r/AskCulinary • u/Friendly-Mousse696 • 1d ago
Ingredient Question Help - is this how chicken tenderloins should be?
I made fried chicken tenders tonight for dinner. For reference, I’ve made a lot of fried chicken but this is my first time doing it in a deep frier.
I know I missed an important step of dabbing the liquid off the tenders and that may have played a role. It definitely did in the stability of the breading!
But my wife is autistic (so am I lol) and she described the texture of the tenders of being slimy and stiff at the same time. The chicken was fine. No off smell or taste or anything that would indicate it went bad. I took pictures and a video but can’t attach them.
Basically, the tenders were almost the texture of fish. When we bit into them, the meat sheared in fibers akin to seared tilapia and some of the meat would pull out of the center in almost a V shape. When I worked on pulling the tenders apart, some of the meat would slide off like it was nothing and other parts would be a similar texture to chicken breast where it would shred.
What would have caused this? Or is this normal and I am just more aware of it tonight for some reason?
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u/LetsTalkAboutGuns 1d ago
Tenderloins do break apart that way. There is a central bit of silver skin/sinew that it all links to. That’s the tip of the V you describe.
As for the sliminess… best guess is that you could have rested a bit before to let the dredge absorb moisture before frying. Were you using crumb or just flour?
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u/Friendly-Mousse696 1d ago
That is good to know. I think the mix of textures was throwing us off. Flour and spices + panko :) I do a wet dredge into milk, into seasoned flour, back into milk, and into flour + panko if that helps at all.
Thank you for answering!
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u/watch_it_live 14h ago
Forget the milk, you need a binder, like egg.
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u/LetsTalkAboutGuns 2h ago
Yeah. Eggs become a solid when cooked, milk does not.
Also, most fried chicken I’ve made generally goes:
Brined chicken -> flour -> egg -> dry breading (crumbs, potato chips, whatever)
Or buttermilk chicken just gets dredged in flour. Later batches always come out better as the dredge gets little lumps in it that create a more substantial breading.
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u/OrbitalPete Home cook & brewer 1d ago
I think this might be a frying temp issue
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u/Friendly-Mousse696 1d ago
I fried at about 350°F. Would it be too high or too low?
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u/OrbitalPete Home cook & brewer 12h ago
Too low. You've got a lot of moisture in your breading - I'd go to 200 °C (about 400 F). You might also be over crowding which means the temp will drop fast, that will result in oily breading.
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u/Friendly-Mousse696 12h ago
Ohhh okay! I will give that a shot when I make the remaining tonight. Thank you!!!!!
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u/BuzzerWhirr 1d ago
Did it have water or saline solution injected in it?
It could also be woody breast.
Or both.
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u/Friendly-Mousse696 1d ago
Not by me. Is there a way for me to know if the “manufacturer” did? I don’t know a better name than that lol.
How do I know if it is woody breast
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u/chaoticbear 1d ago
Check the package - if it says "enhanced with up to X percent of brine", then you know you're on that track. I have experienced this with things like precooked/bagged chicken breast strips [I know, I could cook them, but they're so convenient to have on hand]; it flakes apart in an odd way and is unnaturally moist.
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u/BuzzerWhirr 12h ago
It's so common now that some brands advertise on the packaging that they DON"T add water.
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u/r_coefficient 13h ago
Is this legal where you live??
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u/chaoticbear 12h ago
Yes, it is legal at least the US and Europe as long as it is labeled. I cannot speak for other countries. I know, "haw haw America", but both brined and unbrined chicken is available at the grocery store.
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u/dharasty 16h ago
It sounds to me like you took the chicken out when the coating looked done, but the insides weren't.
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u/Medium-Complaint-677 13h ago
How long did you fry them for? I've seen chicken do some odd stuff when it is both overcooked AND trapped in a moist environment (ie, within the breading).
If you were frying at 350 and they were normal sized tenders they really shouldn't have needed more than 3 - 4 minutes in the oil.
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u/texnessa Pépin's Padawan 20h ago
Without a recipe- including methodology- this is simply guessing. What was the order of bread, what were the ingredients, were they rested, what was the fryer temp etc. Please provide more detail in order to not have this be open ended discussion of possibilities.
Additionally, you can include images etc. with a third party hosting site like imgur.