Yeah, that’s exactly the odor. The first few times I had white pepper, I couldn’t stand it, but after awhile, I grew quite fond of it, especially in Asian cooking.
That’s the version I saw on a FB video scroll, they called it KFC. I’ll never find it again I’m sure. They did the double dip, water, coating, water coating. Pan fried.
Yeah, it was a revelation how crispy cornstarch made the chicken. Whether I dip the chicken into a cornstarch-y batter or roll the chicken around in a dry mix, I’ll always use cornstarch when I deep-fry things.
That sounds like saying that, once I try a homemade hamburger, I’m not going to eat McDonald’s again. I’ve never had any homemade fried chicken that even seemed to be the same dish as the fast food stuff.
So, to me, they are different cravings.
Well, I do brine because that is way better than just rubbing salt on the outside. It seasons all the way through.
But apart from that, I am devoted to simplicity. After the brine, dry it off, dust with flour, toss into the lard. Heaven on earth.
But then, when I eat fried chicken I am seeking the flavor of chicken, especially crispy chicken skin. I don’t understand why people obscure that deliciousness with a bunch of other crap.
Is sauce on fried wings crap? Does butter on toast ‘obscure that deliciousness’ of the bread? Why on Earth do you cloud your perfect chicken experience, the sacrament where you are ‘specifically seeking the flavor of chicken,’ by adding salt to a brine and then further muddle the pure chicken fragrance with adulterants like flour and lard?!?
No, seasoning fried chicken is right and good.
I use cinnamon in my flour, and sometimes throw in a little of Bloemer’s chili powder. I mix all of that into some Kentucky Kernal seasoned flour.
I have one rule. Don’t season the flour. You might as well just throw the seasoning directly in the trash for all the good it does. Season the damn bird.
Also, why pan fry when you can deep fry?
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That’s the old baloney. Season the chicken first, yes. But you’re eating that browned flour on the outside of your fried chicken; not seasoning it would be catastrophic.
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John Egerton, award-winning food writer, in SOUTHERN FOOD: AT HOME, ON THE ROAD, IN HISTORY (1987): “Restaurants deep-fry their chicken. Home cooks pan-fry it.”
I never argue with John Egerton.
If you adequately season the skin, the breading gets seasoned when you dredge. The matrix of the skin, seasoning and the crispy coating all integrate into a single entity when cooked. If your breading is coming off without the skin and without the seasoning from the skin, I think you have an issue with your technique.
Also, (good) restaurant fried chicken in invariably superior to homemade for just the reason you state.
I’ve been converted to dry brining. Not necessarily for fried chicken, since I never make it, but for poultry and pork in general.
reason is that I’ve read a few pieces on sites like Serious Eats where they make the case that while a wet brine legitimately stuffs extra water into a bird or cut of meat, it doesn’t really bring a whole lot of seasoning with it. Dry brining (heavily salting the entire exterior of the bird or cut, then letting sit in the coldest part of the fridge- uncovered- overnight) seems to amp up the flavor of the meat quite a bit without stuffing in a bunch more water which would just get pushed out during cooking. I haven’t dry brined a turkey yet, but it seems to have worked well for chicken, duck, and pork steaks.
Let’s throw that open to the floor, shall we?
(As to your first point…my coating doesn’t come off when I pan-fry. Not sure what you mean by “breading.” Do you roll your chicken in crumbs, you scalawag?)
God no. Just ran out of words to describe the fried result of floured chicken skin. Weird that specific thing doesn’t have a better known name, eh?
My wife was diagnosed Celiac last year so I can’t cook with flour.
She misses deep fried food, so I have been experimenting with the following recipe:
- Nice plump (fresh) chicken breasts from Costco (she doesn’t like dark meat, which blows my mind)
- Marinate in Buttermilk for a few hours
- Put a couple cups of Robin Hood GF Flour in a bowl and add:
- Paprika
- Lawrey’s Seasoned Salt
- Lawrey’s Seasoned Pepper
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
Take the chicken out of the buttermilk, then dredge it in the flour mixture. Then let it sit for 20-45 minutes until the exterior of the chicken turns “pasty”. Then I deep fry in Canola oil (about halfway up the chicken) until golden brown.
I then throw it in the oven (convection at 350) on a cooling rack for 15-20 minutes. I do this because the chicken breasts are so large.
It turns out really good if I do say so myself!
MtM
Huh. I’ve been making it the “Indiana way” for years, but I learned it this way in Georgia. (Technically, I do Zyada’s method of putting the seasonings in the flour.)
In addition to salt, pepper, etc, I also like to mix in a variety of Adam’s Spices and Rubs. The Lopez Family one is excellent, but I really enjoy the Cuban seasoning as well.