Why do people who try to make Kentucky fried chicken, fail miserably?

[BAPyessir6]

Yeah, that can happen for sure and has mostly to do with the temp, it needs to sit in an ice bath and the fact that the gluten will strengthen and the starch granules continue to hydrate and the overall viscosity increases making the batter heavier and less lacy. Also the gases produced by sparling water, baking powder etc escape over time which results in a heavier and a pretty flat batter.

You used cooked shrimp, well that's weird. Anyway you can try and keep it really cold in an ice bath or make a few batters on the fly it takes minutes really and you can try to add a little more carbonated water and see if that helps.

45 minutes is a long time to be cooking tempura and the tempura gods are punishing you for abusing the batter like that.

So is it beneficial to put the bowl of batter inside a larger bowl of, say, ice or ice water?

Or just better to make a few batters on the fly?

 

[pictonguy]

So is it beneficial to put the bowl of batter inside a larger bowl of, say, ice or ice water?

Or just better to make a few batters on the fly?

I would probably try and invite less people that made 45 minutes a time requirement.

Yeah sure you can try that or make a new batter, that's something that you'll need to try in order to find a solution. Nothing worse that a chewy tempura.

 

[taxlady]

Yes, more gluten can develop with time. It's called autolysis. It is done intentionally with no-knead breads.

 

[BAPyessir6]

Yes, more gluten can develop with time. It's called autolysis. It is done intentionally with no-knead breads.

Ohhh pffft autolysis! Of course. I remember that from when I made sourdough like 10 times last November. That makes total sense.