Bake Sale Betty

If anyone has had the pleasure of standing in line in Oakland to enjoy one of these delightful chicken sandwiches you will understand why I jumped at the chance to see if I could make her recipe at home that I had found online. So tonight Creed & I enjoyed some fried chicken and awesome coleslaw. Admittedly it is a lot harder and not quite as good when you have to make it yourself but I must say it was pretty darn close. I have a few kinks to work out with my frying skills but below is the recipe for the wonderful Bake Sale Bettys Chicken Sandwich. I would recommend slicing the chicken breast to create longer thinner pieces as we did discover it was very difficult to eat since our chicken turned out in huge pieces!

INGREDIENTS:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, about 6 ounces each
Kosher salt to taste
1 quart buttermilk

The vinaigrette
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

The coleslaw
1 small red onion, very thinly sliced
1 cup red wine vinegar
2 jalapenos, seeded, cut in half and sliced crosswise
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/2 green cabbage, core and outer leaves removed, and very thinly sliced
Kosher salt

The breading
1 pound all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon kosher salt + more to taste
1 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 quarts vegetable oil, for frying
4 Acme Bakery torpedo rolls, sliced lengthwise
Instructions:

Season chicken breasts with kosher salt, let sit at least 5 minutes. Fill a wide, shallow nonreactive bowl or casserole dish with buttermilk. Add the chicken and soak in the refrigerator for 1 hour up to overnight.

For the vinaigrette:
Combine mustard, vinegar and salt in a bowl. Slowly whisk in olive oil until well blended.
For the coleslaw:
Macerate onions in red wine vinegar, and let sit at least 20 minutes. Remove onions and discard vinegar. Toss onions with jalapeno, parsley, cabbage and salt. Toss with vinaigrette until evenly coated.
To fry chicken:
Pour vegetable oil into a large stockpot. Do not fill up more than halfway, or the oil could splatter. Bring oil up to 365°, using a digital thermometer/candy thermometer to monitor the heat. Prepare the breading while waiting for oil to heat up. In a wide shallow bowl, mix flour, cayenne, salt and pepper. Pull a chicken breast out of the buttermilk one by one, letting excess drip off, and dredge completely in flour. To create a thick crust, place in buttermilk and dredge in flour a second time. Do not drain or shake off excess buttermilk or flour during the breading process. When the oil is at 365°, carefully place chicken pieces into oil one by one. Let it cook for a minute before disturbing chicken, then help it "swim" in the oil with tongs, until it is evenly cooked, about 5-7 minutes. Remove chicken from oil and drain on paper towels. Season immediately with salt.
For the sandwich:
Place fried chicken breast on bottom of torpedo roll and top generously with coleslaw.