04 - The VFC Scale
Here’s an introduction to Vince’s Fried Chicken Scale
I have always loved foods for their texture more than the taste…for example: pizza! Pizza has a mixture of hard, crunchy bases with soft, oily, textured cheeses and meats as toppings, and that contrast is lovely to eat. Salads that have a crunch factor to them make them really nice to eat - the first time I ate a salad I liked was at Cafe Carpenter in Malvern East; the chef had added some roasted chickpeas to a Japanese-style salad and it was amazing! (also the rest of his food is excellent - go and check it out!)
So obviously, I love me a good fried chicken!
Now, when you bite into a good piece of fried chicken, you get a whole host of different textures, all of which are taken into account when assessing it:
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The batter is crunchy and full of different fissures and crevasses to hold the spices and seasonings (and have some strong crunch factors!)
- It can’t be too separate from the chicken either; it’s the worst when you can just pull the whole chicken out of its shell…they should be joined as one unit!
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The chicken is juicy and hot when you bite into it, and the meat has a little resistance to your bite
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It can’t be underdone, but it can’t be overcooked either (dry meat sucks)
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Doesn’t really matter which cut of meat it is, but my preference is thigh - so much lovely dark meat!
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The combination of the batter and the chicken needs to be the right ratio as well - not too starchy, but not too weak and flimsy either
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It’s not super oily to the point where it’s making everything too slippery to eat
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The seasoning is strong but not overpowering (there’s no need for sauces that drown the flavour of the chicken itself)
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I haven’t experienced this often, but sometimes the taste of chicken itself has been changed because of the brining - I’ve had a super herby tea (?) based brine that unlocked even more wondrous flavours!
These are the key factors I’m usually thinking about on my VFC scale…though every fried chicken place has different factors to taken into account!
Some top places to go:
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Clayton BBQ Chicken - I haven’t been back in a while (since university times) but it was an absolute revelation in fried chicken for me. They do an amazing boneless hot and spicy chicken that’s out of this world! It’s ever-so-juicy, with a crunchy outer shell and chicken salt chips on the side. 3 massive pieces for $12 - an absolute BARGAIN for the amount you get!
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Hot Star Fried Chicken - I buy this in the city when I’m on my way home - it’s cheap ($8) and really easy to eat…the only problem is with the pesky rib bone at the bottom of the piece of chicken that’s hard to dispose of when you’re eating it…but otherwise it’s piping hot and freshly fried - an absolute delight for the senses. Try out the plum salt with it! It’s off menu but they go together SO WELL.
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Lorna Cafe - bit of a left field suggestion for fried chicken (it’s a brunch place), but they do a BANGIN’ fried chicken and waffles (though it’s a bit pricier - around $20 iirc). There’s just something about the batter that I absolutely adore - it’s flaky, crispy, and contrasts beautifully with the waffle. And the spicy sauce is just hot enough to give a nice kick!
Please give me more fried chicken recommendations!! Honourable mentions to: Belle’s Hot Chicken, Gami, Miss Katie’s Crab Shack, Rockwell & Sons, Pelikin, and of course, KFC.
Chat soon :)
✔️ Real Life Recommendations
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The Divide - I cannot recommend this highly enough. It’s a fascinating look into the structural reasons behind inequality, and how it’s come about across the centuries. It’s a bit sobering but it is written so interestingly I just kept coming back to it. There’s so much we see around us that we don’t question when it comes to this; The Divide lays it out clearly and succinctly - go read it now!
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Bouldering - it’s bordering on being a bit of a cult, but it’s actually quite fun. Bit challenging, nice community of people - no harm in trying it out! (other than the super destroyed forearms, shoulders and triceps the days and hours after)
🚌 Adventures on the Information Super-Highway
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Big Brother doesn’t bother most Chinese - for some reason, Chinese people don’t care about the social credit score. Differences in culture I guess?
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Bon Appetit Mushroom Carbonara - something different - I’ve been trying to get into cooking, and this channel has been AMAZING in teaching easy dishes to make. One of their rules is to try and have every dish be less than 10 ingredients so it’s easy; I made this recently and it was delicious!
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Japanese Manhole Covers - the Japanese are great and building beautiful things, and manhole covers are no exception. Interestingly there’s a lot more localisation in products in Japan (e.g. with Pocky or Kit Kats) - I wonder if we could transplant that sort of town identity down here for Australian towns.