If you want to learn how to make basic food taste incredible, watch a restaurant cook make himself dinner on his night off.
Jim Stein
Most nights Jim Stein cooks on the line at McCrady's restaurant in Charleston, SC, where he trains under James Beard Award-winning chef Sean Brock (and makes things like Sweetbreads with Appalachian red corn, green garlic, and lovage). But on his day off, when he needs food that's cheap and easy, Stein makes sandwiches. They cost him next to nothing, but thanks to Stein's kitchen smarts, they taste like a million bucks. In a new series for BuzzFeed Food, the cook will share a few of his best sandwiches, including all the next-level tricks that make them so good, starting with this Buffalo Chicken BLT.
Ingredients for 2 sandwiches:
For Buffalo chicken:
6 chicken tenderloins (3 for each sandwich)
3 cups vegetable or canola oil
1.5 cups milk
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons hot sauce
2 cups self-rising flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
For sandwich assembly:
3 slices thick-cut bacon
6 slices American cheese
2 tomatoes
4 leaves lettuce (romaine or iceberg)
1/2 cup hot sauce
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
2 hoagie rolls
Equipment note: It will also help if you have a thermometer to check the temperature of your oil before you start frying. If you don't, here are three ways to check the temp without a thermometer.
Jim Stein
