I’m willing to give lard a shot. I draw the line at Crisco- I’m no saint, but no hydrogenated oils in The Temple. I figure if you’re going to eat fried chicken, resisting lard for peanut oil is kind of splitting hairs.
I only used peanut oil because the recipe said so, and I thought it would be better than olive. Left to my own devices I would have gone with sesame or grapeseed oil. Anyway, it did lend a peanut-y flavor which both the gf and I liked, and was especially welcome since I didn’t manage to season my chicken very much.
I will definitely have to attempt the roux. I’ll make an extra-large batch next time and soak it in gravy as leftovers. My gf is resistant to lard, but I bet if I offered her gravy-soaked cous cous on the side she’d acquiesce.
I coulda swore I had a set of the big scissor-style tongs, but now I don’t know where the hell they went! I’ll have to get some new ones.
Sesame, no way. It is a delicate oil, used for flavouring already cooked food. Don’t heat it; it has a low smoke point, and the flavour compounds disintegrate with high heat.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard about peanut oil being healthier, necessarily, but its choice is popular for deep frying because of its high smoke point (around 450F) compared to other fats. I have no idea why lard would be a better choice in terms of “sear[ing] nearly instantly” as it has a lower smoke point (generally around 375F-400F) than peanut oil. The main reason I like lard is for the flavor. But I find peanut oil better as a general purpose deep frying oil (if it only weren’t so expensive.)
More often than not, though, I just use whatever cheap vegetable oil I have lying around.
All right, I am going to try to apply what I’ve learned and fry some more chicken. This time it is going to be drumsticks and thighs, hopefully spicier than last time, with a side of mashed potatoes slathered in roux.
I was prepared to give lard a shot, but when I looked at the ingredients, sure enough, it contains hydrogenated oils. Basically, it is hydrogenated oils, so no passing these lips for lard. Someone else said Crisco has changed and makes a tasty chicken, but it turns out it is hydrogenated as well. So to heck with that too; I will be using peanut oil again.
This thread has taught me, “Fry chicken and the world fries with you.” Everybody has a suggestion for fried chicken if you bring it up. One I’ll be trying tonight is to use Panko bread crumbs instead of flour. If you have any suggestions about how best to do that, well it is go time in just a little while, need answer fast!
Gravy, yes, I have the chicken broth and flour set and ready to go.
I may not understand fully the distinction between partially and fully hydrogenated oils, but the label for the lard mentioned both, and for Crisco it was simply ‘hydrogenated’. Someone else can buy 'em.
Right, Crisco eliminated partially hydrogenated oils from its product a few years ago. They totally reformulated it and it isn’t the evil product some seem to think it is.
If you want lard that contains no partially hydrogenated oils, grab some from your closest Mexican market. That stuff is absolute gold.
I might just do that-next week. I have to do this 4 times, since the recipe calls for 7 cups of buttermilk but I have to buy them in 4-cup containers. Otherwise, I’ll waste a cup (or two or three) of buttermilk.
If you use ziplock bags, you can use a very, very small amount of buttermilk. Then place the bags in a bowl so they don’t leak in your fridge. I use a mixture of buttermilk, hot sauce, and smashed garlic cloves. Probably a total of 3 cups per chicken, maybe less.
