Fried Chicken

[Jinmyo]

I think I've come upon the perfect fried chicken.

I first gently poach chicken thighs and drum sticks in buttermilk with mire-poix and few crushed ancho chiles. When the meat starts to seperate from the bone, I remove the chicken, pat it dry and chill it.

When I'm ready to fry I heat some Crisco in two deep skillets. Dredge in flour, pass through egg, roll in a panko breading with a bit of corn meal and various spices, salt and pepper.

As the chicken is fully cooked (and much of the fat rendered out) all I have to do is achieve the perfect crust. Which is no problem since I don't have to worry about anything else.

The meat is tender, moist, flavourful.

So what do you do?

[jhlurie]

Are you deep frying or pan frying?  I've become much more fond of pan frying in the past few years.

(edit)

Well I just re-read your message and saw "two deep skillets".  I guess that means pan-fried now doesn't it?

:) :) ;) :) :o

(Edited by jhlurie at 2:46 pm on Jan. 18, 2002)

[Rail Paul]

That sounds like an excellent recipe.

It gives me a sense of how home cooks in the South must have mastered time management to cook 30-40 pieces of chicken, each one perfect...

[Stone]

Quote: from Jinmyo on 8:56 am on Jan. 18, 2002

I think I've come upon the perfect fried chicken.

I first gently poach chicken thighs and drum sticks in buttermilk with mire-poix and few crushed ancho chiles. When the meat starts to seperate from the bone, I remove the chicken, pat it dry and chill it.

Do you think poaching the before, and then letting the chicken marinate overnight in fresh buttermilk would work?

[Jinmyo]

Since the chicken is cooked through poaching, I don't think marinating afterwards would be useful. You could of course marinate in buttermilk first and then poach.

[Stone]

Don't the fast-food places cook their fried chicken in a batter?

[bushey]

I usually opt for pan frying or oven frying. I shy away from deep frying because of the mess involved. And believe me, if I tried it there would be a mess.......

For oven frying I dredge the chicken pieces in seasoned flour and bake at high heat (425) on an oiled sheet pan. Sometimes I dip the chicken pieces in a bit of oil first, then shake with spicy seasoned flour.

For pan frying I dip the chicken in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs and pan fry until crispy brown and finish in the oven at 350 until the chicken is done, about 45 minutes or so. I know this sounds awful, but sometimes I pour a bit of Catalina dressing over the chicken before baking it off and the results are quite delicious.

[SobaAddict70]

Just as there are innumerable recipes for gumbo, there seem to be double that for fried chicken. I've had battered versions and versions without a batter-produced crust. Buttermilk vs. non-buttermilk. Shake-and-bake vs. pan-fried with garlic and oil.

I'm a sucker for punishment, what can I say?

What are your favorite methods for fried chicken?

Down with KFC!!!

SA

[spqr]

Sloppy Joe Chicken

[Stone]

Steak. Chicken fried, that is.

There are some thoughts on Fried Chicken here.

(Although no one answered my question on batter v. non.)

[Ron Johnson]

Part a small frying chicken.

Place parts in buttermilk for at least four hours or overnight in the fridge.

Get a pan, preferably cast iron, half full of equal parts bacon grease and Crisco.

Place over heat, melt the Crisco and bacon fat and maintain at approx. 330 degrees.

Season AP flour aggresively with cracked pepper, paprika, cayenne, and salt.

Dredge parts of chicken in flour, shake off excess.

Place into hot fat.

Turn once, make sure fat is not overflowing, and place lid.

Check after 20 minutes, outside should be very dark golden brown and quite crunchy. Breasts and wings will finish first. If you lost too much heat when adding the chicken, cook for another 10 minutes, or as needed.

After chicken is finished, pour off majority of fat, but leave all bits in the pan.

Add few tablespoons of flour and pat of butter, season with same seasonings as flour for dredging.

Once roux has formed and is still blonde, add whole milk in slow stream, stirring to prevent lumps. Add until you reach preferred consistency.

Serve with mashed potatoes (for the gravy), greens, fried corn, sliced heirloom tomatos, vinegar slaw, and biscuits.

[Suzanne F]

No batter, no buttermilk, just flour:

Cut up the bird into pieces of relatively close size/density.

Brine (I like to add lemon juice and Tabasco to the salt water.).

Season AP flour with salt and pepper. OR a little Old Bay or adobo seasoning instead of s&p. Keep in a sturdy bag.

Heat about an inch of canola oil in a heavy skillet with a cover or Dutch oven -- almost smoking.

A few pieces at a time, shake off extra liquid from chix and dump chix into flour. Shake until well-coated all over. Coat (and cook) the denser pieces first.

Carefully add the chix pieces to the oil. Let cook until light brown. Turn over. Cover.

When second side is nicely browned, uncover and allow to crisp again. Remove to a draining rack in a warming oven.

Repeat with remaining pieces as necessary.

I know I didn't specify temperature or time; I would if I could. But I only measure that sort of thing if I'm "officially" writing a recipe. Anyway, just about any good American cookbook can tell you temperature; and an instant read thermometer will let you know when it's done.

Oh, one other thling: if the residue of flour left in the pan is not burnt, I pour out all the oil and make a milk-and/or-chix-stock gravy. This is especially good if I used Old Bay.

[wawairis]

I don't always do a pre-soak with lemon water or milk, so I guess I consider that optional. I put whatever seasoning I'm going to use (salt, pepper, cayenne, dried oregano, etc.) in a bag with some flour and shake until incorporated. Put a couple of pieces of chix in the bag at a time and shake to coat. You don't want the chicken pieces too floury, just coated.

Preheat a nice heavy cast iron skillet with vegetable oil until hot. Chicken pieces should sizzle when placed in the oil.

Don't crowd the skillet and fry on medium until golden brown. I usually try to do the smaller pieces first.

[wawairis]

Oh and BTW, I never make gravy with fried chicken. I think it ruins the whole dish!

[Ron Johnson]

Oh and BTW, I never make gravy with fried chicken.  I think it ruins the whole dish!

I wonder if that is a regional thing?

We wouldn't think of having fried chicken and mashed potatoes without having made pan gravy to go with the mashers. Just curious, Iris, what part of the country are you from?

[Suzanne F]

Oh and BTW, I never make gravy with fried chicken.  I think it ruins the whole dish!

I wonder if that is a regional thing?

We wouldn't think of having fried chicken and mashed potatoes without having made pan gravy to go with the mashers.

What Ron said. Although if we're having potato salad, then, no -- no gravy. The gravy never goes on the chicken (unless Paul dips when I'm not looking )

[Ron Johnson]

Good point Suzanne. For fried chicken for picnics, we always make potato salad, so no gravy. I guess with this cooler weather, I was just thinking more about fried chicken for Sunday dinner. And, of course, the gravy does NOT go on the chicken. Don't want to ruin that beautiful crust you spent all that time making!

[wawairis]

Oh and BTW, I never make gravy with fried chicken.  I think it ruins the whole dish!

I wonder if that is a regional thing?

We wouldn't think of having fried chicken and mashed potatoes without having made pan gravy to go with the mashers.

What Ron said. Although if we're having potato salad, then, no -- no gravy. The gravy never goes on the chicken (unless Paul dips when I'm not looking )

It could very well be a regional thing. I live in NJ and I guess southern fried chicken is more associated with the southern states. We never had gravy with fried chicken when I was a kid. My father was from NC and would definitely requested it if he thought it was necessary...

[wawairis]

Hehehe! Of course southern fried chicken is associated with southern states. DUH!! Pardon my mistake. What I meant to say is that chicken with gravy seems to be associated with southern states. Personally, I just don't like gravy. I'll only eat turkey and liver gravy, everything else is bleagh IMHO.

I do like a nice reduction tho...

[Wilfrid]

I think it's the mashed potatoes which are the issue. In the UK (I know, it's an American dish), it would be most unusual to eat mashed potatoes with fried chicken, or indeed anything breaded/battered and fried. Fries every time. And you don't want gravy on your fries, do you?

I cook it in a manner similar to that described by Ron, but I add some cornmeal to the flour - it's supposed to give it extra crunch. Is that a waste of time?

[Lyle]

"I cook it in a manner similar to that described by Ron, but I add some cornmeal to the flour - it's supposed to give it extra crunch."

Wilfrid, doesn't the cornmeal add more than extra crunch? I guess what I'm getting at is does it make the crust a bit grainy? I would think it would, but I've never knowingly eaten chicken with cornmeal.

I buttermilk it overnight, season, double dip flour, use vegetable shortning.

[Suzanne F]

...  And you don't want gravy on your fries, do you?

But Wilfrid, what about poutine????

Soba, thanks for starting this thread; great ideas from everybody!

[Lesley C]

Nigella Lawson has a great recipe for fried chicken (first poached in milk) in the Nigella Bites book.

[Shiva]

Alton Brown has done his Fried Chicken homework so you don't have to.

Show transcript

[GordonCooks]

Oh and BTW, I never make gravy with fried chicken.  I think it ruins the whole dish!

Gravy goes with everything - kinda like cheese.