How A Cold Pan Leads To The Crispiest Chicken Skin

There are numerous ways you can cook chicken on the stovetop. Many recipes involve sauteing boneless, skinless pieces while others are for bone-in chicken deep-fried in oil (or lard). It's also possible to pan-fry bone-in chicken. Pan-frying, unlike deep-frying, generally involves a small amount of oil, which is the case in our recipe for skillet chicken thighs with schmaltzy matzo crumble. You won't need any oil at all, however, if you use the cold pan technique as recommended by Juan Cabrera of The Restaurant at North Block.

Cabrera, who works as an executive chef at the Yountville, California eatery, told The Takeout that cooking chicken in a cold pan gives the skin extra crunch as well as allowing it to produce its own cooking fat. "The best way to maximum crispiness," he said. "Is to start in a cold pan with a slow render as it renders more fat, allowing the skin to become thin and glass-like." To pan-sear chicken, he puts it in a cold pan, skin-side down and slowly turns up the heat. As he explained, "This allows the fat to render slowly and evenly, preventing the skin from shrinking too quickly." This technique will work for both breasts and thighs.

A cold pan can help you achieve extra-crispy chicken, but it'll be even better if you start with super-dry skin. Juan Cabrera's favorite technique, he told us, is to "pour boiling water over the skin, then air-dry the chicken uncovered in the refrigerator for a few hours (or overnight if you can)." Salt can also help to dehydrate chicken skin, although you'll need to let it sit for anywhere from 6 to 48 hours to get the job done. If you're a fan of trendy 20-teens cooking hacks, you might even want to use a hair dryer to remove every last bit of moisture from the bird.

If you're worried your chicken won't get cooked to the USDA-recommended internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit, there's a workaround for this, too. Fry it in the pan until the skin is brown, then finish it off in the oven. Baking it for 15 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit isn't just a good way to ensure the chicken is safe to eat "Finishing in a hot oven," says Cabrera. "Further intensifies the crispness." If you're more concerned about speed than temperature monitoring, you can also give the pan-fried chicken a few minutes under the broiler.