Soul Food Edition: Chicken & Waffles

Last but not least, Unit 3 of my class Food For Thought. This Unit is called Birth. We learned about how food corporations have taken over the food industry. We watched the documentary Food INC, and read Michael Pollan’s “In Defense Of Food.” We learned about the transformation that has happened within our food system. We went on a Field Experience to a place called Uncommon Grounds to talk about how they maintain a sustainable rooftop garden but also run a restaurant at the same time. We learned about the 6 tastes of food, food labels, and what’s in the food we eat. One of Michael Pollan’s famous quotes are “If your great-great grandmother doesn’t recognize it, you shouldn’t be eating it.” The last Action Project for this class of the year. We had to go to a restaurant and order a meal that we would then make at home. I went to Chicago’s Home of Chicken and Waffles. Below is my paper and comparison of my home-cooked meal and my restaurant meal.

Enjoy! - TG

May 31st 2019 3:40 PM: Chicago’s Home of Chicken and Waffles on Madison.

I purposely didn’t eat all day just so I could savor and enjoy my food when I got there. I walked inside and was seated immediately by the greeter upfront. It’s a soul food restaurant, hence the name. In the restaurant they played jazz music, the lights were low, and the booths were tall. All of these elements combined gave the restaurant an atmosphere of joie de vivre. All the servers wore formal black head to toe, which gave me a sense of seriousness as well. The server came to my booth right away and asked what I would like to order. I got “Tonya’s Special” which included 4 pieces of fried chicken, and a waffle. I also ordered a side of mac n cheese.

The server came back to my booth to check if I needed more water before the food came out. I didn’t, but I did have one pressing question. Did they use maple syrup as the side for their waffles? Maple syrup and regular pancake syrup are different in many ways. Maple Syrup comes from a maple sap tree. On a maple tree farm, they tap the tree and put in a spout to let the syrup drain into a bucket, then they boil it down to a thicker consistency. That’s it. Just one ingredient. Maple syrup costs so much more because it’s very labor intensive. Pancake syrup is made with corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, maple extract, and artificial flavors.  

The server came back and confirmed that they use pure maple syrup. I was surprised, and right away I thought about Michael Pollan’s 5 food transformations, and how over the years our food system that was once all about quality, changed to quantity. If the owners at the restaurant are focused on supplying quality over quantity when it comes to something as little as syrup, then that tells me a lot about their quality of food as well.

My food came out, and it looked fantastic. The steam from my food rose in a aromatic haze, and I wanted to dive in immediately. But first, “Let me take a picture.” After my main order came out, the side of mac n cheese followed. The chicken tasted like it came straight out of the fryer and was piping hot. Tender juicy chicken, encased in a incredibly crunchy layer of deep fried seasoned batter. The crunch of fried chicken is key but so is the juiciness and flavor of the chicken without the crust. This chicken had both down pat. It was heavenly. The picture doesn’t do much justice for how the food tasted, because it was so good. Next I turned to my waffle.

I spread the whipped butter on my waffle so that it filled all the little squares. Then I drenched my chicken wings and waffle in the maple syrup.

As I bit into my waffle, it had a velvety thick yet fluffy interior with a delicious crunchy exterior. The maple syrup and the whipped butter complemented each other well, giving me sweet and salty in one bite. It was lovely.

Initially, my goal was to only try the chicken and waffles dish at the restaurant. But since I make baked mac n cheese a lot at home, I decided to compare the two. They gave me a very generous, heaping scoop. I took my first bite and it was creamy, gooey, and very cheesy. I was impressed. Usually the problem people have with making mac n cheese is that it comes out too oily or dry, or it’s not enough cheese. But this was perfect. The noodles weren’t rubbery, they were soft and oozed with cheese. It had the right amount of seasonings as well, and the pepper was a nice touch. I ate most of my food, but I was full, and felt like I had eaten enough food to last me the whole week. I asked for a plate to go, and thanked the server and the greeter upfront before I left.

Sunday June 2nd: My version of Chicken and Waffles. I used my dad’s recipe, the fried chicken that I grew up loving. First, I thawed out the chicken in water and drained it. I turned on the fryer and let it heat up while preparing the chicken. I seasoned my chicken with with lawry’s, onion powder, paprika, pepper, and granulated garlic. Then I mixed in some organic almond milk. I grabbed another bowl and filled it with flour (I eyeballed about 2 ½ cups). I seasoned the flour with the same ingredients. Remember, you have to season both the crust and the chicken because when fried, the flavor of the crust doesn’t penetrate the actual chicken.

Chicken Pre Flour

After dipping my chicken in the flour mixture, I let it fry for about 10 minutes while I prepared and cooked my waffle. I used Pamela’s Organic waffle mix and my waffle maker. I poured my waffle batter into the waffle maker, and let it cook for about 6 minutes. Waffle batter is different from pancake batter because it has more sugar. Waffles have a crust on the outside which is caused by the caramelization from the sugar.

My Chicken and Waffle Masterpiece.

My chicken came out with a crispy crunchy outer layer, and a juicy interior. The secret to frying chicken is that you want to cook it enough so that it is crunchy, yet also keeps the moisture on the inside. Fried chicken skin is designed to be fatty and salty so it’s hard not to drool over. The meat was so tender, that it didn’t take much of a bite for it to fall off. I devoured the waffle second.  The crust on the waffle was perfectly crispy, and the inside of the waffle was thick and had a nutty texture. The maple syrup didn’t make the waffle soggy, it absorbed it well while maintaining the crust.

 

Both meals were exceptional. Both were quality over quantity but of course homemade is always better because it’s made by you. I used mainly organic ingredients when I made my chicken and waffles. Although I cannot say the same for the restaurant, they do use maple syrup so that shows me that they do care about what they are giving their customers. I do believe that to be a restaurant you have to know what’s profitable and that sometimes means compromise of the food quality. In conclusion, homemade is always better in my opinion because you’re not forced to compromise anything.