There’s many different styles of fried chicken. Southern styles tend to just be flour, or flour-egg-flour. Personally, I’m a bigger fan of the flour-egg-bread crumb style. It’s crispier, but it’s also the style I grew up with (my parents were Polish, and pan fried pork, chicken, etc., would all follow the flour-egg-bread crumb formula.)
Pulykamel give this a shot. You have a smoker, right?
Cut a chicken into 8 pieces and cold smoke it for 1hr and 15 minutes. Just load up your drip pan with ice and set the smoker as low as it will go.
Drop the still-raw chicken in a mixture of buttermilk, hot sauce, and a few smashed garlic cloves. Let sit for 6-8 hours. Then place the chicken on a rack to drop for about 30 minutes to an hour in the fridge.
Get the oil to 375, Them shake 4 pieces of chicken in well-seasoned flour. Shake off excess flour, then drop in the oil. Oil temp will drop down to below 300, and will never really get above 335-350 after that. 10 minutes per side.
Did this for a dinner party a few months ago, and it was dynamite.
Smoked Fried Chicken.
Labrador Deceiver - I am intrigued by your idea, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter. Seriously, that sounds pretty interesting.
I only do it that way if it’s boneless. I don’t think it’s crispier on bone-in chicken, actually. It usually burns, or soaks up way too much oil.
Well I gotta try that. I like the heavier crumb coat, but that one would go best with just flour. Did you ever try smothering it?
When it’s soaking, it smells way too smoky. You’ll think you messed up. It’s just perfect, and almost subtle when you’re done.
I wasn’t all that great at creating new dishes in the professional kitchen, but that turned out really well.
I love turning fried chicken into étouffée with a really dark roux-based gravy. Paul Prudhomme’s recipe is impossible to beat.
A tomato-tinged light bechamel works okay, too.
Labrador Deceiver, you go away with your anti-eggwash recipe! You go away and you die!
I was wondering about smothering the smoked chicken, and what it would do to the sauce. But then you reminded me of cajun recipes, and I’ve used smoked meat in a lot of dishes that way, and it only improves the sauce.
Well, fried chicken in this country begins and ends with the South. That just isn’t the way it’s done down here, and for good reason. Fried chicken, it just works better with a nice crispy light coating of flour. That’s the only way I really know it to be excellent.
Of course, boneless breasts or a flat cut of veal, or even fried green tomatoes, then I’m all about the 3-step fry.
Just try it our way, and see if you think it’s really missing anything.
Fried Chicken isn’t hard. My grandmother made it for Sunday Dinner every Sunday for much of her life. She made it the Southern way in a deep Iron Skillet. Maybe an inch of hot oil. It should crackle when you put a drop of flour in it.
Always, Always, Always use tongs to place one end of the chicken in the hot oil and then lay it down away from you. That way any hot oil splatter doesn’t hit you.
Otherwise it’s really not hard. 10 minutes for each side is about right. Use a meat thermometer and make sure the meat is at least 160 degrees and it’s done.
For genuine Southern Fired Chicken, make a white gravy using the leftover chicken bits in the skillet. Takes practice to avoid lumps but gosh it tastes good.
One thing you might consider since this is your first time, is to use only chicken breasts instead of the other parts. This means that you can cut the breasts into uniform size and you don’t have to worry about bones (sometimes it’s hard to get the meat around the bone fully cooked without the outside being burnt). Just a thought.
Fried chicken is easy. Start with a soak in buttermilk, salt, and seasonings. This brines the chicken, and the buttermilk does some great things for flavor. You don’t need a lot of oil in the pan; maybe 1/4 inch. Dip the buttermilk coated chicken into seasoned flour, and gently place into 350-365 degree oil, skin side down. Fry until GBD (golden brown and delicious). Flip and repeat. Transfer GBD chicken to a wire rack on a baking sheet and finish in a 400 degree oven until the thighs and legs are 165 degrees.
I strongly suggest a splatter screen for your fry pan to limit mess. Also, 2 tbsp of bacon fat mixed with the oil is a wonderful thing. I use a mixture of canola and vegetable shortening, though most high heat oils work. I stay away from corn oil, though. I personally think it imparts a flavor I don’t want in my frying.
I second this.
Hope you can eventually get your husband to broaden his culinary horizons. A guy who thinks pot pie is Out There is pretty challenged.
Unfortunately Cascade Gas has not seen fit to put a line down this street, so I’m stuck with an electric stove. 
It’s impossible to regulate the cooking temperature. It’s either too hot (usually), or too cool. It doesn’t seem to like to keep the temperature in a narrower range. Consequently, my coating comes out a little too done. I love cooking in cast iron, but I may have to get an electric skillet for fried chicken and beignets and such.
There’s a reason there are so many fried chicken places around. (Besides KFC, we have three, and all grocery store delis have every kind of fried chicken to buy by the pound. Like Chinese food and pizza, it’s sometimes easier leave it to the professionals.) Someday I’d like to try it, though. Coating the chicken with flour and letting it dry on a rack for half an hour is often mentioned in recipes. I’ve coated chicken tenders with flour and seasonings and sauteed in a little oil, and I fried boneless chicken breasts coated with Bisquik. They were SO good!
Not having read others’ techniques, this is what I do: Cut up the chicken, rinse it, and pat it dry. Put it in a zip-top bag with buttermilk (Ick!) for a while. Season the pieces with a mixture of salt, pepper, paprika, and a little cayenne pepper. Lightly coat the pieces with flour. Dip the pieces in a beaten egg. Coat with flour. Fry. Drain on a rack.
The recipe I referred to comes from this cookbook. The authors’ credential are as follows:
I’m sure there are as many techniques in the South as there are cooks, of course. I prefer the oven-fried method, as it’s simple and not nearly as messy as pan frying can be. Anything beats that ghastly KFC product. But honestly, I can’t remember the last time I made fried chicken.
That is not Edna Lewis’ recipe, it’s Scott Peacock’s. I’ve eaten it at both Horseradish Grill and Watershed. His is literally the only recipe I’ve seen like that, and it’s where I got the idea for it. I have about 3 dozen other southern cookbooks that I’m pulling from.
Inspired by this thread, I am now eating a spicy 3-piece from Popeye’s (with a greasy keyboard). Thanks OP!