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Backhendl (Breadcrumbed Fried Chicken)

Name: Backhendl (Breadcrumbed Fried Chicken)
Prep time: 18 min
Total time: 38 min
Cuisine: Austrian
Ingredients: chicken — 100 g; salt — 10 g; freshly ground white pepper — 5 g; lemon juice — 30 g; all-purpose flour — 120 g; eggs — 300 g; regular milk — 30 g; bread crumbs — 200 g; warm clarified butter — 1380 g; lemon — 65 g; flat-leaf parsley — 30 g; sweet paprika — 3 g

Backhendl (Breadcrumbed Fried Chicken) reads citrus 7.5, richness 6.9 and sourness 6.8 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Austrian main, about 38 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 3.9 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 5.5 / 10
Sour & Bright — 9.6 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 0.7 / 10
Rich & Fat — 7.1 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 2.7 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Citrus 7.5 · Richness 6.9 · Sourness 6.8 · Fruity 5.1 · Salinity 3.6 · Herbaceous 2.4 · Umami 1.7 · Warm Spice 1.5 · Floral 1.4 · Sweetness 1.4 · Heat 0.9 · Earthy 0.7 · Nutty 0.6 · Bitterness 0.5

What's in it (12)

chicken — 100 g
salt — 10 g
freshly ground white pepper — 5 g
lemon juice — 30 g
all-purpose flour — 120 g
eggs — 300 g
regular milk — 30 g
bread crumbs — 200 g
warm clarified butter — 1380 g
lemon — 65 g
flat-leaf parsley — 30 g
sweet paprika — 3 g

Time & effort: about 38 min (18 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 304 kcal, 9.3 g protein, 20.2 g fat, 21.2 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains dairy · Contains egg — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (10 steps)

Season the chicken pieces all over with the salt, white pepper and paprika.
Squeeze the lemon juice over and leave 20 minutes.
Set up three plates: flour, egg with milk, breadcrumbs. Make your own crumbs from stale white rolls in a food processor; shop breadcrumbs are too fine and too even, and the coarse irregular ones are what give backhendl its shaggy crust.
Turn each piece in the flour and shake off the excess.
Dip in the beaten egg, letting the surplus run off.
Press into the crumbs, but press lightly. The coating must sit loosely on the skin: as it fries, steam lifts it away from the meat into a hollow blistered shell, and a crust pressed on hard sticks flat and goes leathery.
Heat the clarified butter to 160 C in a deep pan, deep enough that the pieces float. Fry in batches for 13 minutes, turning once, spooning hot fat over the tops. Backhendl is fried in butterschmalz or lard, and the flavour of the fat is a large part of the dish; vegetable oil makes it into something else.
Drop the parsley sprigs into the fat for 20 seconds at the end, until translucent and crisp. Stand back, they spit.
Drain on a rack for 2 minutes, salt lightly, and serve with the fried parsley, lemon wedges and a potato salad dressed with vinegar and pumpkin seed oil.
Substitutions: lard can stand in for the clarified butter.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Pane e Panelle — Italian · Sicily
Ensalada de Aguacate (Avocado Salad) — Cuban
Schnitzel (Schweineschnitzel) — German
Seadas con Miele di Corbezzolo — Italian · Sardinia
Baked Lemon Fish — Greek

Keep reading: what citrus, richness, sourness mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.