Chicken-Skin Garnish

By Gabrielle Hamilton

Chicken-Skin Garnish
Gentl and Hyers for The New York Times. Food stylist: Hadas Smirnoff. Prop stylist: Rebecca Bartoshesky.
Total Time
1 hour 20 minutes
Rating
4(37)
Notes
Read community notes

I can't speak enthusiastically enough about this garnish — without it, the stewed-chicken-and-rice recipe lies flat, amateur; good but juvenile. The grassy, bracing astringent parsley, the burn of the shallot, the spark of the lemon, combined with the warm, crispy, fatty, salty "chicharron" of chicken skin, is like the one killer piece of jewelry worn with a little black dress, the thing that makes it clear that this is a "main stage talent" and not the personal assistant with the clipboard checking guests into the event.

Featured in: An Elevated Chicken and Rice ‘Family Meal’

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Ingredients

Yield:Serves 6
  • ½pound chicken skin
  • Kosher salt
  • 2lemons, washed
  • 8sprigs flat-leaf parsley
  • 2shallots, shaved paper-thin
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)

187 calories; 17 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 7 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 5 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 2 grams sugars; 4 grams protein; 182 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Place the chicken skin between two lined sheet trays, and render in a 400-degree oven until all the fat has liquefied and you are left with crispy, delicious fried chicken skins. Save the fat. Remove the skins, and season with salt while still warm. Set aside.

  2. Step 2

    Zest all the lemons into a small bowl, then cut the lemon in thirds and squeeze the juice into the same bowl, taking care to catch the seeds. Toss into this bowl the parsley, slivered shallot, a small spoonful of the rendered chicken fat and large pieces of the fried chicken skin. Season to taste.

Ratings

4 out of 5
37 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

jane

you sandwich the chicken skins between 2 rimmed baking sheets (ideally also between a couple of sheets of parchment paper). the top sheet pan helps the chicken skin to keep its shape & stay flat. if your skins aren't getting crispy enough, carefully drain the extra fat by angling the baking sheet-and-chicken skin sandwich so that the excess fat pours out of 1 corner & into a heatproof container of some sort; & then you just return it to the oven & bake until it's done!

Randy

As much as I respect Chef Hamilton I must admit I am annoyed to find an imprecise instruction to 'cook until done'. Her technique is excellent but poorly explained.
Flatten skin on a parchment lined baking sheet, salt and cover with parchment and another baking sheet. Bake 30 minutes at 400. Remove top pan and top parchment; Spatula skins to paper towels to drain. Reserve rendered fat. Pre-salting skins renders more fat and yields crisper skins. Works for any amount of skin.

Michele

I think it means this: line a sheet pan with parchment paper, place the pieces of chicken skin on the paper and cover them with another piece of parchment paper and the second tray, nestled into the first. Put this "sandwich" in the oven and cook as directed.

MB

I'm confused on the instruction to place the skins between two trays. Does that mean you divide (maybe a better word than place) them between the trays or does that mean skins in one tray and another tray placed on top? Please clarify before I try something really stupid!

David

I know this is anathema to many but I have found that crisping chicken skin is one of the better uses for a microwave oven.
I stretch the skin out and lightly salt it. Chicken skin cooks very quickly,,,faster even than bacon and can burn if you don't keep an eye on it. The rendered fat can get extremely hot so beware of using a plastic plate.

orlando bloom

Excellent easy and elegant. I could imagine trying to cut the raw skin in even rectangles to make the chip uniform. Really added a highlight to a chicken braise with texture and color from the parsley. 20 minutes at 350 made perfect brown chips which kept crispy salted on paper towels for 90 minutes (or more)

Ben

Brilliant little umami bomb. Definitely agree that the instructions are vague — I let the skin render for 28 minutes and then pulled. The chips were perfect: shatteringly crisp and dissolved almost instantaneously. Didn’t have a shallot on-hand so I mandolined half a white onion, totally workable substitute. Pouring the schmaltz over the pickles is a galaxy brain maneuver. These were the real star of the stewed chicken and rice dish pictured. Might make this exact garnish and use it on tacos.

Charles Michener

For years, I've been roasting excess skin from chicken thighs for a great hors d'oeuvre with a spicy mayonnaise or an after-dinner treat for my dogs. Forget Ms. Hamilton's two pans. Just salt the skins, put them on a baking sheet (no parchment necessary) and roast for 10-15 minutes at 400 or so until crunchy. Convection works best. Remove to paper towels. Eat ASAP.

rachel

Mine ended up looking golden around 30 minutes, but they tasted awful - burnt and acrid like gasoline. What happened?

Kate Lila Wheeler

Can anyone think of another crunchy topping for this dish?

Randy

As much as I respect Chef Hamilton I must admit I am annoyed to find an imprecise instruction to 'cook until done'. Her technique is excellent but poorly explained.
Flatten skin on a parchment lined baking sheet, salt and cover with parchment and another baking sheet. Bake 30 minutes at 400. Remove top pan and top parchment; Spatula skins to paper towels to drain. Reserve rendered fat. Pre-salting skins renders more fat and yields crisper skins. Works for any amount of skin.

JT

Thanks!! This worked out very well for me--baked mine for about 28 minutes and they turned out just slightly burnt. I'll be more careful to check at around 20 minutes next time, but otherwise, excellent method!

David

I know this is anathema to many but I have found that crisping chicken skin is one of the better uses for a microwave oven.
I stretch the skin out and lightly salt it. Chicken skin cooks very quickly,,,faster even than bacon and can burn if you don't keep an eye on it. The rendered fat can get extremely hot so beware of using a plastic plate.

Leobot

Why do you cut the lemon (or lemons, I assume) into thirds in the last step if you're just juicing them? Why not just cut each in half, or am I missing something?

Zaustrich

Whoa! I'm supposed to go to all that bother to
1. find a 1/2 pound of chicken skins
2. go through a very messy process of "frying"
them
3. and then soak them in lemon juice!

What became of all of that "crisp" chicken skin?

Chris Remo

The time estimate on this receipe is 1 hour 20 minutes. Surely that can't actually be reflective of the time to prepare this recipe. Or can it? How long has the actual baking process taken for others?

Zaustrich

You are a line cook. You have three, or more, other cooks doing such things as preparing the meatballs and whipping out fried chicken skins. Thanks. Give me the name of a good restaurant where it is served (with CRISP chicken skin) — good idea, lousy estimates of time and effort involved.

Wendy

Where does one get a half pound of chicken skin?

Maggie

Either ask if your local butcher will sell it (he/she might, if the shop skins its own breasts -- of which it no doubt sells a lot) or buy skin-on breasts or legs, skin them yourself, and use the skinless parts for...cutlets, curry, meatballs, whatever you like to use skinless chicken for.

MB

I'm confused on the instruction to place the skins between two trays. Does that mean you divide (maybe a better word than place) them between the trays or does that mean skins in one tray and another tray placed on top? Please clarify before I try something really stupid!

jane

you sandwich the chicken skins between 2 rimmed baking sheets (ideally also between a couple of sheets of parchment paper). the top sheet pan helps the chicken skin to keep its shape & stay flat. if your skins aren't getting crispy enough, carefully drain the extra fat by angling the baking sheet-and-chicken skin sandwich so that the excess fat pours out of 1 corner & into a heatproof container of some sort; & then you just return it to the oven & bake until it's done!

Laura

And, if it's the latter, why line both trays? Won't the bottom of the top tray be what comes into contact with the chicken skin?

Michele

I think it means this: line a sheet pan with parchment paper, place the pieces of chicken skin on the paper and cover them with another piece of parchment paper and the second tray, nestled into the first. Put this "sandwich" in the oven and cook as directed.

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