OK, I’m from Alabama, and this method was taught to me by a dear (now departed, sadly) friend of mine from a place in Georgia that was so rural and so poor that she didn’t have an indoor toilet until they moved to the “new house” when her children were little…in the mid 1970s.
You need a cover for your pan.
First, melt your Crisco (or lard) or pour in your pan ONLY enough oil to come halfway up the side of your pan. You won’t need any more than that. Heat the oil up high enough until some water flicked into it makes it sizzle nicely. Not too much, not too little. During the time your oil is heating up, season and flour your chicken “however you want, honey.” Place your chicken in the pan and LEAVE IT ALONE. After 7-10 minutes (or until it’s browned enough but not too brown and definitely NOT burnt,) turn it over (with a turner, NOT piercing it with a fork.) Again, LEAVE IT ALONE for the same amount of time until it’s browned on that other side the same amount as the first side. Then turn your heat down to low, cover the pan, and LEAVE IT ALONE for about 20 minutes. After that, take off the lid and bring the temperature back up and re-crisp if you need it. If you don’t need it, then don’t bother with this last part. Remove the cooked chicken from the pan and let it drain on some paper towels or flattened-out brown paper bags “whatever you got, honey.” And then LEAVE IT ALONE for at least 10 minutes to allow the juices to settle.
If you do this, then you’ll have very moist and very crunchy fully-cooked chicken.
Clothilde, that process sounds exactly like what I described above, but with more precise instructions. It really does work and it really does lead to some juicy chicken that is fried perfectly crispy and not burned.
I add cornstarch to my flour for extra crunch. This is how the Chinese takeout joints in the hood do it, and everyone goes nuts over their friend chicken
I recently tried a recipe from Cook’s Country: double-dipped buttermilk fried chicken, and it’s become a favorite.
Pretty easy, really: Soak cut-up chicken in buttermilk in the fridge for an hour or two, lift out the chicken and let it drain a little, then shake it up in a big paper bag with flour, salt, lots of finely ground black pepper, red pepper, sage, and onion powder, then DIP IT AGAIN in buttermilk and then back to the flour mixture. Then proceed with frying as it just about any of the above recipes.
This recipe produces an extra-thick crunchy coating. Serve with Sam’s Red Hot Sauce on the side.
The chicken turned out pretty good! Since this was an internet-assisted cooking adventure, I took some photos to share. I know, I’m Mr. Excitement, try to stay calm.
The smartest thing I did was to pick up the digital thermometer. In time I think I will get a feel for this, but as it stands I never fry anything at all. Being able to track the temperature before and after adding the chicken was a great crutch for this beginner. Next time I think I’ll try to spice up the flour mixture- heck, there are a number of things I could try next time. Thanks for the help everyone!
I would have sworn pollo al ajillo (garlic chicken) had to be on the Mumper’s blog but I don’t find it.
Needed:
A deep pan (wok works, deep frier no)
Oil (about a small-finger’s width, you’re not trying to drown the chicken)
Salt
Garlic
Fresh peppers. For a first try it is recommended to go with a mild variety, one of the large green kinds often used for salads for example.
A whole chicken, cut up in small bits. Each piece should be about the size of a wing.
Salt the chicken lightly. Add to the hot oil, along with one pepper and one/two garlic cloves per pan-full; the garlic will add more flavor if the cloves are smooshed, but they shouldn’t be so smooshed they fall apart. Turn the different items around so the chicken is cooked completely and more or less uniformly (use tongs or a pair of wooden spoons); move the chicken pieces to the serving tray and replace them as they get done. Replace the garlic and pepper(s) as needed.
It takes a bit of practice and of playing with the fire (slower to cook deeper, higher to make the skin golden) but it’s a hit and very portable, it’s one of my potluck go-to dishes.
Precisely what I was going to recommend. Mine look like this, more or less, and I can pick up and turn a small roast with one set, though two is better. They’re great for handling bacon, too.
Now, as to frying chicken, there’s a bit everyone has left out: that post-chicken-frying oil is great for making a roux, so you can have brown gravy to put over a side dish. Fried chicken is almost invariably accompanied by rice and gravy in my household. Also, leftover fried chicken doesn’t keep or reheat well on its own, but if you put it in the brown gravy, you can reheat it without drying it out.
@JohnT: It was peanut oil. About 12 oz. of the stuff- not sure if that was overdoing it or not, I thought it was going to need to be at least one finger-width deep. A lot of recipes said “don’t fill the pan more than halfway full”, which does seem like overdoing it to me.
@Balance: How do you go about making the roux? Remember, I’m new to this.
Aside: I haven’t fried chicken at home in decades. It’s so messy and time-consuming. Find a place in your town that makes good fried chicken and buy it there. NOT KFC or Church’s or any of the big fast food chains. We have a local restaurant (one location only, locally owned, in business since the '40s) that makes great fried chicken and a BBQ place that does, too.
Same with roast chicken. I don’t think any roast chicken at home tastes anywhere as good as a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.
After you’ve taken the chicken out of the skillet, take about a cup of flour (it should be about equal to the amount of oil you have left) and stir it all up. Don’t stop stirring because that will make lumps. Give it about 5 minutes on a low heat. What you’re doing is cooking the flour taste out of the flour so that it will just be a thickener rather than a paste. Once it’s a lovely dark color, add chicken broth and salt and pepper and stir and you’ll have a tasty gravy.
I doubt seriously that science would support that statement.
A) you can’t really seal out oil. It’s the escaping steam that keeps it from soaking in.
B) Why would lard be better at this than peanut oil?
Granted, I love to fry with lard, but not because of any mystic searing ability that goes above and beyond other oils.
I’ve never had grocery store rotisserie chicken that compares to homemade. The skin is never crispy. I’ve had some good restaurant fried chicken, but I like mine the best, and so does my family.
Thanks for fielding it, Stickler, I wasn’t somewhere that I could post until now.
Preparing a roux is something of an art, so some additional tips are probably in order:
The flour/oil mixture should slump and spread slowly, like cool honey or syrup, if left alone for a few seconds. If it’s runny, it could probably use a little more flour, and if it stays in a lump, it needs more oil. If you’re having trouble balancing it, err on the side of more oil and let it go.
Stir constantly, as Inner Stickler said, making sure to get the layer off the bottom of the skillet. A flat wooden paddle/scraper is great for this, much better than a spoon.
Have your chicken stock (plus a cup of water, in case you need a little more liquid) right next to the stove before you add the flour. You don’t want to have to go get it when you need it.
Roux has a risk:reward factor. The darker the roux, the richer the flavor, but the more likely it is that you will burn it. (I have been known to say that expert roux-making is psychological warfare: you must convince the roux that you’re going to let it burn before adding liquid.) As a newbie, don’t try to go too dark at first–it takes practice. Try to get it to the color of milk chocolate before adding the stock, if you can, but if you start getting too nervous, you can bail a little earlier.
In addition to salt and pepper, a little red pepper and garlic are excellent in brown gravy. Letting it simmer a little brings out the flavor of the seasonings, but it will still be tasty if served immediately.
Serve over a side dish, usually rice or mashed potatoes. (It works over nearly any starchy side–I’ve often had it over biscuits or other breads, fries, and so forth.)
I’ve always found the scissor style tongs to be particularly useless. I tossed my pair. What I use for tongs is something like this: Norpro tongs. I use mine nearly every time I cook. I really need to get a second pair. Just make sure you buy a good quality brand. Don’t buy cheap ones. My mom has a no name brand of tongs and the plastic head is too soft to actually hold the food properly.
The problem with the tongs you have is they are too small and the head is shaped badly.
When I use tongs, I just go for any spring-loaded pair that is all metal. Some are made better than others, but you can find a quality pair just about anywhere.
