Oven-Fried Freezer Chicken and Beer Gravy

Today's recipe is brought to you by Freezer Chicken Part 2.

Day 2: Oven-Fried Chicken with Beer Gravy

Hey woah woah hey.  We're cooking with alcohol today.  First things first: this particular recipe will cook out most of the alcohol content, so it's kid friendly.  But do NOT believe the people who tell you that alcohol cooks off whenever you cook with it.  This is a lie.

Food Science Time: The alcohol content of the finished product has a lot of variables: how much and what kind of alcohol you put in, the kind of cooking you're doing, the amount of time you let things cook for, and the stage in the cooking process that you add the alcohol.  Long story short: the shorter the cook time, the more alcohol remains.  In this case, we're working with a beer that's less than 6% ABV, and mixing it into a simmering gravy, mostly to add some lightness to the texture and a little bit of that beer flavor.  The end result, even though a good portion of it will not have reduced in the time it takes to make a gravy, will have less than 1% ABV, and thus be okay for your kid-friendly palettes.  This is not the case for Grandma's Rum Balls that she soaks in rum after they've baked.  Those things are loaded.

Chicken:  We're going to start out by preparing the oven fry, since that will take the longest time.  Set your oven to 425.  By now you know the Freezer Chicken drill.  You better have let that chicken thaw, preferably in a controlled, chilled environment overnight.  If you have a whole breast, cut it into chicken strips.  If you're like me and bought the pre-cut tenderloins because they were on sale, you're already golden for this recipe.

You're going to create an egg bath and a breading.  Egg bath is super simple.  Crack an egg (I say one egg for every 3-4 strips) and beat it with a fork until it's achieved an even consistency.

For your breading, combine half a cup of breadcrumbs (you can buy these store-bought or smash a sleeve of crackers against a wall; I don't know your life) with half a cup of flour, a teaspoon of cayenne pepper, a teaspoon of salt, and some parsley flakes.  This is a dry mix so you can add or remove seasonings as you see fit, based on what you have.

Soak your chicken in the egg bath for a couple seconds on each side until it's obviously coated.  Then, toss the chicken in the breading mixture and place on a lightly-greased baking sheet.  Once all your pieces are breaded, drizzle with a little bit (no more than 2 tablespoons total) of oil and stick it in the oven for 30 minutes.

In the meantime...

Gravy:  You're gonna need butter, salt, pepper, flour, chicken stock or chicken broth, and beer.  In this case, I'm working with a pretty cheap pilsner that I know you can afford to get your hands on, but pretty much any lighter (in color) beer will work with this.  Save the dark beers for beef.

Any good gravy starts from a roux.  A roux is a combination of equal parts flour and fat that makes your gravy nice and thick and gravy-like, without turning into glue.  Combine two tablespoons of butter with two tablespoons of flour on the stove, and keep stirring while the butter melts, until the two have become a weird, delicious gooey mess.  To this, you'll want to add about a cup of chicken stock or a cup and a half of chicken broth (stock has more flavor and so you'll need less and you won't have to reduce it as much).

Add a cup of your beer and bring the whole mixture to a boil.  Let it boil away for about 5 minutes, stirring, until it begins to thicken. After that, reduce your heat and add salt and pepper to taste, letting it stay on low heat until you're ready to serve.

Then, I don't know,  Make a side or something.  I'm not your mother.

Grad Student Eats Tip:  Making your own stock is super easy.  I made my own by simmering the bones and extra chicken in water with some salt after I accidentally bought a whole bone-in chicken side when I meant to buy a thigh.  The longer you let it simmer, the more fat and flavor you'll extract from the pieces you probably wouldn't eat anyway.  Then, just strain it and throw it into a container to use for later recipes.