Fried Chicken Throwdown!

Hello, blog world. Val and Mani Land has been fairly eventful since our last entry. Last weekend, I dragged Mani along to Bridal Extravaganza -- braving throngs of rabid bridezillas -- in the hope of gathering useful information for our wedding next year. (I'll be prepping for the Bar next July, so it was a now-or-never kind of deal). Mani wasn't happy about having to tag along, but he didn't kick or scream about it either. In fact, he was great sport...save for the hour or so that he disappeared with my dad to eat cake and drink alcohol samples. I really don't think that I've seen a higher concentration of glitter and lace in one place ever in my life. We vomited flower petals the entire drive home.

Mani and I interviewed Weird Al on Tuesday, which was a surreal experience to say the least. (It'll be in today's Rocks Off blog). We also attended a creative meeting for Hater Magazine. The topic for the next issue is sex, and we're writing a humorous piece on birth control around the world. 

And we're really excited about our first Houston Chowhounds event this Saturday :). It'll be neat to mix and mingle with local foodies. We're going on a pretty rad tour of Little India. We'll have a southern Indian lunch, go to an Indian grocery store to peep out spices and part ways at Bombay Sweets. 

But enough with the updates. Let's talk chicken. Mani and Crystal have been recording a lot lately. (In fact, they set up a MySpace recently with a few demos if y'all want to take a listen, but please keep in mind that they are still very, very rough). Lots of recording fortunately has meant lots of cooking at home. Since we talk a lot of shit at our house, one thing led to another, and before we knew it, Mani and Crystal had challenged each other to a fried chicken throwdown. 

It was a cook-off to the death. OK, not really. But it was one delicious battle. Raven, Mike (a.k.a. Mic Skills), and I were more than happy to serve as judges.

Mani double-battered his chicken in panko and flour, seasoning it with salt, pepper, paprika and a touch of cumin and chili powder.

For her chicken, Crystal used a flour, crushed croutons and buttermilk batter. She seasoned the chicken with salt, pepper, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder and celery salt. (And yep, our stovetop cracked :(. We're still waiting for a replacement).

Here are our lovely judges. Raven's admiring her plate of greasy goodness. Mike is fueling up for his interview with me that night. (I am currently doing a write-up on him for the Houston Press. It'll appear in next week's print edition.  Check him out! He's one of Houston's most talented and hard-working rappers).

Dinner is served. Here's a plate including both contestants' entries and our collaborative sides. 

I made the broccoli and cheese. I  made a simple roux, slowly adding heavy cream to the flour and butter. I then added milk and shredded habanero cheddar, for a silky, cheesy béchamel sauce. Crystal and I made the mashed potatoes with chopped garlic, shallots, dill, butter and milk. 

This was probably the most anti-climatic throwdown in the history of throwdowns. Their was no winner in spite of the build-up and idle fighting words. Being the good liberals we are -- afraid of stepping on toes and hurting feelings -- we judges pussy-footed around declaring a clear winner. "Both entries taste nice!" we'd say to the unhappy contestants. It was a lot like that never-ending game of Monopoly among liberals who keep lending each other money. 

Anyway, our contestants at least received some criticism. Mani's batter wound up being too thick. It had a nice outer crunch but was undercooked and chewy closer to the chicken itself. Crystal's batter was more successful but her chicken overall could have benefitted from a touch more salt. But honestly, apart from a couple of flaws, both of their chicken entries were good eats. Thumbs-up, guys! 

At the end of the day -- not to toot my own horn or anything -- but I guess I was the de-facto winner of our Fried Chicken Throwdown. The sides garnered rave reviews. *brushes shoulders off* Victory tastes like...chicken.