan, just use a plate and transfer it onto the pan later. And that's it. After about 14 hours in the fridge, our chicken legs are probably going to look something like this, which is kind of dry and leathery. But that is exactly what we want. And no, we are not going to oil these before they go in the oven. Okay, sure it's going to look a little better and maybe get browner, but for the crispiest, most delicious skin, we're going to roast this as is. So, let's go ahead and transfer that into the upper center of a 450°ree oven for about 45 minutes or until our chicken's safely cooked and our skin is crispy. And it hopefully looks like this. But looking crispy and being crispy are two different things. So, let's check. And as we like to say, fork don't lie. Oh yeah, that does sound amazing. And you could just go ahead and start eating this now, however you normally eat roasted chicken. But what I think we should do is quickly transfer that onto a plate and pop it in a warm oven for about 5 minutes. while we make an incredible pan gravy using all these drippings on the parchment paper, which because it's nonstick is going to make it very easy to scrape all this goodness into a pan. And from four legs, we're going to end up with about two tablespoons of fat, which is going to be perfect for making a quick r. So, we'll place that over mediumigh heat. And we'll transfer in a couple tablespoons of flour. And we'll cook that stirring with a whisk for about 2 minutes or so, just to take the raw edge off the flour. And you kind of know you've gone long enough when the mixture smells like cooked pie crust. And also, it's probably going to look something like this. And once it does, we will quickly but very safely transfer in some cold chicken broth or if times are good, some of that slightly more expensive chicken bone broth. And we will whisk that in. And because we added cold liquid into a hot r, which is what that fat and flour mixture is called, we are not going to get any lumps. And I know you think you see lumps, but those aren't lumps. Those are just those little particles of the pan drippings that haven't broken down yet. But anyway, we'll give that a whisk and wait for it to come up to a simmer. And like all flowerbased sauces, as soon as it's simmering or boiling, that's when it reaches its maximum thickness. And of course, if it's too thick, add a little more broth. And if it's too thin, just reduce it down a little bit. And once we've reached this point, we can reduce our heat to low. And we can season this up with a pinch of salt, a little bit of freshly ground black pepper, and then maybe a pinch of cayenne just because. And we'll go ahead and whisk that in. And then because I had it and it goes so good with chicken, I tossed in a springrig of terrigon, which we don't even have to chop. Just toss it in and bruise it with your whisk and give it a few stirs. And that's it. In about five minutes or less, you've created a delicious and beautiful chicken pan gravy. that we can strain if we want. Or we could serve it just like this, which is normally how I do it. And then we'll go ahead and sauce our plate generously with that. And of course, if you're serving mashed potatoes, which I insist you do, we'll make sure those get a good amount of this gravy as well. And we'll transfer on our still warm tiger chicken. And that, my friends, I truly believe is the best way to roast a chicken leg quarter. So, I grabbed a fork and knife and went in for the official taste, which as usual was a huge challenge, right? That skin was actually so crusty, I couldn't really even get the fork into it. And also, I remembered I'm not left-handed, so I switched hands and I scooped it up and eventually got it into my mouth. But it was totally worth the wait since that really was an exceptional bite of roast chicken and pan gravy. Right, the skin is crispy, the meat is succulent, and beautifully seasoned. And while it's not a perfect analogy, it does remind me a little bit of duck comfi. So flavor-wise and texturally, I could not love this technique anymore. And whether you're looking for a new way to cook chicken leg quarters, or like me, you're just looking for an excuse to eat mashed potatoes with gravy. Either way, I really do hope you give this a try soon. So, please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much more info as usual. And as always, enjoy.