Panéed Boneless Chicken Thighs

Recipe written by Roosevelt Lewis

If you are from Louisiana and in particular New Orleans, the most common term used for pan-frying is "panéed". Traditionally veal, chicken, or pork loin is panéed, but truthfully anything that can be pan-fried could be called panéed. Typically the meat is pounded with a mallet to about ½ inch thickness, lightly dusted with flour, dipped into an egg wash, and then coated with breadcrumbs. It is then panéed in butter or oil until golden brown. In my recipe, I chose to use a dry batter in place of the traditional flour/egg wash/breadcrumbs procedure.

Serves: 8 servings

Ingredients:

·        8 (6-ounce) skinned and boned chicken thighs, pounded ½ inch thick

·        6 cups fine cornmeal

·        8 cups flour

·        2 cups panko bread crumbs, plain

·        1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

·        1 tablespoon black pepper
2 tablespoon Créole seasoning

·        1 teaspoon garlic powder

·        1 teaspoon onion powder
2 tablespoons oil or butter, more if needed

·        1 quart brine, ½ sugar and ½ salt ratio to 1 quart water

Directions:

1. Pound chicken thighs with a mallet between two pieces of plastic wrap until ½ inch thick.  

2. Brine chicken thighs in brine for 1 hour. Rinse chicken thighs. Pat chicken dry with paper towels.

3. Season chicken with cayenne pepper, black pepper, Créole seasoning, garlic powder, and onion powder.

4. In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Mix well with a whisk. Toss each chicken thigh until well covered in dry batter mixture. Shake off excess coating. Place chicken on a rack.

5. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large sauté pan that is suitable for frying.

6. Gently lower the chicken thighs into the hot oil. Cook chicken about 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Don’t forget the hot sauce!

Note: This chicken is good as chicken parmesan, chicken sandwich, or smothered chicken.

It is also not necessary to pound chicken thighs, because thighs are tender without pounding. When you pound the chicken thighs thin, this cuts the cooking time down a little bit.

This same dry batter works well with shrimp, fish, and for fried chicken.