As passionate as I am about cooking, there have always been a few recipes I found too intimidating to attempt. I can classify them into three categories: 1) complicated recipes that are clearly out of my league 2) dishes not worth the time, cost or trouble and or 3) recipes I attempted once and failed so miserably, I never bothered to try again. Homemade southern fried chicken fell into category #3...only I tried and failed twice, wasting lots of time, oil, chicken...and pride in the process. The way I see it, fried chicken has two major hurdles. The first is producing juicy, thoroughly cooked chicken without burning the crust aka the most important aspect of fried chicken. The second is the recipe's difficult timing; how does one manage to serve ALL the chicken hot & crispy if the pieces are fried in several batches for 20+ minutes each?? Refusing to accept defeat, I ransacked the internet until I found a method that not only resolved BOTH aforementioned issues...but its super easy to time and it delivers consistent, delicious results! After a bit of trial-and-error adjustments, this recipe is my version of what I consider to be the absolute BEST way to make homemade, mouth-watering, crispy southern pan-fried chicken. Enjoy!
INGREDIENTS
(6) fresh chicken thighs & (6) drumsticks, bone-in & with skin on
Corn or Vegetable oil (for frying)
(wet marinade)
½ quart buttermilk
¼ cup Franks Red Hot Buffalo Wing sauce (or tobasco, hot sauce, etc.)
(dry mix)
5 cups all purpose flour
2 TBS kosher salt (to taste)
1 TBS cajun seasoning (to taste)
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp ground black pepper
DIRECTIONS
Combine the buttermilk, garlic and pepper sauce in a large bowl or
container. Add the chicken pieces - marinade should just cover your pieces. Cover and set aside for a minimum of 2 hours,
but as much as overnight in the refrigerator.
READY TO COOK
Preheat oven 375 degrees. Heat approximately 1 ½ inches of corn oil in a large deep fry pan or pot
(oil should come up a little more than half way to the thickness of the
chicken). Bring oil to medium high, or approximately 350 degrees.
Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Pull the pieces of chicken out of the
buttermilk one at a time and allow buttermilk to drip off. Place in the
seasoned dry mix one piece at a time and coat thoroughly, shaking off excess dry mix.
Working in batches that your pan size allows, carefully place chicken
pieces into the heated oil, cooking thighs & legs together to insure even
cooking. Do not overcrowd pan – fry in 2-3 batches. Chicken should bubble
vigorously on contact, but should slow down quickly. If you notice crust browning right away, reduce heat. Continue to watch & adjust the temperature as necessary to
maintain even, controllable heat. Fry your chicken for approximately 5-8 minutes per side, flipping once. When the crust is golden brown on both sides, remove and place on layered
paper towels or brown paper bags to drain. Continue cooking additional
batches. *NOTE - Chicken will likely NOT
be cooked all the way through at this point!
Once browning is complete, transfer chicken to a cookie sheet lined with tin foil or onto an oven proof baking
rack. *Tip – If you don’t have a baking
rack, crumple your tin foil a bit to allow for drainage, keeping your chicken
from getting soggy on the contact side. Bake for 12-15 minutes to finish cooking chicken through.
Sprinkle with kosher or flaked sea salt just before
serving.