No more racing to the cafeteria, no more lines.

To us, lines were for suckers, hacks, sheep.

We were wolves, and we have the chicken to prove it.

To victory.

It feels unfamiliar, but it tastes like chicken.

Hey, what's up guys.

Welcome back to Binging with Babish where this week I'm using the mention of chicken fingers on community as an excuse to make what remains my Applebee's entrée of choice: chicken fingers.

For the show accurate version, I've got some frozen ones here, which is undoubtedly what they'd serve at Greendale Community College and every cafeteria in the noted world.

And just for funsies, I'm gonna prepare these three different ways, in the oven, in the microwave, and in the deep fryer, which surprisingly is the only method not described on the packaging.

So, we're gonna fried it at 350, for three to five minutes until crisp.

And to illustrate the differences, I'm busting out the microphone.

Let's start with the microwave finger: Any crunch there?

Nope, not at all.

What about the oven?

A little better, now, how about the deep fryer?

Interesting. Now for the bite test.

First, I have to lick my lips to gross you out a little bit.

Then let's start with the microwave stuff.

Soft, soggy, wildly chewy.

Can't recommend that.

Onto the oven baked version. A little better.

And the deep-fried version.

All right, so, entirely unsurprisingly, the deep fried version is best.

As much as I know you'd love to keep hearing mouth noises, I figured we should fry up our own.

Let's start with the absolute baseline simplest of breadings.

Four large eggs beaten together with a little bit of salt, and two cups of all-purpose flour, with one teaspoon, each kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

For our fingers, we're gonna use chicken tenders, which are that little annoying bit right below the breast.

And for a restaurant style coating, we are double dipping them.

First in the egg, then to the flour, then back into the egg, and one more time in the flour.

You can of course do this one at a time, but I actually found doing them in bulk gave the chicken an even cracklier, more profound crust.

Once you've shaken off all the excess, we are letting them hang out for five minutes before frying in some 375 degrees Fahrenheit peanut oil for five to seven minutes.

Letting chicken rest for five to 10 minutes before frying hydrates the flour and helps form a barrier around your chicken.

And draining on paper towels gets rid of excess oil and keeps them crispier longer.

Let's see how we do on the crunch test.

Not bad at all, but as you can imagine, very boring flavor.

Not to mention a little dry.

Both things that we can remedy by brining.

Into a food-safe container goes one cup of buttermilk and a whole jar's worth of pickle juice.

Legend has it, this is what makes Chick-fil-A taste so good.

We're also adding a teaspoon each kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

A tiny pinch of cayenne for heat, a half teaspoon of paprika for color, and a bay leaf for bay-leafiness.

Tiny whisk until homogenous, add your one pound of chicken tenders, massage for even distribution, cover and refrigerate for bare minimum eight hours.

And if you're crazy like me, up to 48.

In our breading, we're gonna use three egg whites, who's higher protein and lower fat content should give us a more robust crust.

For the dry stuff, we're combining two cups of all-purpose flour with a quarter cup cornstarch for extra crispiness

And a half teaspoon paprika, quarter teaspoon cayenne.

Half teaspoon garlic powder, quarter teaspoon onion powder.

And one teaspoon each kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

And to make these really crisp as a hundred-dollar bill, we're gonna add one cup of finely crushed corn flakes.

Tiny whisk until completely homogenous and then to create extra crunchy crackles, we're gonna add about two tablespoons of our marinade to the dry stuff and tiny whisk together to make little lumps that will fry up into crispity, crunchity goodness.

Now, I am so confident in our breading that I'm only gonna dip these guys once.

That's right.

It's not because I forgot to do it and it's too late to re-shoot because the chicken takes two days to marinate and it is currently Monday.

No, sir. This is confidence, not incompetence.

Anyway, in addition to letting our chicken hangout for five minutes, I'm also gonna sort of bury it in the leftover dry stuff.

And then you can trust that your crust will be robust.

Even if you're a dumb, dumb boy, who forgot to double dip.

Over on the stove top, we've got some peanut oil heated to 375 Fahrenheit.

Usual drill here, fry for five to seven minutes until the chicken is deeply golden brown and the meat is cooked through.

Once again, we are draining on paper towels to absorb excess oil and check it out.

Even without double-dipping, this crust is superb.

Let's listen in.

Now, the crust was very good, but what was really amazing was the chicken.

It spent so much time in the marinade it was almost falling apart.

But after frying, it was ultra-tender, ultra-juicy, and tasted pleasantly of pickles.

Is this what they were serving at the cafeterias at Greendale?

Most assuredly not.

But fellow human beings, they are delicious.

They're Chang-tacular.

Eat fresh.