Every Fourth of July I have the same craving for homemade fried chicken. I have attempted it many times over the years, and never quite got to the crispy, golden, fingerlickin' goodness that I was envisioning. Most always some disaster befalls...either the batter gets too clumpy, it falls off in the oil or burns too quick. Many attempts ended in an over-browned outside and pink, uncooked inside.
I am here to tell you in 2010, there was no fried chicken disaster this time. Southern fried gold was finally mine, thanks to my own mashup of best practices from two recipes. I credit the brine technique to Tyler Florence's recipe and the oven baking technique to Ina Garten.
Mashup Recipe: Perfect Fried Chicken
3 pounds chicken (about 16 thighs and/or drumsticks)
1 quart buttermilk
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons smoked paprika
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt for breading
2 tablespoons table salt for brine
zest of one lemon
3 cups vegetable oil
First put the chicken in a large bowl and cover over with about two quarts plus an inch of cold water and two tablespoons salt. Wrap the bowl with plastic and let the chicken soak in the refrigerator anywhere from two hours to overnight.
Now here comes the messy part. Set aside two shallow roasting pans. Fill the first one with buttermilk (you may end up needing more than a quart) and fill the second with the flour, paprika, pepper, kosher salt and lemon zest. Mix the dry ingredients together thoroughly. Turn each piece of chicken over in the buttermilk, then the dry ingredients, then again in the buttermilk, then once more in the dry ingredients. Your hands will be covered in batter rather quickly!
Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet. You can test if it is hot enough by flicking a tiny bit of water into the oil, which should sizzle immediately. While the oil warms up, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking trays with aluminum foil.
Frying time! Carefully fry the chicken in batches of four at a time for about three minutes on each side. Make sure they do not touch and watch carefully for the batter will crisp to a light blond color. Place the chicken on the baking sheets in a single layer, then pop into to oven to finish cooking for 30 to 40 minutes.
Golden fried chicken is now yours. Serve with lemons, barbeque sauce and tabasco.
