Tom Pepinsky

Author: tompepinsky

  • Fried Chicken: Theory

    This is a prelude to a future post that will actually contain a fried chicken recipe. We have now tried Indonesian-style fried chicken in a number of different places, and have some interesting things to note about what fried chicken (ayam goreng) means to Indonesians versus what it means to Americans. That is, the “theory” of fried chicken in Indonesia.

    The most important difference is that Indonesian ayam goreng contains no breading like Americans do it. From the very basic kind of flour/salt/pepper breading that some Southerners use to the complex egg/milk-flour-egg/milk again recipe of the Colonel’s Extra Tasty Crispy, every kind of fried chicken that I’ve ever had features some sort of breading. Indonesian fried chicken is just chicken that’s been deep-fried.

    The second-most-important difference is that the Indonesian method actually requires braising the chicken in a spice paste first, then frying it. Every American fried chicken recipe I’ve ever seen features some version of “You take a chicken, then you kill it, then you throw it in your skillet,” with the implication that the skillet refers to a big vat of oil or fat. Indonesians first braise the chicken in a mixture of aromatic root vegetables, toasted spices, water, and some sort of piquant ingrediate like sour carambola or lemongrass. Ideally, you want to cook the chicken pieces the whole way through, then let them stand and dry before frying them. Again, different.

    Third, there’s the question of the frying medium. The best American fried chicken is made with melted vegetable shortening, or better yet, lard. Indonesians fry their chicken in palm oil, coconut oil, or more rarely a less-disasterous-for-your-heart oil like canola oil (which we use). For those of you who just made gross puking sounds at the thought of your chicken fried in lard, this site seems to indicate that even lard is like twice as good for you as chicken fried in palm oil.

    Despite all these differences, the major similarity is, yes, the frying part. In both styles of chicken frying, you heat your oil over medium-high heat and fry the chicken just until it’s done. Good American fried chicken is not greasy, and good ayam goreng is even less greasy because there’s no breading to sop it up. The recipe for what we like to call “modular ayam goreng” will be coming in a couple of days or so.

  • More about Bandung

    So I (jm) was in the bathroom at the Institute today and while I washing my hands heard a very loud sound like meowing. I looked up and there was a teeny tiny kitten at a little break near the window trying to get into the room from seven feet up. It was very strange. We think somehow this kitten (and hopefully it mother) got themselves stuck on the roof and were wandering around up there. It was very sad, but some guys were going to try and help them, and I hope they got down. Then I walked around the corner and scared the lizard who sometimes lives in the hallway (and myself). I think that’s enough indoor wildlife for the day.

    I’ve got some pictures of Bandung which will hopefully be up tomorrow, the site wasn’t working correctly today. I took some pictures from the (moving) train, and they turned out well. The train ride was absolutely gorgeous, with rich paddies everywhere. There were tons of little valleys and gorges all full of terraced steps.

    As soon as we left the train station, we were accosted by three teenage girls who were giggling lots and asked to interview us (well I think they actually only wanted to talk to Tom, good thing I was there!). Tom made a deal, and said they could ask questions after they told us where the puppet shop was which was pretty funny. But it worked and we weren’t even lost for a change. They had all sorts of questions, but were mostly very shy, and one kept whispering questions to another, who then asked us in Indonesian how to ask things in English. We helped them figure out the question in English, and then answered in English too. It was very confusing but quite silly and fun. For the rest of the day as we walked around we were treated to the usual “HELLO MISTER!” screamed at top volume by everyone. I still cannot comprehend why they do this. I would never think of screaming “HOLA” at a Hispanic person just walking down the street.

    We spent even less for our hotel (about $11) than in Bogor, which was miraculous, and dinner ended up costing the same as our room. We found a place in the guide book which looked like it would be good for trying the local Sundanese food, but couldn’t seem to find it when we walked around. Turns out, it was gone. As was the next place we tried, a fancier Chinese place. The third time was a charm. Sometimes we just can’t seem to get anything right.