My First Fried Chicken!

[sattie]

TONIGHT.... I am going to cook fried chicken. I am excited, and a bit nervous cuz I want it to turn out good. I have never fixed fried chicken before and here lately we have been seeing alot of fried chicken recipes on the tube and it has piqued our intrest. I found a buttermilk recipe that I am trying :
http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/002033buttermilk_fried_chicken.php

The only thing is that when I put the chicken out, I did not realize it was all legs! Oh well... I like chicken legs!!!

So any advice for me to make sure I don't mess this up??? I am trying to decide which pan to use, I have a SS that I have only used once, and a cast iron that I feel more comfortable with. I am leaning towards CI... hmmm decisions decisions!!!

 

[Alix]

Sattie, whatever pan you choose, make sure you have a splatter guard. And I like to finish my fried chicken in the oven on a rack so that some of the oil drips off.

 

[sattie]

Sattie, whatever pan you choose, make sure you have a splatter guard. And I like to finish my fried chicken in the oven on a rack so that some of the oil drips off.

Thanks Alix... I was going to use a rack to drain. So I guess this is messy stove night???

 

[Alix]

Oh ya baby! Very very messy!

Are you going to set the rack in the oven to keep the chicky warm while it finishes?

Oh, and just an FYI, I toss a few dried chiles in my buttermilk marinade and I tell you, it is a subtle taste, but a real winner.

 

[Souffle]

Wow, Alix, that buttermilk chicken with the chiles sounds divine!

Sattie, let us know how yours turned out.

Good luck

 

[Constance]

Sattie, when you're draining your chicken, be sure you don't stack it. If you do, the top layer will drain down onto the layer underneath, and make it greasy.
I've never used the buttermilk method...I'm a flour/egg/flour person...but I'm sure it will be delicious!

 

[sattie]

Here is a Pic

I took a pic of the chicken as it was frying.... turns out I have a bit to learn about frying chicken. It was pretty good, but here is where I need to improve.

The coating was a bit flavour-less. Needed more salt or something.

I must of had the heat a tad to high because the coating was somewhat burned. Maybe time for me to get a themometer to help me keep the heat grease around 350.

A bit greasy.... I drained it on a broiler pan... I did not stack the chicken. Is there a certain amount of time that it needs to drain? I think I left mine drain for about 5 minutes. I used peanut oil.

 

[Alix]

sattie, I usually do about 1 cup of flour and 1 tsp of salt as a coating. I forgot to mention the trick of letting the chicken sit after you bread it. For some reason if you're supposed to let it sit for about 15 minutes before you fry it. To set the coating? I marinate my chicken in buttermilk with some chile flakes and some salt for about 3 hours.

To finish them, I put them on racks in the oven over cookie sheets and it seems to drip off a big pile of fat. Oh, and I use canola.

The pix look great. I can't wait to hear about your next experiment.

 

[sattie]

Alix, thanks for the reply. I am definately going to try this again. Plus you have imparted some good tips to try next time around.

I think that is the best thing about cooking... you can always keep trying until you have perfected it!!!