Chicken skin trends in restaurant dishes

Building on an indulgent tradition

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Although chicken skin is trending in many newer restaurants, it has also been a traditional ingredient in cuisines around the world. For example, East European Jews use it for a kosher version of cracklings, pointed out Tony Maws, executive chef of Craigie on Main in Cambridge, Mass.

Maws makes a fine-dining version of the traditional Jewish dish kasha varnishkes — buckwheat groats, egg noodles and crispy chicken skin — called gribines. But instead of using noodles and buckwheat, Maws combines buckwheat flour and wheat flour to make pasta and serves it with the picked meat of confit chicken thighs and rendered chicken skin. “If I’m feeling really sexy, I fold in foie gras cream,” he said.

Chicken skin is also a customary snack in Japan, particularly skewered and grilled, which is what Gene Kato plans to do with it at Sumi Robata Grill, which is slated to open in Chicago in December. For that item, Kato will use skin from the chicken’s backbone, which has some muscle meat attached as well, so that the dish is crisp with added meaty substance, Kato said.

Josh Thomsen, whose restaurant Agricola is slated to open in Princeton, N.J., in January, also uses chicken skin as a crunchy element on dishes, including a chicken and waffle ice cream dessert he made in the past. He recommends gently simmering the skin in water to remove the fat, and then dehydrating it and baking it under a sheet pan to keep it flat.

St. Louis restaurateur Gerard Craft uses chicken skin to make an upscale version of Coxinha, a snack his Brazilian nanny made for him when he was growing up.

“Traditionally it’s braised chicken and a Brazilian cream cheese called catupiry with lime juice that’s stuffed in dough that’s then breaded and fried. It’s extremely heavy but extremely tasty. I was trying to capture that in one bite and make it more Midwestern,” he said.

To make the dish he dehydrates the chicken skin then fries it and chops it into breadcrumb-sized pieces and keeps it in his dehydrator until he’s ready to use it. He rolls balls of catupiry in flour, dips them in an egg wash and then breads them in the chicken skin. Then he deep-fries them and serves them on a sorrel aïoli, which adds the acidity that traditionally would be provided by the lime juice.

He serves that item at the beginning of his tasting menu at Niche restaurant, or at the bar for $6 for an order of six.

Contact Bret Thorn at bret.thorn@penton.com.
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