(upbeat music) Welcome back to Arkansas Taste Kitchen where this time we're going to c for you a new phrase that you'll never f I'm joined by Alyssa and Robert.

Give them the phrase.

- Making nutritious delicious.

- Don't you love it, Alyssa?

- I love it.

- See that?

And you're probably saying, okay, how are you going to do it Alyssa, tell them.

- Let's get started with our crispy oven fried chick - Now people watching will go, wait a minute.

I've made oven fried chicken bef What's so different about this?

- Coming behind you into the ove - Well, this is going to be just as cris fried chicken, but without all of that added fa And Chef Robert has some secrets to tell how we're going to get that crispy, crispy outer crust.

- We're going to start start with a hot pan.

So I just put the pan in the ove with a little butter and a littl a little secret.

Butter burns really fast.

Add a little pinch of oil and you slow that down.

You raise the smoking point which slows the burning of the b Now we can move on to everything while that's happening.

And when we put the chicken on t it's already going to be kind of screaming hot.

- Excuse me, but where's the chi - Where it's supposed to be righ - Oh, okay.

- It's in the fridge.

- Sorry, I'm jumping ahead.

- You're jumping ahead just a li - We want to make sure that we a practicing proper safety and san So we want to keep that chicken We don't want to get it to room temperature out on the counter.

- So I've got some all purpose f I've got some cornstarch.

That cornstarch is a secret to add a little crisp to the chicken.

- Doesn't that add problems to the health benefit?

Which is why you're here, Alyssa - No, it doesn't actually.

We are using cornstarch as a way to improve the texture of the ov chicken, but it's not going to change the nutritional value or make it any less healthy.

- Add a little bit of flour.

Some panko breadcrumbs could be more flour.

If you don't have the breadcrumb you can take few slices of bread and toast th in the oven and crumble them up And you've got.

So you could do this with wheat bread and sourdough.

Oh and anything.

One of the secrets for the flavo and make it really southern is a good amount of Cajun seasoning or make it Caj-o - There it is.

- Is that going to make it a lit - Can, depending on how much tra you're going to have cayenne pepper, you can make you paprika and some thyme and some and some onion.

And those are the main ingredien for your own Cajun seasoning.

- While we're putting these ingr in, a reminder that we will have the cost of this meal at the end of the show.

So stay with us and we'll tell y the total cost is on making this of this oven baked chicken.

Baked chicken to begin with is a healthy choice.

- It is.

- Healthier than deep frying.

- I'm having trouble believing t this is staying healthy, though, with all that, you're adding to - We're just doing things that a to improve the texture and the f We're not adding a substantial amount of fat.

We've just got a little bit of b that's going to help with the co and with the flavor.

Two eggs mixed with a little bit That's going to help the breadcr stick to the chicken so we can keep that crunch.

And Chef Hall has this whole pro that is going to make this chick come out just as good.

If not better than fried chicken - My mama would say we're going to dip the chicken in the In the professional world we've created a dredge.

We're going to dredge the chicke And so I'm going to reach for the chicken now.

- That's your ATK challenge, start using the word dredge.

- I'm going to get the pan, which is pretty hot.

- I'm going to stand here and wa and get hungrier.

- I really like what Chef Hall said about making some of your own in It can be really stressful when you're in the kitchen and you realize you don't have s after you started a recipe, but knowing those little tips and tr you can just grab what you have Use things a different way.

- Well, flexibility is one of the themes of this sho So there you go.

- Nice cold chicken for you.

- Cold.

That's where we want it You know, maybe a steak, beef, s you might bring out and let it get to room temperatu Okay.

The difference between bone in c breast and boneless chicken brea is the amount of time that it's to spend in the oven to cook all The meat around the bone is goin a little bit longer in the oven.

- Excuse me, but are you starting the dredging pr What is this?

- We're starting with flour and a little cornstarch that sticks to the chicken.

Now we go into the egg wash egg, and a little bit of milk, could but it's just a little bit to break the egg up.

This egg and flour mixture becomes glue.

And the glue is for the breadcrumbs.

- And now it should be this way every time you do it.

Am I correct in that assumption?

- Let's call it 90% of the time.

There are times that you won't d fully three stages of dredge, but the vast majority of the tim this is it.

And as it bakes, it's going to get crispy.

The skin is going to help with t But one of the things that creat delicious flavor is the fat.

And there's fat in the skin.

And we're going to render.

There's another culinary term.

We're going to melt some of that And that that melted fat is goin its way through all the the muscle fibers in the meat.

And you're going to have somethi juicy while it's crispy on the o - Are you putting skin side down?

- Skin side down.

- And that's because..?

- The recipe said so.

And we follow the recipes, right No, it's going to help with the the fat in the skin rendering.

We might want to come about 7 or and we'll turn it then that fat that is starting t that's going to work its way int - This is a dance that goes on b flavor and health, isn't it?

- It is.

- You've got to know.. - So that we are healthy.

I have to wash after handling ra and all of that.

So I'm going to go over to the w - Okay, well that's super import We want to maintain our safety and sanitation.

And we don't want to contaminate of our surfaces with the chicken - Now you've prepared this befor - I have.

Yes.

- And what's the goal here?

What do we how do we want to fee we eat this oven baked chicken?

Do we want to say to ourselves.

Oh, I feel so much healthier or oh my gosh, that's the best way chicken I've ever tasted.

What do you want?

- Why can't we have both?

Well, we want it to taste good.

If it's not tasting good, we're not going to enjoy it as m - Okay.

- I want to remember.

Thank you.

- So what's your temperature ove Robert?

- 350 degrees.

- For how long is it going to be Robert?

- Well, this is going to take.

So I get asked this question a lot, especially about meat.

Okay, okay.

How long is it going to take?

And my general answer is when it - Well, that helps.

- So it's really hard to say for Bone in versus boneless, white meat versus dark How much skin, how thick the ski How much fat is there?

All of those things go into how long this is going to take.

When it's done.

I have a little trick.

You have a muscle at the base of your thumb, and if you pinch that muscle and your hand is relaxed, that's what rare feels like.

Okay, now we don't want rare chi but we can apply this to anythin that we're cooking.

Fish and pork and beef.

So touch your index finger and the tip of your thumb togeth Feel that muscle?

It's a little bit tighter okay.

That's medium rare.

- Okay.

- Your disgruntled driver highway communication finger is your middle finger.

That's medium.

- Tightened up.

- Now your ring finger.

- Oh.

- Medium well.

- This is cool.

- Your pinky.

It's well done.

- Oh, yeah.

That's different.

- When you get that feel you've reached this degree of do or the protein is cooked all the way through.

And so you don't have to check the temp But if you want security you're checking the temperature.

We want this to be 165 170 degre And then we'll let it rest.

- For the ring finger.

- Yes.

Or better or more for a chicken.

Yeah.

- Pressing a rule of thumb that get with Arkansas Taste Kitchen.

- Rule of thumb.

- That's absolutely.

Did you come up with that?

- I did not, but I'll take credi - You will now.

- So you generally want to cook your darker poultry, so your dark meat chicken, to a higher temperature than your white meat, which is g the breast of the chicken.

You want to make sure that that is done at a higher temperature.

- Which is better health wise?

- The light white meat is going leaner, so it's going to have le still a considerable amount of p The dark meat is going to have m but it's also going to have more and minerals.

So it's okay to ha Definitely depending on what your goals are.

And we're using the dark meat to for a little bit more flavor.

- About how much time would this if it wasn't on television?

- We're going to take about a ha and might go 40 minutes.

Some of that's going to depend o oven, the type of oven that you' the BTUs, how the heat is regula in the oven, lots of little vari but in the window of about 30 to 40 minutes of these, thicker bone in chicke ought to be ready.

- Repeat the goal of Arkansas Taste Kitchen.

- We want you to learn from this and we want you to apply these p and cook one more meal a week than you already do at home.

Cook at home one more meal a week than you ar - Our chicken is not done and we are not done.

We've got something else to offe when we come back after this qui (upbeat music) - As a beginner in the kitchen, measuring ingredients can be inc helpful as you build skills.

Not all measuring cups are meant to be used the sa Dry measuring cups are designed to be filled and leveled.

With a dense ingred like flour, I like to scoop the flour into t and level.

Now, liquid measuring cups allow space to measure accurately at eye level.

You'll use dry cups for flour, s rice, and grains.

You can use liquid cups for thin like water, milk, oil, and broth Measuring spoons are standardize three teaspoons equal one tables Use measuring spoons for salt, s baking powder, oils, and extract It's important to level those to A heaping spoon can make a big d - Previously on Arkansas Taste K Chicken was prepared and put in It is baking now, so we turned to two other items that I think you're gonna absolu beginning with French fries, right guys?

- Got to have French fries with a oven fried chicken, any kind of fried chicken.

- Those look different than the French fries, though, don't they - They are a little different.

We're using a completely differe than what you might normally see for your traditional French fry.

- Sweet potato is a little sweet we're going to make it even mo' again.

We're going to add some paprika right into the bowl of already c You can cut these any thickness, any way you want.

- As long as they are the same.

- As long as they're the same.

If you cut big wedges, they're going to take longer in If you cut little teeny shoe str they're going to not take very l at all.

Okay.

Little garlic.

This is garlic powder.

Stay away from garlic salt, crushed red pepper.

You could use regular black pepp You can omit pepper if you don't - Why would you put pepper on sweet potatoes?

- I'll taste it and see.

Is that what you're telling me h - Yeah.

It's amazing.

It's just amazing.

We're using some canola oil, and I'm just going to toss all of this with this canola oil Canola oil doesn't add any additional flavor.

You know, olive oil is a healthy oil, right?

- Right.

- But you taste it.

- Okay.

- And sometimes you don't want t My approach is when we work toge I'm the voice of the flavor, oka - And now we need the voice of t What's so healthy about that?

- First, we're baking the sweet potato fries, so we're not addin of additional fat when you might traditionally deep fry your frie We're also using sweet potatoes instead of russet potatoes, so they are still starchy.

They're going to be a good source of carbohydrates, but they have a different vitami and mineral profile and they're going to be healthy.

- These are higher in fiber, are - They are higher in fiber.

- At my age, that's important.

- I'm going to do two things.

The fries are going to go in the And now it's time to turn the ch - So you're multitasking, right?

- Multitasking on ATK.

- Arkansas Taste Kitchen.

While you do that I'm going to ask about the Black Eye and what we've got in front of u Alyssa.

- Well, we have to have a salad to make a healthy dish.

Right?

We're doing a new spin on a sala This one does not have any lettu - That's my first observation.

You have no lettuce in front of - It can still be a salad even without the lettuce.

And we are going to fill this black eyed peas salad with a lot of different vegetabl - It is, it is so tough to me, being related to people from War not to just reach in there and g tomato.

I'm fighting it off right now.

- I think that's a good sign.

You know, that they're good for but you know that they also tast So it's going to keep you going back for more.

So no two vegetables have the same nutrition profile.

So we want to get our variety of vegetables.

Each one brings its own flavor and its own texture.

And to make it even more fun we're going to make our own dres - What?

- Yeah.

So we're going to start with that extra virgin olive oil Offers a nice flavor, but it's really going to carry all of the seasonings and spices throughout our salad.

Then for some perkiness, we're going to add red wine vine - Is it expensive to do, to get elements like this?

Red wine vinegar sounds like it'd be expensive.

- It's not.

It's really less than $2 at most grocery stores.

And the great thing about this dressing is you can make as much or as little as you want to.

- And if Alyssa is doing it, you know it's going to be health - We've got some dried oregano and some fresh basil that's goin a little bit of sweetness.

We've got salt and pepper for flavor enhancers, some Dijon This is the key to a good vinaig I think we've got whole grain ac but you can use any type of must - You're going to see when this comes together vinegar and oil don't like each And so not only does the mustard add some flavor, some delicious Mustard is an emulsifier.

So mustard likes the vinegar.

Mustard likes the oil and pulls the two together in th So everybody plays really nice in the sandbox.

They come together.

- Mustard is Switzerland, basica You brings people together, bring them all together, unifyin - It's okay, again, to use whatever mustard you have And you could even put it in a j if you wanted to, or something w Shake it up.

Now for the star of our salad.

That's going to be our black eye - Oh good.

And we're just using canned black eyed peas for this recipe.

You don't even have to cook them They were drained and rinsed, so that's important to get some black eyed peas juice off.

Also a great way to reduce some sodium that you actually eat by And then let's add our variety of vegetables.

Do you want to help me with this - Sure.

- What do you want to start with?

Oh great.

- Dump them all in there at once - Let's go one by one so you can about the different colors.

So we're using red bell pepper.

Green bell pepper.

This is going to be crunchy, but it's going to add a little bit of bitter flavor.

Just very different than the min are yellow.

Just still going to have a little bit of bitterness to it But we're starting to go sweeter on our bell pepper spectrum.

- I'll add the tomato.

You say tomato, I say tomato.

- Sliced in half.

We've got red bell pepper here.

This is going to be your sweetes bell pepper.

And Chef Robert is going to show how to cut an orange bell pepper - We don't need to put the celery in there?

- Drop it in.

- Are you a celery eater?

- I am now.

- So, I have a particular a very specific technique around cutting a bell pepper because what is to you, Craig, the most annoying part of a bell - You know, you got me.

I've never had that thought befo - Seeds.

Those seeds right under here.

Right under this stem.

There's a bulb that has all thes and they go everywhere.

- And so how do you cut it?

- So we're going to take one pie of the wall off of one side.

I'm going to lay this on its sid and I call it unrolling.

We're going to unroll this bell and we take these ribs off at the same time.

You know in stir fries, in other in other cooking these ribs get really slimy.

They don't cook at the same rate this, right?

What we what we typically eat, we can trim this down further so that there's really zero wast But I also have on my knife, on my board, on me.

I have no seeds.

- Wow.

- They stay there.

- How about that?

- And if you put those in your c and your compost is really activ you just might have bell peppers coming out of your compost in th - Great way to use the whole thi - And so I'm pinching the knife ride at the back end, the heel of the knife, the where the blade is, and I'm goin my fingers like a bear claw.

Now, I graduated from the Univer of Central Arkansas, and Alyssa graduated from the University of Central A And at the UCA, we do it like a big bear, right?

So bear claw okay, using my my middle finger, the right where that curve is th joint out.

That's the flat spot that is going to guide my knife.

And I want to get this cut the s as the other.

- And that's going on that salad - This is going right in the sal And I'll do enough just for the going to turn this to its side.

And now I'm going to dice it and I'll have these nice little the same as the other bell peppe - Wonderful.

Your knife looks really sharp.

How often do you sharpen your kn - Before every use.

Every time I go in the kitchen, - I think that finishes out the color spectrum nicely.

All right, so let's.. - Then what do you do?

- We're just going to mix it all So I want to do one more whisk.

And then I'm going to drizzle right on top of the salad.

- Well Robert cut the pepper very poetically and gracefully.

But can he cut it when it comes to the baked chicken, the salad?

We're going to find out when we after a short break.

Do you want me to start stirring (upbeat music) All right, here we go.

It's the moment of reckoning her on Arkansas Taste Kitchen.

If it doesn't get four yummies, Alyssa and Robert get fired.

I, on the other hand, maintain m Comes the chicken as we're getting the chicken and the frie What are we getting from this me What healthy things are we getti - All of my favorite things.

We're getting protein, vitamins and minerals from the chicken.

- Protein arrives now.

- Yes, we have a variety of nutr coming from our black eyed peas We've got complex carbohydrates, We have antioxidants from our ve things like vitamin C, lycopene tomatoes, lots of health promoting benefits from t salad.

Just wait a second.

It's still hot.

All right, let's plate.

- Can you, can I just get as much as I want of that salad?

Or do you have to watch what you spoon up on that like a - So more veggies, the better.

But something to keep in mind.

We do have our black eyed peas i They are going to contain a lot of carbohydrates.

That's not a bad thing, but we do have our sweet potato frie So we want to practice a little of portioning and balance on our So I'll make a plate for you.

- All right.

- This is going to get a nice he - This will show us the correct r we'll get the Alyssa seal of app - Let's go see potato fries next I'm a ketchup dipper.

Even with sweet potato fries.

- Really?

- You have a favorite sauce.

- Oh, no.

That's okay.

Oh, this chicken looks out of th - Beautiful.

We have our five star plating.

- Chef is putting it on top of e Okay.

Oh this is.

But now this normally is taking up more room for prote than you would normally show?

It's a large size.

- But this large size is bone in chicken thigh.

- Okay.

- So the amount of meat that's t it's it's a little bit deceiving because of the bone.

- So allow for the bone in?

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- Don't get all super critical.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- And remember eat what you're h So if it seems a little too big, like too much then save the left - Don't talk with your mouthful.

- Chicken, please.

- Oh, this is wonderful.

I'll tell you right now the fries already got the four y - Yes, and look how colorful thi - All right.

We hate to cut and run, folks, but we got to do a quickie.

Let me try the chicken.

- Plate clean, I'll go ahead and some chicken over here.

- Oh, I need a knife.

- You can hear that crunch.

- I'm ready to eat too.

- There you go.

- Well, we got forks.

We should have gotten a knife.

That's okay.

- You would miss out on that crunch of the chicken.

- Yeah.

It is so crunchy and never went you know, deep fry.

- I'm going to get my hands dirt - Look at how colorful.

- It's the four yummies.

It gets the four yummies.

- And the thumbs up.

- You kept your job.

- One more day.

- This is a tremendous idea.

Thank you for watching.

Remember, if it's affordable, if it's doable, if it's nutritio if it's delicious, it's Arkansas Taste Kitchen.

Yum Additional funding provided by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (upbeat music)