Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Fried Chicken

Oh man, this did not turn out well.  Well, I didn't think it was that good, but Todd seemed to think it was okay.  Let's start from the beginning.

Ingredients
1 quart of buttermilk or milk
2 Tablespoons Tabasco
1 3-4 pound chicken, cut into 8 pieces (or 2 chicken breasts cut in half like we did.  Advice, pick a cut with a bone in it.)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 cups peanut oil, vegetable oil, bacon fat, or lard.

Directions
1. In a 9x13 pan, combine milk and hot sauce.
2. Soak your chicken at lease 10 minutes.  We did it overnight.
3. In a plastic bag, combine flour, salt, and peppers.
4. Shake chicken in flour in shifts and shake off excess flour.
5. In a cast iron skillet (or dutch oven since that is all we have), heat 2 inches of oil.
    -Test oil by tossing in a popcorn kernel.  When it pops, it's hot enough.
6. Turn the heat down to medium and fry chicken, leaving 1/2 inch between pieces.  Fry in shifts if you have to.  Leave it undisturbed for 15 minutes, lowering the heat to prevent excessive browning.  Turn the pieces and cook another 15-20 minutes.
7. Remove from oil and drain on rack.  Place in 200 degree oven to keep warm.

Looks okay with the potatoes and green beans, but...meh.

We used 2 chicken breasts cut in half.  Don't do this.  Buy chicken breasts with bones in or other cuts.  Also, this is not spicy, despite the presence of Tabasco and Cayenne pepper. Add more of either if you want it to be spicy.  Lastly, I forgot to turn the oil down for the first side of my first 2 pieces.  They were what she describe as "excessively brown" and tasted like charcoal.  But my second two pieces turned out better.

Overall, it was a let down for my first frying experience and my apartment smelled like butt.  However, maybe my new knowledge will be put to use for a special Christmas morning donut or something.  And maybe, once I recover from the burnt taste, I will try this again.

5 comments:

Oma Penny said...

Never have company if your apartment "smells like butt." Seems like our ancestors could fry a mean chicken, but for some reason it's hard for us in the
21st century.

Faye said...

That's the adventure in trying new recipes. You don't know if it will turn out. If you knew ahead of time it wouldn't be an adventure. But the picture still makes me hungry.

Corrie said...

Speaking from experience, Christmas donuts SEEM like a good idea, but they are not. Better to do a Christmas coffeecake or something that goes in the oven.

Yes, frying is stinky business.

And how much lard melts down to 2 inches in a skillet? Gross.

Joy said...

in 37 years of marriage i have probably made fried chicken twice. i can't get over eating something that uses that much oil. and i agree with making the house "smell like butt". that is why i rarely make bacon. too much grease splatter, too much stink. i make uncle tommie fry fish out in the garage! we just bought a new grill with a burner on the side. i may never fry anything in the house again.

Only Human said...

I tried this recipe and it worked out great. I just had to manipulate the heat to keep it from burning. Start out on high heat, and once it gets crispy, turn it down to low. Turn it back up to high right before you flip it. I used a whole chicken cut up.

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