Cured Chicken Fillet (Kaizer-Style)
Butterflied chicken breast, dry-salted in coarse sea salt, coated in a spice mix and dried. Traditionally it would hang for a few days on the balcony or rest in the fridge if the weather is warm; here the author dried it in a fruit-and-vegetable dehydrator on the lowest setting — after 4 hours he began tasting it and by the 6th hour liked its firmness, then chilled it in the fridge. Alternatively he ran it for 4 hours at 40°C with the fan in the oven and then on the balcony (fridge) for 2 days.
Ingredients
| 1 piece | Chicken breast, butterflied |
| 2 packs | Coarse sea salt |
| — | Salt |
| — | Black pepper |
| — | Red pepper (paprika) |
| — | Garlic powder |
| — | Oregano |
| — | Savory (chubritsa) |
Instructions
- Take the two halves of the chicken breast (butterflied) and shape them lightly with a knife to give them a neat, presentable look. Clean off any membranes and the like if present.
- Arrange the two pieces so the thick end of one meets the thin end of the other. Lightly salt and pepper one of them and cover it with the other.
- Tie them together carefully, place in a suitable dish and cover completely with coarse sea salt.
- 12 hours of salting is quite enough.
- Wash off the salt and pat dry.
- After drying, roll it well in a mix of red pepper (regular, smoked and hot paprika), black pepper, dried garlic, savory (chubritsa) and so on — whatever you like.
- Now comes the most interesting part — the drying. Traditionally it should hang for a few days on the balcony or rest in the fridge if the weather is warm.
- Dehydrator method: switch the dehydrator to its lowest setting, cover and leave. After 4 hours start checking; around the 6th hour it should have a good firmness. Let it cool in the fridge and it is ready.
- Oven method: run for 4 hours at 40°C with the fan on, then keep on the balcony (or in the fridge) for 2 days.