By JOEY DEGRADO
The Extra Crispy Technique Carla Hall Uses For Chicken Fried Steak
To make chicken fried steak, a classic Southern dish, follow celebrity chef Carla Hall’s technique of using cornstarch and rice flour in the batter for extra crispy chicken.
Cornstarch and rice flour are effective for frying due to their high starch content, which creates a crispier coating than all-purpose flour without gluten.
Fried foods crisp when all of their moisture has been dried off, and having more starch and less gluten means that cornstarch absorbs moisture more quickly, making it crunchy.
Hall's batter combines cornstarch, rice flour, and all-purpose flour for varied textures. Adding all-purpose flour into the mix results in a craggy, heavy duty crust.