To make food truly delicious, you must master seasoning. It’s a daunting undertaking to be sure, but a necessary one if your aim is to have your guests leaving fat and happy as can be. If I have the option, I only ever use Diamond Crystal kosher salt because it’s widely available and the salt crystals themselves are nice and coarsely ground, which helps prevent over seasoning. A little goes less of a long way than other, more finely particled salts, and I like that.
The crucible for this process of proficiency must be cheap and satisfying, giving aspiring home cooks no excuse not to try and fail, at the very least, until they get consistent with their technique. To check these boxes I almost always reach for the humble chicken leg.
They’re one of the cheapest per-pound pieces of fresh meat that can be bought at all supermarkets, and they’re delicious to boot; fried, grilled, roasted, braised, confit. All take fairly little effort to reach a fantastically succulent end result. My reaction from guests is usually something along the lines of “What the hell did you put on that chicken?!” and when I say simply salt and time they gasp and feign disbelief. I get a kick out of it every time.
Getting to that point take some time and trials; you’ll probably end up over and under seasoning quite a few legs. I strongly recommend eating it no matter if it tastes perfectly seasoned, bland as cardboard or salty as the sea. It will help you internalize your results and remember for next time the mistakes you made. You’ll need a chicken leg, some cooking oil, salt, tongs, a plate, an oven-safe sauté pan, paper towels, and a meat thermometer. All of these things are equally as important as the next and will give you a great end result with enough practice,
Now for the actual process:
- With washed hands, you take your chicken leg. Dry it with a paper towel until there is no residual moisture on the surface and sprinkle enough salt on the surface to lightly coat the whole thing with no spots unseasoned. Put it on a plate with paper towels underneath to absorb moisture pulled out by the salt. Now is the time to be patient. For now, leave it uncovered for 24 hours in your fridge. With time, the salt will dissolve and disperse itself throughout the meat, the skin will dry out from the cold circulating air and the flavor will concentrate.
- Flash forward. It’s the next day and you’re giddy about your experiment. Take the plate with the chicken out of the fridge and let it sit on your counter for 30-45 minutes. Preheat your oven to 400℉ and preheat an oven safe pan over medium heat on a burner for a couple minutes. Once it’s nice and hot, add a tablespoon of neutral oil (I recommend peanut or canola) and use a paper towel to remove any accumulated moisture from your chicken and place it skin side down in the pan. Turn it down to medium-low and let it sit for 5 minutes. Flip it and immediately place the pan in the hot oven. Let it roast in the oven for 10 minutes and the check the temperature. You want to insert it into the thickest part of the meat and make sure to not touch the bone because it will give you an inaccurate reading. If it reads 155℉, move the chicken onto your reserved clean plate to rest for 10 minutes before digging in.
- Take mental note of what you taste: the texture, flavor, seasoning, juiciness. Your end result should taste seasoned all the way down to the bone, but not salty. It should be supremely juicy and intensely satisfying. If it isn’t, there’s always next time! No matter the outcome, you just took your first step towards mastering your seasoning technique!
Now do it until you have a consistently delicious final product every time, and you’re golden! This is just the beginning of a great journey of delicious memories. Keep at it until you’re confident and it will pay off tenfold.
Sam’s Food Blog 