JamesG wrote:
Hi All:
I have tried many times to cook fried chicken and have failed every time. Do any of you have a good recipe you can pass on?
Thanks:
James
Here's my process:
Select chicken - Dark meat is better than light meat. It's not even a discussion. It'll stay more moist.
Make sure surface of chicken is prepared chemically - salt and acid. That's a pickle-juice or buttermilk brine, for several hours to overnight.
Ensure chicken won't be raw - remove from brine, and cook low and slow to 150 internal temp. It'll be safe to eat, even if it's not fall-apart tender. It'll also get up to 150 pretty quick when reheated because there's no chemical changes slowing it down when reheating. (that's why leftovers reheat faster than the original cooking).
Fridge
Set up breading station - flour, egg and outside crust. Season the outside crust, be that more flour, panko, cornflakes or whatever. If it's flour, lightly whisk a few tablespoons of the brine in to make lots of little clumps (but not so much whisking that you develop a lot of gluten).
Keep one hand dry, the other wet, to avoid breading your hands.
Take a piece of chicken and put it into the flour, using your dry hand. Put flour on top. Press. Make sure there's no naked chicken. Flour should be stuck ALL OVER. Then pick it up and shake it/pat it to get the excess flour off. Excess flour makes your batter fall off, and you can see Isaac Toups fail to do so in his
video about fried pork chop sandwiches. Chicken goes into the egg using the dry hand, but dont' dunk your hand - use the wet hand to turn it over. Use the wet hand to move the egged chicken into the outside-crust while avoiding dunking the wet hand into it and breading your hand. Use your dry hand to move some of the stuff on top and then press down. Get good coverage. No naked chicken.
There is some debate over whether to let that sit as is and hydrate the flour or not, but you can test it and if you care, and if you do, which you prefer.
If you're using a flour or grits-based outside crust you can also choose to go back to the egg and the crust again to thicken the layer up.
Fry - more oil is better because you won't get as much of a temperature drop when you add the food. I start at 300-ish, and put the food in gently, leaving it along until the outside has set, then flipping it gently to do the same for the other side. Remove from the oil. Get the heat up to closer to 375 or so, and then fry until it looks right.
It comes out okay...