The Trick to a Chicken Kiev That Doesn't Leak

That moment when you cut it into a chicken Kiev and all that beautiful garlic butter comes pouring out. That's exactly what we're after and there's a really simple trick to getting it right. For this recipe we're going to start by making the garlic butter and I've got some incredibly soft butter that has been sat at room temperature. This is unsalted and that's so we can control the seasoning that goes in there. We're going to place that into a mixing bowl and then we'll crush in three cloves of garlic before roughly chopping and adding in a small handful of flat leaf parsley. Next we'll add a small handful of chopped chives, a squeeze of lemon juice and then season to taste with salt and black pepper. There was about 10 seeds in that half a lemon that's absolutely crazy. I reckon we've just broke a world record for the most seeds in half a lemon. And then once your garlic butter is nicely mixed it should look something like this. We can then place it into a piping bag and then into the fridge for around 20 minutes just to firm up slightly but we don't want it solid, we want it still pipeable but a little bit firmer than this. Right so that's our butter done and we're going to move on to the important bit, the chicken. We're going to move on to the meat. So I've had a good clean down, obviously I've washed my hands, I've set up my meat board and I've got four chicken breasts because this recipe is for four and by the way I think I forgot to mention how much butter I used, that was 150 grams of butter. So I'm going to place my chicken breast onto my board, the thick side of the chicken breast facing me and then I'm going to take a thin sharp knife, if you've got a boning knife or a filleting knife that's the best job for this. It's got a nice thin blade and we can create a nice pocket inside with it. I'll show you how to do that now. Gently work the knife towards the centre moving it around inside the breast to create as much space as possible. Take your time here because the last thing you want to do is cut through to the outside. We're essentially creating a little pocket that will hold the garlic butter in the middle. Once you've made the pocket take the garlic butter and pipe it deep into the centre of the chicken. Don't overfill it, you want a generous amount of butter but you also need enough room for the chicken to close around it. Once it's filled press the opening firmly together. Once they're filled place the chicken into the freezer for around 20 to 30 minutes. Now we can get everything ready for coating. I've got plain flour, two beaten eggs and breadcrumbs. Season the chicken lightly then coat each breast in the flour making sure you shake off any excess. Dip it completely into the beaten egg then press it firmly into the breadcrumbs. For an extra crispy coating I'm going to repeat the egg and breadcrumbs stage one more time. That second layer gives a much sturdier crust which is exactly what we want when we've got hot garlic butter inside. Once they're completely coated refrigerate the Kievs for another 15 minutes when it hits the hot oil. Now it's time to cook them. Heat your oil to 170 degrees celsius and carefully lower the Kievs in working in batches so you don't overcrowd the pan. They'll need around six to eight minutes turning occasionally until the breadcrumbs are deeply golden brown and the chicken is cooked through. Keeping the oil at the right temperature is important here. Too cool and the coating can become greasy before it has chance to crisp up. Once they're beautifully golden transfer them to a wire rack and let them rest for three to five minutes and don't skip this part. Resting gives the chicken a chance to settle it means we're less likely to lose all that butter the second we cut into it. Before serving check the thickest part of the chicken has reached 74 degrees celsius and now for the best part serve it up with a simple side of your choice and look at that you've got that beautiful crisp coating juicy chicken in the middle and all that garlic and herb butter running out onto the plate. So there you go that's how to make a chicken Kiev and it didn't leak which is great news although I think I could have probably put a bit more butter inside although the flavor is still in there and absolutely delicious. So let's give it another try I've already had a try off camera it's an absolute classic for a reason so good so delicious be brave be braver than me put more butter in and I'll see you in the next video.