Fried Chicken: Cook-Off 5

[Marlene]

If I were smart, I wouldn't show a photo. My husband even suggested I make a Popeye's run and take a picture of theirs and try to pass it off as mine. Anyway, here's a picture of some chicken tenders, which were soaked in buttermilk for a couple of hours, dredged in flour, then set out to dry while I fried chicken thighs in a combination of Crisco and bacon fat. The thighs had been marinated in hot sauce, but I did not dredge them in flour. I was trying to make a delicious low carb fried chicken, like Popeye's Naked Chicken. I guess it's low carb, but it's not delicious. Where I think I went wrong was in the oil temperature. Too hot. The thighs got dark too soon and I ended up taking them out of the fat sooner than I wanted to and finishing them off in the oven. The chicken was edible, but not delicious. I didn't eat any of the chicken tenders, but my son said they were good. He wasn't jumping up doing a happy dance about them, but then he's 17 and doesn't do happy dances about food, anyway.

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I don't know Patti. I can comment on the taste, but it sure looks good. And I like my chicken dark and crispy like that!

[fifi]

I have to agree with Marlene. That thigh looks pretty tasty.

[mizducky]

Mizducky, sounds like you are in business. My sister has an old Magnalite pan that has deeper than normal straight sides and I think she calls it a chicken fryer. Putting a lid on when cooking the first side is optional, though it does help to get it cooked through if you have big pieces. When I have wanted to do this, I just used a lid that fit my skillet "close enough."

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I've always heard pots of those dimensions referred to as chicken fryers.  I figured that's what they were for.  Mine, a garage-sale special and properly seasoned, is heating up the fat right now.  On the way home tonight I debated using the old family heirloom steel pot (slightly larger but same dimensions) that Mom used until she got an electric skillet, or this chicken fryer.  The fryer needed cleaning anyway, so it's the choice.

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Thanks, folks. I need all the reassurance I can get.

Somewhere else in this thread, people were also talking about how suprisingly hard it was to find fried chicken recipes in their cookbooks. I was running into this problem too--I would have bet cash money that my old 1975 edition of Joy of Cooking would have had one, but nope, for perhaps the first time the Rombauer ladies totally failed me. This lovely big Kwanzaa cookbook I own, my go-to book for lots of African American culinary classics, surprised me also by containing no old-fashioned fried chicken recipe.

But--hurrah! I just laid my hands on my copy of Pam Anderson's "The Perfect Recipe," and it does tackle fried chicken, with typical Cook's Illustrated-style thoroughness. Anderson opts for shallow frying in shortening; soaking the chicken from 2 to 24 hours in buttermilk seasoned with just a bit of salt and pepper; a light dredge of all-purpose flour, again seasoned just with a little salt and pepper; and loosely covering the skillet for the first half of the frying period. She says she uses a cookie sheet as a lid, so I guess I'm good to go with using my cheapo universal lid on my fryer.

[helenjp]

Sooo...how much salt for a 24-hour buttermilk marinade???? (Or a mix of yogurt and soured milk, most likely). Recipes I have range from 1/4 tsp salt to 1 tsp salt per cup buttermilk>

Edited March 16, 2005 by helenjp (log)

[Chris Amirault]

Sooo...how much salt for a 24-hour buttermilk marinade???? (Or a mix of yogurt and soured milk, most likely). Recipes I have range from 1/4 tsp salt to 1 tsp salt per cup buttermilk> 

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I'd go lighter on the salt if it's 24 hours -- especially if you've brined it -- so 1/4 tsp?

[fifi]

Martha calls for 1/4 cup kosher salt for 6 cups of buttermilk. There is also 1/3 cup of Tabasco in there and I don't know how much that adds.

[Susan in FL]

Patti, I think you would love Russ's fried chicken thighs that I mentioned in this thread (and multiple times in the Dinner! thread ). I've never had the Popeye's naked chicken that you were trying to duplicate, but I intend to try it after hearing your reviews of it! We like chicken prepared this way #1 because it tastes delicious and #2 to save calories (not carbs in particular). It feels funny to describe this preparation in a discussion about real fried chicken like this one, but here's what Russ does. He generously salts and peppers both sides, and places the chicken thighs, skin side down, in a cold pan, this Farberware non-stick pan. Then he turns the heat to one click higher than medium, puts the splatter screen thingie on it, and sits down with a glass of wine and watches some Fox News on TV. Then maybe ten to fifteen minutes later -- I tried to nail him down to a more definate time, but he didn't know -- when they are cooked a little more than half way through, he turns them and cooks them for a few more minutes until done.

Starting them in the cold non-stick pan, they never stick. He always gets crispy skin, "with no added fat" LOL, that is juicy on the inside. The better the chicken is, the tastier it is of course. Once in a while we brine for this, but not routinely. We used to like Perdue best when we lived in Delaware, but can rarely find it down here. This isn't a real good picture, but it's the only one I could find.

[NulloModo]

You think?

Low carb fried chicken is not only wrong, but it's just wrong to even think about.

There are so many problems in the world, culinary and otherwise. Why waste time and energy on this one. Some things just aren't meant to be.

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Ah, I'm taking this one as a direct challenge. Coming up sometime this week or early next: Low-Carb Fried Chicken, Three (or more ) ways.

Patti -

The Popeye's strips are deep fried, and all breast meat, so that might be one reason they seem different... also, who knows what the heck they use in their spice rub. I will say though that the Naked Chicken pieces they used to have were worlds better, and a much better value, than the Naked Strips they serve now, which are just dinky and overpriced.

I don't tend to go for the naked approach myself very often though, at least not with chicken. I might try when I do my other pieces though just to see what I can come up with.

I have had the most luck with parmesan crusts for making something that looks a lot like regular chicken strips, and while the taste is very good, and great for chicken parm, it isn't really southern style.

Using pork-rind flour can be good as long as the chicken is to be eaten immediately after cooking. Something about the crispy pork coating doesn't do to tell after overnight refridgeration, and gets gummy if you sauce it, so it is best for chicken which well be eaten 'dry'.

I have heard some very good things about using ground almond meal as a breading. I haven't tried it yet, but I do have some almond meal, so I might give it a go.

Finally, I still have a little less than half a box of CarbQuick left, so I might try to do some fried chicken with that. I used to to make a very successfull Roux for the gumbo cookoff, but it cooked up in 3 minutes instead of 30, so I'm wondering if it might burn if I try to pan fry the chicken with it... I guess there will be only one way to find out, and honestly, the stuff seems to cook at the same rate as regular flour in most other situations. The other thing about the CQ is that it contains some baking powder or soda in it, as it is pretty much a LC Bisquick Product, I suppose this means I might want to soak my chicken parts, dredge them, then let them sit to allow the leavening agents to wear off a bit so the batter doesn't explode off from the chicken, as it did when I tried to do some deep fried chicken livers coated in a batter made from the stuff.

As for which parts of the chicken, hmm. I'd have a whole 4 lb bird in the freezer, but that is destined for a date with the smoker, and I have no intentions of actually butchering it to get it into pieces. I have a couple packages of leg-thigh quarters that have been taking up space forever, so those might work. I always tend to buy leg-thigh quarters when they go on sale because they look like such a good deal, but I always forget I don't care for legs at all, and that thighs are barely passable. What I really need to do is go to the grocery store and find some breasts with the skin still on, if I can manage that I will be good to go.

[Akiko]

If I were smart, I wouldn't show a photo. My husband even suggested I make a Popeye's run and take a picture of theirs and try to pass it off as mine. Anyway, here's a picture of some chicken tenders, which were soaked in buttermilk for a couple of hours, dredged in flour, then set out to dry while I fried chicken thighs in a combination of Crisco and bacon fat. The thighs had been marinated in hot sauce, but I did not dredge them in flour. I was trying to make a delicious low carb fried chicken, like Popeye's Naked Chicken. I guess it's low carb, but it's not delicious. Where I think I went wrong was in the oil temperature. Too hot. The thighs got dark too soon and I ended up taking them out of the fat sooner than I wanted to and finishing them off in the oven. The chicken was edible, but not delicious. I didn't eat any of the chicken tenders, but my son said they were good. He wasn't jumping up doing a happy dance about them, but then he's 17 and doesn't do happy dances about food, anyway.

Patti, that looks pretty good to me too. What was it you didn't like? Was the skin crisp? What temp did you fry them at? Is it the meat itself that you had a problem with?

I posted a "chinese" version of fried chicken earlier in the thread. There is no breading but it is crisp and flavorful all the way through. I think the trick is you lightly poach (similar to Jinmyo's version on her "perfect fried chicken" thread. I did just an asian broth but I'd bet the buttermilk version that Jin uses would be great. Then leave air drying in the fridge over night (or two) to completely dry the skin.

Its then pan fried or deep fried at a very high temp but only until you see the skin turn golden.

Crisp skin, succulent meat. You can season it with sea salt and cayenne mix or roasted chili powder and sea salt, I'll bet it'd be delicious. I like the asian versions with szechuan peppercorns and salt or a dressing of black vinegar, ginger, green onions, sesame oil.

[patti]

Patti, I think you would love Russ's fried chicken thighs that I mentioned in this thread (and multiple times in the Dinner! thread  ).  I've never had the Popeye's naked chicken that you were trying to duplicate, but I intend to try it after hearing your reviews of it!  We like chicken prepared this way #1 because it tastes delicious and #2 to save calories (not carbs in particular).  It feels funny to describe this preparation in a discussion about real fried chicken like this one, but here's what Russ does.  He generously salts and peppers both sides, and places the chicken thighs, skin side down, in a cold pan, this Farberware non-stick pan.  Then he turns the heat to one click higher than medium, puts the splatter screen thingie on it, and sits down with a glass of wine and watches some Fox News on TV.  Then maybe ten to fifteen minutes later -- I tried to nail him down to a more definate time, but he didn't know -- when they are cooked a little more than half way through, he turns them and cooks them for a few more minutes until done.

Starting them in the cold non-stick pan, they never stick.  He always gets crispy skin, "with no added fat" LOL, that is juicy on the inside.  The better the chicken is, the tastier it is of course.  Once in a while we brine for this, but not routinely.  We used to like Perdue best when we lived in Delaware, but can rarely find it down here.  This isn't a real good picture, but it's the only one I could find.

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Mmmwwwaaaa! I love you, Susan! Thanks so much for those tips!

Ah, I'm taking this one as a direct challenge.  Coming up sometime this week or early next: Low-Carb Fried Chicken, Three (or more ) ways.

Patti -

The Popeye's strips are deep fried, and all breast meat, so that might be one reason they seem different... also, who knows what the heck they use in their spice rub.  I will say though that the Naked Chicken pieces they used to have were worlds better, and a much better value, than the Naked Strips they serve now, which are just dinky and overpriced. 

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Nullo, I look forward to seeing your results!

I wasn't trying to duplicate Popeye's strips. I don't care for them nearly as much as the whole pieces (which are still available here). The strips in my picture were battered and fried, which is what my son prefers, while the thighs, bone in and skin on, were not battered.

For snowangel, I finally tasted a bit of a chicken strip when I was putting everything away last night. I really, really liked the flavor, which was almost sweet, and very nicely seasoned. I seasoned the tenders with Tony Chachere's before adding the buttermilk, and I also lightly seasoned the flour in which I dredged them.

Patti, that looks pretty good to me too.  What was it you didn't like?  Was the skin crisp?  What temp did you fry them at?  Is it the meat itself that you had a problem with?

I posted a "chinese" version of fried chicken earlier in the thread.  There is no breading but it is crisp and flavorful all the way through.  I think the trick is you lightly poach (similar to Jinmyo's version on her "perfect fried chicken" thread.  I did just an asian broth but I'd bet the buttermilk version that Jin uses would be great.  Then leave air drying in the fridge over night (or two) to completely dry the skin. 

Its then pan fried or deep fried at a very high temp but only until you see the skin turn golden.

Crisp skin, succulent meat.  You can season it with sea salt and cayenne mix or roasted chili powder and sea salt, I'll bet it'd be delicious.  I like the asian versions with szechuan peppercorns and salt or a dressing of black vinegar, ginger, green onions, sesame oil.

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Honestly, I was so disappointed by how dark the skin got before the thighs were fully cooked that I just couldn't enjoy it. I put it in the oven to finish cooking, and by the time I ate a piece, I felt defeated. There was nothing wrong with the flavor of the chicken, but the skin was not even very crispy anymore, or as flavorful as it should've been.

The thermometer I was trying to use is a candy thermometer and it was clumsy to try and hold it in the oil to get a measurement. It took it a long while to rise to 350, by which time the oil started smoking. It could've very well been higher than 350, but I didn't hold the thermometer any longer as I needed to turn the oil down a bit. Oh, I don't want to talk about it anymore. I screwed it up.

I need a thermometer that reads the temp faster! (Yeah, that's the ticket. It's the thermometer's fault.)

Akiko, your method sounds lovely. I will try it in the future, but not this week. Thanks.

[Marlene]

Don't be discouraged Patti! I've got cooking disasters plastered all over the site, and really, I don't think yours was a disaster, it just wasn't what you were expecting.

[Mayhaw Man]

You think?

Low carb fried chicken is not only wrong, but it's just wrong to even think about.

There are so many problems in the world, culinary and otherwise. Why waste time and energy on this one. Some things just aren't meant to be.

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Ah, I'm taking this one as a direct challenge. Coming up sometime this week or early next: Low-Carb Fried Chicken, Three (or more ) ways.

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Yeah? Whatever. I stand by my premise that some things just aren't right, and that's the way that it is.

I am sure that there are other opinions out there. It's just that I think they are wrong and I am right.

[slkinsey]

One crucial thing about frying chicken is working with your ingredients and oil temperature so the outside isn't too dark before the inside is cooked through. An oil temperature of 350 seems to work best for me. Where I've come into trouble isiwh the ingredients in my coating. For a while there I was trying to make a fried chicken coating that included either cornflake crumbs or cornmeal. This always turned out way too dark. Eventually I came to understand that corn is simply too high in sugar, and this is what was making the coating too dark. Patti, your thigh was probably too dark because of the hot sauce for similar reasons. If you had put a coating of flour on the outside, you probably wouldn't have had that problem.

[slkinsey]

Yeah? Whatever. I stand by my premise that some things just aren't right, and that's the way that it is.

I am sure that there are other opinions out there. It's just that I think they are wrong and I am right.     

I wonder if there's some way to make okra-crusted fried chicken... Use maybe 50% dried okra flour.

Just a thought.

[NulloModo]

Yeah? Whatever. I stand by my premise that some things just aren't right, and that's the way that it is.

I am sure that there are other opinions out there. It's just that I think they are wrong and I am right.     

I wonder if there's some way to make okra-crusted fried chicken... Use maybe 50% dried okra flour.

Just a thought.

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That actually sounds like it could be really good. Do you think Okra pods would dry out such that they could be ground into a flour? If I had a food dehydrator to play around with I would totally try to make that work...

[Mayhaw Man]

Yeah? Whatever. I stand by my premise that some things just aren't right, and that's the way that it is.

I am sure that there are other opinions out there. It's just that I think they are wrong and I am right.     

I wonder if there's some way to make okra-crusted fried chicken... Use maybe 50% dried okra flour.

Just a thought.

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This is the kind of thing that my fledgling organization (I am the only member, so far-contact me for membership info and address to forward your nominal membership fees) The Okra Lovers Society, would be willing to support in terms of research. It's forward, open minded thinking like yours that is, daily, making this world a better place to live. We, here at the OLS, salute you and wish you the best in your future experiments in the growing field of Okra usage.

[mizducky]

Sooo...how much salt for a 24-hour buttermilk marinade???? (Or a mix of yogurt and soured milk, most likely). Recipes I have range from 1/4 tsp salt to 1 tsp salt per cup buttermilk> 

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Uh, yeah, it would have been helpful if I'd posted exact amounts, huh? For a whole chicken cut into 9 or 10 pieces, Anderson winds up recommending a soak of 1.5 cups buttermilk seasoned with 1 tblsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper. She says to soak the chicken, refrigerated, for a minimum of two hours and as long as 24--and if you're planning to soak it longer than 8 hours, to reduce the salt to 2 tsp.

She also puts 2 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper into 2 cups AP flour to coat the chicken. (Doesn't say anything specific about how long to rest the coated chicken, by the way, just to put them on a wire rack "until you are ready to fry".)

About the salt aspect of her experiments, she says: "I started off with smaller amounts of salt but discovered that the soaking liquid, much like boiling water for pasta, must be seasoned generously for the chicken to absorb the salt. And because only a portion of seasoned flour clings to the chicken parts, it's just as important that it's heavily seasoned as well."

[snowangel]

What do I do with the grease? Strain and save or pitch?

[fifi]

I usually strain it and save it in a coffee can in the back of the fridge.

[NulloModo]

So today after work I had to swing by the supermarket to pick up a corned beef brisket and some cabbages to toss into crockpot tomorrow. Unfortunately there is no killer sale on corned beef yet, so I took advantage of the buy one get one free, and ended up getting two point cuts for about $4 each, not too bad, but I should be able to pick them up for around $2 a point this weekend after they have surplus stock to deal with I figure, not that this has anything to do with fried chicken, so onto the point:

I wanted to pick up some skin on breasts to experiment with for dinner tonight, but those were priced sky high, so I went for some skinless breast tenders instead, which at $2 a lb, were very reasonable.

Since I had no time for a buttermilk brine, I decided to test out a couple methods I have used before, just to refresh myself. Method 1 was egg wash then grated parmesan, method 2 was egg wash and powdered pork rinds, method 3 was egg wash and a dry rub. All three types of strips went straight into the deep fryer to cook.

Notes:

The parmesan crust, as I remembered, gives by far the best looking crust on the strips, and has tons of flavor. I also tossed some italian seasonings into the grated parm (the stuff in the green can works perfectly for this, no need to splurge for the good stuff). I made up some spicey marinara for a dipping sauce for these, a lot like eating, well, chicken parm and fried chicken altogether, a great way to do chicken fingers for a change whether you are low-carbing or not.

The pork rind method can be hit or miss. This time I used some Herr's Spicey Smoked rinds for the power. Powdering pork rinds is messy business, if I'd been thinking ahead I would've swung by the Philipino grocery and picked up some Tito Al's Pork Rind Flour, which is very convenient stuff, but, this was spur of the moment. They provide a nice crispy crust, and there isn't really a pork flavor in the finished product, but the spices in these rinds did give almost a hint of BBQ taste. These were good with the BBQ dipping sauce I whipped up, but also good solo.

Finally, for the naked strips. The egg-wash helps the spices stick much better, and gives almost a faux-crust to the strips. I didn't make a custom blend this time, just used the big jar of 'Chicken Rub' that came with the cookshack smoker. These had a taste very similar to the Popey's NAked Strips, but being done fresh really helps them out a lot. I'm thinking I might try to egg-wash my buffalo wings in the future before I toss them in, just for a little more crispyness.

Tomorrow night is the corned beef, and this weekend I have a special guest staying over, and frying up chicken, while fun, is not the world's most romantic activity, so I may defer the CarbQuick and buttermilk test until next Monday or Tuesday, I will report back when I do.

[Marlene]

I don't know. If your special guest was into cooking, I'd think frying up chicken could become very romantic.

I've got my chicken brining right now in water, lemon juice tobassco and kosher salt. They'll go into the buttermilk before I go to bed. I picked up a 3 lb chicken that my butcher very kindly cut up for me.

[fifi]

OK . . . Here goes with fifi’s first try in a long time and on a strange stove. The final result is very good but not without problems. I will be frank about those.

I am using the Martha Stewart recipe, scaled down in part. I did leave out the cayenne because Aunt Minnie didn’t do that. I am doing four thighs that are this new brand that claims to be air chilled and not contain extra water or any baddies.

I scaled down the buttermilk soak by 1/3. I still had ample buttermilk. I left it in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

I think I see the first problem. I did not buy my usual brand of buttermilk (Borden’s®) and I think that was a mistake. The “store brand” was available in a 1 pint bottle so I bought that since I have little use for leftover buttermilk. I should have noticed that it is not nearly as thick as my usual. I can see now that the clingy film has not formed as thick as usual. Hmmm . . . Oh well, must press onward.

I did not reduce the amount of flour from the recipe. You need enough flour in the bag to be able to toss around that piece of chicken. You put one piece in the bag at a time so that the coating is even and not knocked about by other pieces of chicken. I think the tossing around also kind of “pounds” the flour into the buttermilk film and it is different than dredging in a bowl. You might notice that I can’t get near flour without it going everywhere. Paper bags also tend to leak a bit between the bottom folds so it is a good idea to do this over the sink.

Now we are ready to go. The fry pan has almost an inch of grease in it. I used two cups of the new Crisco® and about a half cup of bacon grease. The pan is on my big electric burner. I am pretty sure that the thermometer is correct because I have used it to make candy and that went well.

First problem . . . Martha says to bring the grease to 375 degrees F. Well, by 350 it was starting to smoke and that bothered me a lot. So in we go.

My intuition on the temperature was right on. This is frying at a rate that looks right to me. Any hotter and it may have popped around all over the place. And so now the fight begins. Did I ever mention that I hate conventional electric ranges? On my wimpy builders’ grade gas cook top, I could manipulate my temperature at will. This was a bitch. I staged putting the thighs in so that I didn’t get too much of a temperature drop. It still dropped more than I would like and I had to turn it up again, and then . . . Well, you get the picture. It is called lack of responsiveness and control.

Normally I cook for 10 to 12 minutes per side, while keeping my frying temperature at around 325.

Second problem that is not easy to get around. This is the result of a chicken too big. I am guessing that these thighs came from about a four pound bird but they were the smallest I could find. The crust is darker than I like but, going by internal temperature on the instant read, this is what you are going to get.

One other tip from Aunt Minnie . . . If you remember, thighs and breasts have what I call the “presentation side” where you have an even covering of skin. Aunt Minnie would put that side down last. She said that by doing that, the steam coming up from the still cooking chicken doesn’t mess up your crisp skin. I have never done a side by side but it makes sense so I do it.

Back to the temperatures again . . . Martha says to cook to an internal temperature of 170. No Way! I shoot for 155 to 160. I have done it “by the book” before and had dry, over done chicken. Besides, on pieces this size the crust would be charcoal.

Final assessment . . . the chicken is very good. I tried to get a picture of the juicy meat but it didn’t show up or the flash washed it out (no sun today) and it just didn’t work. The salt level is just about what I like. That may be a little salty for some folks. I am disappointed with the crust. I knew it would come out too dark because of the size of the pieces. It is certainly shatteringly crisp. But it isn’t as thick as I like and it didn’t adhere as well as usual. I am going to blame the buttermilk. The Borden’s® is noticeably thicker.

[snowangel]

Like fifi, I did it tonight, including using the same recipe. I did not document as well, with photos, as she did, but, I had soaked it in buttermilk, kosher salt and some Choloula (sp?) the night before. By the way, this was a 3 lb. chicken, raised by a 4-H (or maybe an FFA kid; her name was Megan). I, like fifi, used the full amount of flour, except I did not use a full-size grocery bag. I used the kind that holds two bottles of liquor ( ), and let it set on the cooling rack. Then, I got to putting the Crisco and bacon grease (I was about a 2/3 to 1/3 split) in my new cast iron skillet over a medium heat. I would have started things off faster, but I was also busy with other things):

So, I missed photoing the frying part. I had one whole chicken, cut up by me (1 minute, 30 seconds it took). I cut the breast halves each in half, and used the back (all kinds of nooks and crannies for good crunch stuff), cut in half. Please note that my chicken was a mutant which contained 2 livers and 2 hearts. I did not use the gizzard. I did not marinate the organ meat in the buttermilk, merely floured it.

So, here is the finished product.

I mentioned cream or milk gravy to my folks last night, and they all went "yuck." Heidi has been having some trouble, so I opted for her favorite, potato salad. This may be southern fried chicken, but up here, it's picnic food, and a picnic screams for potato salad:

It's Heidi's favorite version. Red potatos, hard cooked eggs, shallots and celery (both minced fine) and with a dressing of mayo, miracle whip (no comments, please), yellow mayo and some white wine vinegar.

I didn't go by Martha's recommendation on temp, but by Brooks, so put it in at 350. Although the chicken had been sitting out for a bit, the temp drop was noticable, so I put the lid on for a few minutes before removing and going the splatter screen route. I started with "presentation" side down. I was worried it was browning too quickly, but it didn't burn, nor did it taste burnt. It took two batches. Legs, thighs and one half of the back in the first go-round. Breast pieces, wings and other back half in the second go round. I think Martha's times are also off. I turned the first batch at 11 minutes and moved it to the oven 10 minutes later. The livers and hearts went in about 2-3 minutes before I took off the last batch.

Some other comments:

I opened up by paper bags that were lining the sheet pan because I wondered what the ink of the face up side (advertising the boat show) would do to the chicken and whether it was toxic or not.

Like I said, Martha's times and temps were off. But, the crust and skin were shatteringly good. Chicken was moist and tender.

Yes, the shaking part is messy. I used one hand for wet and one for dry. Still, there was some of that wet flour goo on the counter. Clean it up quickly, or it is like glue.

Even with a splatter screen there is a lot of grease on the counter and stove front. Peter asked if I would pay him to clean it up. Most certainly, young man. A buck well spent.

I did light a candle in the kitchen, which I think really helps with the smell, even though my crappy exhaust fan (on the list of replacement items) was full on.

Wear clothes you don't care about. I have flour goo and grease splatters on my painting sweatshirt. Do not do this naked. I can only imagine.

In retrospect, I was not as attentive as I should have been, partly because Heidi has really taken a turn for the worse (seizures) and I spent part of that time on the phone with the neuro. I need to know my stove better, and pay a little more attention to temp. And, I should really have pulled out the instant read meat thermometer before I started, but I couldn't find it when I needed it (but found it a few minutes later.

Would I make this again? Absolutely. Dinner was yummy, and I have great leftovers for lunch tomorrow (or dinner tomorrow night). I will report tomorrow on how this is eaten straight out of the fridge.

Edited to add: Peter and Diana know now there is a serious penalty for picking off the crunchy bits on pieces they don't intend to eat.

Edited March 17, 2005 by snowangel (log)

[snowangel]

Need to add that if you are doing a whole chicken, by all means do the back. All kinds of nooks and crannies for good stuff. I think it's easier to do the back if you wack it in back through a couple of the vertebrae.

[peanutgirl]

Chicken marinating in buttermilk & " secret spices". We like dark meat so it's mostly thighs & a few drum sticks for the kids.

Will post results tomorrow .