Chicken Skin Salad with Cabbage & Apples
Crispy, crunchy, salty, and spicy, this salad is more guilty pleasure than virtue.
Equipment
- Saucepan
- Baking sheets, 2-3
- Silicone mat or Parchment
- Cutting board
- Chef's knife
- Mixing bowl
Ingredients
Chicken skins
- 1 pound chicken skin
- 3 cups water
Cabbage Salad
- 4 small apples
- 1/2 cup coconut oil divided
- 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon spicy coconut vinegar or thin hot sauce, to taste
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 small head cabbage, red or green thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup walnuts
- 1/2 each large winter radish or 4 small salad radishes, julienned
- 1/2" bundle cilantro thinly sliced, including stems
Instructions
Cook chicken skins
- Combine chicken skin & water in saucepan. Bring to a simmer, drain and repeat with fresh water. Cover with a parchment cartouche. Simmer for 30-60 minutes until tender and evenly cooked. Remove cartouche.
- Preheat oven to 300 ˚F. Simmer skins until water is nearly evaporated and drain off fat. Transfer skins to parchment or silicone-lined baking sheet and bake for about an hour, until thoroughly cooked and crispy. Feel free to test regularly, but make sure to allow skins to cool before tasting.
Assemble salad
- Preheat oven to 375˚F. Quarter apples and remove cores. Melt coconut oil and toss 1 tablespoon with apples, and a generous pinch of salt. Roast until thoroughly cooked and brown around the edges (some varieties brown better than others) and slice when cool enough to handle.
- Whisk together remaining coconut oil, vinegar, honey, hot sauce or coconut vinegar, and salt. Add cabbage and toss. Let rest at least 1 hour, and no more than 4 before serving.
- Toast walnuts for 5-7 minutes, cool, and chop.
- Toss together apples, cabbage, walnuts, cilantro and dressed cabbage. Top with chicken skins and serve.
Notes
How to make a cartouche.
Spicy coconut vinegar