There are maybe thousands of restaurant brands that already have become a household name. Not only international food brands like McDonald's, KFC, and many others, but most localities have their own restaurant that everyone knows. It feels like a tradition or a part of everyday life, in fact, most of their locations now become a landmark for those who try to go in a particular area and you need some easily recognizable place for you to begin with.
In the Philippines, we have this restaurant brand that stood above in taste and quality compared to the chicken meal popular fast foods are offering. Max's Restaurant builds its name due to its famous fried chicken recipe. Even its tagline say so, "The House that Fried Chicken Built". It doesn't;t need further explanation that their banner product or recipe is fried chicken.
When it comes to fried chicken taste and quality Max's chicken is a league of its own. It stands the taste of time, it was established since 1945 and people in the Philippines continue to patronize their products even it is a little bit pricey than its McDonald's fried chicken counterpart.
Here is a picture of one of the very first restaurant branch back in the 40's:
And even these days, there are lots of branches in the malls and even in prime commercial areas. You can small branches of this restaurant in almost all major malls in the country.
Here is one of a commercial photo of the fried chicken that made this restaurant.
And would it be nice that you can make this recipe in the comfort of your home? A lot of recipes from branded food outlets are now available online. I decided to try one on my own, I, of course, did not build from scratch but use what's available online and then tweak a little to better fit on the available ingredients I have.
The cooking process involves marinading,. then poaching, and finally frying. The ingredients and process are simple but to get the best result you need to have time for its perfect preparation.
So here is what I got:
1 whole chicken (cut into 4 parts) 2 leg quarters and the breast parts.
Cooking oil for frying.
Marinade ingredients:
8 tablespoon fish sauce
5 tablespoons Philippine Lime (calamansi) or you can use Lemon if you do not have calamansi
Poaching liquid
5 cloves garlic
1 pc. quartered onion
3 pcs. bay leaves
Cracked black pepper
1 tablespoon salt
about 6 cups Water (just enough to submerge all chicken)
Dipping Sauce:
3 tbsp. Banana Ketchup
2 tbsp. Old English Worcestershire Sauce
1 tbsp. Hot Sauce
Max's usually has fried sweet potato as a side dish, for convenience and because my kids like it I use a potato chips barbecue flavor which you can just buy in a pack at a local grocery store.
Marinade chicken and let it stay overnight. If you're out of time make it at least 3 hours for best-tasting chicken.
After the marinade, we cook the chicken in a boiling pot with the poaching liquid in it. Boil the poaching liquid first for at least 3 minutes before putting in your chicken. Boil the chicken in medium fire for about 12 to 15 minutes. Do not overcook.
After boiling, you take out the chicken in a separate dish and let it cool at room temperature. It is important to let the moisture dry out first so that it would be crispier when you fry it. Let it cool for about 1 to 2 hours.
Then finally, fry the chicken, make sure that all sides turn into golden brown Put in the potato chips on the side. Prepare your dipping sauce by mixing the 3 ingredients of your dipping sauce in a separate small dish. Serve hot. Enjoy!
