Fried Chicken: Cook-Off 5

[Hector]

Hector . . . That sounds really interesting. Is the chicken breaded or floured? How on earth do you stuff a piece of chicken with parsley butter. Hmm . . . that could lead to all sorts of herby mayhem. 

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I know!

We ussually first fry the whole chicken, stuffed with the parsley butter and and all the skin at each end of the whole chicken is knit togheter with a kitchen-thread so there's no hole in it. Then we fry it and roast it in the very oven at the end. We neither flour it or bread it.

Or we use chickenbreasts which we fill like Chicken Kiev. those we bread.

[ldubois2]

no, they aren't supposed to be links.i've posted the whole recipe.

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Oh . . . Duh!

I just checked with my sister. She doesn't remember getting instructions or recipes from Aunt Minnie, Grandma or our mother. We just recalls that they added the seasoned flour from the paper sack to the more or less drained pan and added milk until it "looked right." She has the same experience as I do. Sometimes it is pretty good, and we don't know why. More often it is just ok. We are now suspecting that this was a ploy to keep the descendants humble.

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This is alot like my great-grandmother's recipe. Milk Gravy: Pour off most of the grease from the skillet, add a chicken bouillon cube or two and pound or mash with a spoon to form a paste. Take some of the flour from the breading and add it with some milk in a mason jar and shake it until the flour dissolved. Pour into the skillet and stir like crazy with a fork, adding additional milk and water combined in the mason jar as the gravy thickened. Cook about 15-20 minutes, taste for salt and pepper. Serve over white rice with some tomatoes sliced and sprinkled with a light coating of sugar, green beans or summer squash and cornbread.

We called her Mamaw....she was 5'9" and commanding in the kitchen and at the dining room table....

[snowangel]

fifi, I called my local butcher, and he will have a small chicken (I said no more than 3-1/4 pounds) on Wednesday. He gets them from an Amish farmer. Sometimes I get them from a coop, and what I really love about those is that most of them have been raised by kids for 4-H projects, and we actually get the name of the raiser on the label!

[fifi]

BA DA BING!

I think snowangel has found the perfect chickens! I am soooooo envious. I gotta find a local butcher. I have a few leads down in Texas City but no winners yet that don't require a 40 mile trip. On my list of things to do when I get retired here is to contact the local schools that have 4-H and FFA programs and see what I can come up with. I think just the quest could be fun.

What are those really young chickens called? Poulets or something like that? I wonder how much those weigh. I also wonder if they have any flavor.

[fou de Bassan]

In Edna Lewis' 'The taste of Country Cooking' , she gives a recipe for Cream Gravy. 4-5 Tablespoons fat from the frying chicken, then add 4 Tablespoons flour and brown it quickly then add sweet cream and simmer properly. Add salt and pepper to taste.

I'm looking forward to this on Friday. Contrary to almost all of the other posters I don't soak the chicken in anything. Just coat it with seasoned flour, let it rest an hour or so then another quick dredge in the flour and straight into the pan of half lard, half oil. I learned this from my great-grandmother and it has served me well. I can't wait to see everyone's photos!

[Jake]

Well, 3 cheers for Brooks' fried chicken recipe -- it was delicious. Moist, flavourful and ohhh that skin.

It was virtually inhaled, there are a couple pieces in the fridge for tomorrow if they make it that long.....and I didn't burn the house down. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it came out, only one piece was slightly darker than we would like. We were frying in cast iron, using peanut oil (that's what was on hand) and no thermometer.

[Marlene]

Jake! No pictures?

[Jake]

Jake!  No pictures?

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I thought about it, honest. I even went looking for the camera (and almost burned the d*^n cornbread) but I believe we left it at BIL's place last weekend. Sorry!!! (Can I steal the pics from your blog and post? )

[Mayhaw Man]

Nice work. I am glad you enjoyed it. It's pretty easy, actually, after you do it a few times. It goes alot faster after you practice a bit.

Well, 3 cheers for Brooks' fried chicken recipe -- it was delicious.  Moist, flavourful and ohhh that skin. 

It was virtually inhaled, there are a couple pieces in the fridge for tomorrow if they make it that long.....and I didn't burn the house down.  I was pleasantly surprised at how well it came out, only one piece was slightly darker than we would like.  We were frying in cast iron, using peanut oil (that's what was on hand) and no thermometer.

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[snowangel]

fifi, the most perfect chickens were the ones of my youth. Those summers on a farm in Nebraska. When my grandmother wanted to fry chicken, we went to a farm, where the 4-H kids (or FFA kids) were raising them for A Project. My grandmother would espy the right chickens (smaller rather than larger), and she and I would chase them down, grab them, wack their heads off and do the thing. But, that was then and this is now. The then involved a party line so you could, with one call, find out just where the best chickens were, who had had a baby, and who was ailing. Now adays, it involves the yellow pages. And will be different than than a quick jaunt on gravel roads in a circa 1957 Chevy pickup to a farm where we'd also probably score some milk (we'd milk it ourselves) and whatever veg the mom didn't want to take care of that day. Was the flour or bacon grease better back then, or is it the memories?

[Mayhaw Man]

Fifi,

I am almost betting that somewhere in Houston, given the various immigrant populations that you can find just about anything you want in the way of live poultry. You might start by checking with some ethnic butcher shops and work from there.

There is also an excellent source here. As a Texan, you are one of the lucky ones (but I am sure that, being a Texan and all, you already know that) who can get some of these birds who have lived a short, happy live home. home on the free range.

In New Orleans, we still have a live poultry market. It's a pretty bizarre place as I don't think many of those yardbirds had ever seen a yard.

Good luck in your search for the perfect pullet.

[edsel]

I don't think I have yet met a Japanese person who has even heard of buttermilk, and of course it isn't exactly something that can be easily imported.

So I make do without, I do the milk and lemon juice thing and find it works for most baked goods but you just can't use it for salad dressings, soups, etc

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You might try getting some buttermilk starter so you can make your own. I ordered some of this a while back but still haven't tried it. I believe that the process is just like making yogurt.

Anyways, I'm sure that the milk-and-lemon-juice wil work fine for marinating the chicken.

[fifi]

Fifi,

I am almost betting that somewhere in Houston, given the various immigrant populations that you can find just about anything you want in the way of live poultry. You might start by checking with some ethnic butcher shops and work from there.

There is also an excellent source here. As a Texan, you are one of the lucky ones (but I am sure that, being a Texan and all, you already know that) who can get some of these birds who have lived a short, happy live home. home on the free range.

In New Orleans, we still have a live poultry market. It's a pretty bizarre place as I don't think many of those yardbirds had ever seen a yard.

Good luck in your search for the perfect pullet.

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Thanks for the link, Brooks. One problem. They don't say where they are! This isn't the first site that I have seen like that. It is like there is something weird going on. Clandestine chicken raising operations? Anyway, the Great Pyrenees dogs are really cool. It is amazing that they don't look at their charges and think . . . lunch.

I may be on to something in Texas City for a Latin market. The Yellow Pages is no help. My sister and I are pretty renowned for being able to find the arcane. It took us all of 30 minutes one time to find a guy a clear plastic cane for his grandma. So, why the problems finding a real freakin' chicken???

Pullet! That is the word I was looking for. Anybody ever cook one?

Anyway, Linda Four Thighs has, guess what, four of those cold air processed thighs awaiting a swim in buttermilk. I will try to capture the strange film that buttermilk forms. Then, onward to scaled down chicken frying. Then I will have to try Brooks' method, if only because I have never heard of it. (But then, that Chicken Pie odyssey, scroll down for pictures, scroll up for the recipe, was pretty spectacular. )

[Marlene]

As far as I can tell, the big difference between Dave and Brooks recipe is the buttermilk/egg wash thing.

In Dave's recipe, marinate in buttermilk, no egg wash before flouring required.

In Brooks' recipe, soak in cold water/baking soda, use an egg wash before flouring.

Maybe I'm missing something else though.

[fifi]

I think you got the differences, Marlene. What I am curious about is what the baking soda does. The buttermilk is acid, the baking soda is basic. I am wondering what's up with that?

[Mayhaw Man]

Don't ask me. I just asked my mom, and she doesn't know-she just does it. And both of the other women involved, my grandmother Lois and her long time housekeeper Dorothy, are long gone from kitchens on this earth.

I somehow always assumed that it somehow helped with flour adherance, but I honestly never spent much time thinking about it. I just eat the stuff.

[fifi]

Hector . . . That sounds really interesting. Is the chicken breaded or floured? How on earth do you stuff a piece of chicken with parsley butter. Hmm . . . that could lead to all sorts of herby mayhem. 

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I know!

We ussually first fry the whole chicken, stuffed with the parsley butter and and all the skin at each end of the whole chicken is knit togheter with a kitchen-thread so there's no hole in it. Then we fry it and roast it in the very oven at the end. We neither flour it or bread it.

Or we use chickenbreasts which we fill like Chicken Kiev. those we bread.

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Wowser! This sounds "akin to" (a Texas or Southern US term) a fried turkey. I am thinking that the next time we fry turkeys that I want to do this with a chicken. Please give us some more details on stuffing with the parsley butter. In the cavity? How much? I am assuming that you mean in the cavity since you sew it up. Hmmm . . . We have a surgeon in our entourage. Finally he can do something useful in the kitchen.

[jhlurie]

Don't forget to include a discussion of that temple to fried chicken, Stroud's. 

Soba

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Ah, but likely only a few of us have been lucky enough to go there and worship.

[slkinsey]

Hmmmm... I'll have to whip up some fried chicken this week. My recipe is something like this:

Marinade the chicken in Red Devil hot sauce in the morning, pour in buttermilk in the evening, fry the next afternoon.

Remove the chicken pieces (usually mostly thighs) from the buttermilk and dredge in a simple mixture of flour, pepper and Old Bay seasoning. The Red Devil has plenty of salt, so additional is usually not needed. Let the dredged pieces sit for at least 30 minutes to adhere the coating to the chicken.

Shallow fry at 350F in bacon fat and lard. Drain on cooling racks. Eat warm but not hot.

[Toliver]

Fifi,

...There is also an excellent source here.

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Thanks for the link, Brooks. One problem. They don't say where they are! This isn't the first site that I have seen like that.

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fifi, this is from their home page (just chop off everything after the main address in the address line):

Located in Northeast Texas, near Greenville

[artisan02]

Hmmmm... I'll have to whip up some fried chicken this week.  My recipe is something like this:

Marinade the chicken in Red Devil hot sauce in the morning, pour in buttermilk in the evening, fry the next afternoon.

Remove the chicken pieces (usually mostly thighs) from the buttermilk and dredge in a simple mixture of flour, pepper and Old Bay seasoning.  The Red Devil has plenty of salt, so additional is usually not needed.  Let the dredged pieces sit for at least 30 minutes to adhere the coating to the chicken.

Shallow fry at 350F in bacon fat and lard.  Drain on cooling racks.  Eat warm but not hot.

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Ohhhhhh..this sounds soooo good! I might have to change mine...

I won't be able to do mine til later in the week, and maybe not even til next week. And I probably won't have pictures. But I will know if I have succeeded in mastering this...

[fifi]

Thanks, Toliver. Boy, is that obscure. And a little out of my chicken shopping range.

I have just recently ponied up for a lifetime membership in Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. I am thinking that will get me an inside track eventually. (What we won't do for a chicken. )

Anyway, chicken thighs are going into the buttermilk now.

[jhlurie]

Hmmmm... I'll have to whip up some fried chicken this week.  My recipe is something like this:

Marinade the chicken in Red Devil hot sauce in the morning, pour in buttermilk in the evening, fry the next afternoon.

Remove the chicken pieces (usually mostly thighs) from the buttermilk and dredge in a simple mixture of flour, pepper and Old Bay seasoning.  The Red Devil has plenty of salt, so additional is usually not needed.  Let the dredged pieces sit for at least 30 minutes to adhere the coating to the chicken.

Shallow fry at 350F in bacon fat and lard.  Drain on cooling racks.  Eat warm but not hot.

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Ohhhhhh..this sounds soooo good! I might have to change mine...

I won't be able to do mine til later in the week, and maybe not even til next week. And I probably won't have pictures. But I will know if I have succeeded in mastering this...

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Face it. Almost ANYTHING cooked in bacon fat will probably rule.

[Hector]

Hector . . . That sounds really interesting. Is the chicken breaded or floured? How on earth do you stuff a piece of chicken with parsley butter. Hmm . . . that could lead to all sorts of herby mayhem. 

←

I know!

We ussually first fry the whole chicken, stuffed with the parsley butter and and all the skin at each end of the whole chicken is knit togheter with a kitchen-thread so there's no hole in it. Then we fry it and roast it in the very oven at the end. We neither flour it or bread it.

Or we use chickenbreasts which we fill like Chicken Kiev. those we bread.

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Wowser! This sounds "akin to" (a Texas or Southern US term) a fried turkey. I am thinking that the next time we fry turkeys that I want to do this with a chicken. Please give us some more details on stuffing with the parsley butter. In the cavity? How much? I am assuming that you mean in the cavity since you sew it up. Hmmm . . . We have a surgeon in our entourage. Finally he can do something useful in the kitchen.

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Hmm. we use ALOT of parsley butter, ain't got no measure because there isn't any. just alot of good parsley ( flat parsley hasn't been famous in sweden for a long time, but just recently it was introduced by middle eastern emigrants).

salt, pepper, and lots of butter! (if somebody wants to add some shallots or garlic to the butter, that's okay) to fill the cavity. We then use thread and needle to sew togheter the birds skin at each end of the cavity.

Then we spice it with salt, white pepper, and some old people even use cinammon which I don't really like along with the chicken. Then you fry it in butter for a long time, and roast it at the end.

But the things you serve the chicken with, is equally inportant.

Boiled fresh new-potatoes and then some boiled green beans and carots (so that they remain solid, please). fresh cucumber which is sliced thinly and pickled in equal parts of salt and sugar (eg. 50 militer each) and 100 ml of apple cider vinegar. + some water. Then toss the cucumber with lots of parsley.

And toss more parsley over the chicken. and over the carrots too (and butter if you want to)!

serve with a cream sauce, made by adding a tabelspoon of flour to the reheated chicken fat, and mix it up, like you make a roux. Add lots of cream, or maybe chicken stock + cream. You can even fry some finely chopped shallots in the roux if you like that, or add white wine to the sauce. Skim the sauce, and season it. Here in sweden, people like to add a few dashes of tasteless colouring soya only for colouring it. We want the sauce brown.

[snowangel]

OK. So, I have a cast iron skillet. I have a splatter screen. I will have a small chicken tomorrow. But, given the splatter factor, and the fact that all of those cast iron chicken friers I see, I wonder why a person wouldn't use a LC dutch oven?