Binging with Babish: Fried Chicken Lasagna & The Luther Burger from the Boondocks

ROBERT: "Meet The Luther! ...a half-pound

burger

covered in cheese, five strips of bacon, all sandwiched between..." RILEY: "Two donuts!" ROBERT: "Two Krispy Kreme donuts." HUEY: "Breakfast

lasagna

with sausage, waffles and

fried

chicken

?!" ROBERTO: "Yes." HUEY: "Grandpa, you can't serve this kind of food to people, it will cause... ...death." ANDREW: Hey guys, welcome back to Binging with Babish, where this week we celebrate our constitutional right to eat and do whatever we want, no matter how disgusting. Starting with "breakfast

lasagna

with sausage, waffles and

fried

chicken

." Let's start by making butterflies on two chicken breasts. This means placing cuts across the thickest part of the chicken, opening it like a book, pressing it between two sheets of plastic, and pounding it with a meat mallet (or in this case, a frying pan).

This is how chicken cutlets and/or chicken optimized for lasagna are prepared. Next, we are going to remove the fat from about six chicken thighs and we are also going to place cuts in the center of the thickest part, opening it up and flattening it. Next, two cups of buttermilk, to which we are going to add a few splashes of hot sauce, a good pinch of paprika, garlic powder, onion powder and a few generous tablespoons of kosher salt. After all, this is brine. Whisk to combine and begin layering the chicken in a stainless steel bowl, adding a little soaked buttermilk between every few layers to ensure even coverage, giving the whole thing a good scrub at the end, covering it with plastic wrap and refrigerating for a minimum of four hours (and preferably overnight).

This will be a very good and useful fried chicken recipe, until the point where we put it in a casserole with every breakfast food imaginable, starting with: waffles. We're going to make cornbread waffles, so equal parts cornmeal and white flour, a good pinch of salt, a few teaspoons of baking soda... (I'm improvising this recipe, so check the website to see one that you can actually follow.) Separate one egg yolk from one egg white and beat the egg white until stiff peaks form. This is a great way to help make waffles lighter and fluffier, which is especially necessary when making corn waffles.

Combine ¼ cup buttermilk and melted butter with egg yolk, add to dry ingredients, mix and add more buttermilk as needed. (Again, visit the website for a written copy of this recipe.) Mix until you have a thick paste, add the beaten egg whites and fold slowly so as not to deflate that lovely fluffy substance. Make an inevitable mess in your kitchen by spraying your hot waffle iron with nonstick spray, add about ¾ cup of batter to your preheated waffle iron, and remove it once it's golden and fluffy. Let cool on a rack while we prepare to fry our chicken.

Prepare a dipping station with four beaten eggs and about two cups of flour along with 2 teaspoons of baking powder and baking soda. This will help the breading to fry more airily. Use a fork to mix everything together and begin heating equal parts vegetable and peanut oil to 375°F. Once the optimal temperature is reached, dip the chicken first in flour, then in an egg, and then again in flour and the oil. Fry for six to nine minutes or until the outside is golden brown and crispy and the inside registers 175°F in the thighs and 165°F in the breasts.

And it's just as uncomfortable for me to say the word "breasts" as it is for you to hear it. Drain on a wire rack, and in case you're worried it's starting to get too healthy, it's time to make some sausage gravy. Brown 1 pound plain pork sausage over medium-high heat until golden brown and crispy. Add 3-4 tablespoons all-purpose flour, sauté for 3-4 minutes or until every molecule of flour is coated in fat. and little by little pour a little whole milk. Stir constantly, making sure to scrape all the good stuff from the bottom of the pot. You know how much I like affection.

And then we're going to season this with a lot of freshly ground pepper. A lot of fresh soil... like a lot of freshly ground pepper. I like it a lot. Stir and cook over medium-low heat until thick and delicious. Taste for seasoning. It's perfect, that means it's time to assemble our lasagna. Butter or otherwise lubricate a large casserole dish and begin layering the dark meat, first the fried chicken topped with some sausage gravy, some freshly grated cheddar cheese, a layer of waffles, our layer of white meat chicken (if it fits) or really in any order you want;

This thing is pretty free-form. I'll also add some scrambled eggs to make this breakfast as perfect as possible, topping it with a final layer of waffles and a little more grated cheese and placing it in a 375°F oven for 15 to 20 minutes. or until everything is bubbly and melted. Cut yourself a generous slice, make sure you get a little bit of everything in your corner, cut out of American excess and unbridled gluttony, and of course drown it all in a little maple syrup. This wouldn't be breakfast if it weren't for the maple syrup; otherwise this is dinner.

We don't want to mix things up here. Now, as you may have guessed, this is just one of the many examples on the show of "something too good." While I may have enjoyed my first three or four bites, I felt like I was going to die by the time I got halfway through the plate, so let's move on to something a little more sensible. How about the Luther

burger

? It is supposed to have been the creation of Mr. Luther Vandross himself. That starts with five strips of bacon. Cook the bacon however you want, but make sure to save the fat because what else are we going to cook the burger in?

Reserve the bacon on a paper towel-lined plate and drop the 1-pound beef patty into a puddle of steaming bacon grease. Cook 5 to 7 minutes per side, season with salt and pepper halfway through, and top with cheese, at least two slices for a burger this size. Cover for the last few minutes of cooking to ensure the cheese melts and it's time to plate. Unfortunately, this is supposed to be on two Krispy Kreme donuts, which are very hard to get in New York State, so unfortunately I'm going to have to... SEAN: Did someone say Krispy Kreme donuts? ANDREW: Oh guys, look!

It's Sean Evans from First We Feast and he has Krispy Kremes. Perfect. I'll go ahead and grab two of these here. Try placing this giant beef burger on top of one of them and then top with our five strips of bacon. I have a funny feeling they won't be able to finish this myself, so thank goodness Sean is here. Top with a second Krispy Kreme and it's time to get started. Split it in half, say hello to a friend, and it's time for first impressions. I honestly thought this wasn't that bad, it was like carnival food.

SEAN: I was 100% sure it was going to be gross. That's not disgusting. ANDREW: Happy 4th of July everyone. May freedom rain on you like grease on my table.