Anybody have a good fried chicken recipe?

Well... The way that I do it is to mix an egg or two in a bowl along with some milk.

I rinse then dry boneless skinless breasts and dip them into the egg/milk mixture then season with Lawry's season salt and garlic powder. I like to put a fairly heavy amount of garlic on mine.

Then dip in a bowl of flour and place into a skillet of grease on about med to maybe a med high heat.

I just keep checking the bottom every couple of minutes until it's nice and golden then flip and do the same.

Place on paper towels to soak the grease.

I would "brine the chicken" prior to cooking. Think of what KFC does to chicken. It will make a huge difference. A 1/4 cup of salt to every 2 gallons of water should be plenty. Then just add you favorite secret herbs and spices to add flavor. The salt water will penetrate te meat, season it and make it juicy. Dredge in plain flour, then a buttermilk and water mixture and then back into some seasoned flour. Be careful with the salt . You already added salt to the meat during the brine. 310-315 for 12 to 15 minutes in a deep fryer and it should be perfect. A cast iron dutch oven on the stove works great for this too.

I usually do what nascarchuck does the only tip that I can pass along is... Save the bags that you get fresh veggies in, I put my flour mix(chicken) or corn meal mix(fish). Once I have egged the meat toss it in the bag, you can flip the bag around or just lightly bounce it on the counter. Now you got perfectly breaded meat. Your fingers stay cleaner, and you just toss the batter bag in the trash when you are done.

As far as brining goes, I have always been under the impression that almost all of the chicken that is sold in the stores is already "pumped up" with chemicals to tenderize and whatever else to the meat.

Is brining really necessary to do with chicken? I have never tried it but now my curiosity is up.

May have to try it next time...

Here's a good recipe I learned when I worked at a restaurant while attending college.

Seasonings
~~~ Salt
~~~ Pepper
~~~ Paprika
~~~ Poultry Seasoning
~~~ Onion Powder (not salt)

Other ingredients
~~~ Whole chicken (cut-up)
~~~ Two eggs
~~~ Two or more cups flour
~~~ Milk
~~~ Oil (I use canola)


You can cook the chicken with the skin on or off. (A true southerner leaves the skin on). Salt and pepper (to taste) one side of the chicken. Heavily sprinkle paprika and poultry seasoning. (Chicken can become dark). Lightly sprinkle onion powder.

Put two eggs in medium bowl and beat, add some milk. Mix together. In a separate bowl, place a sifter. In the sifter add flour and some salt and pepper (to taste). Sift flour, mixing salt and pepper. You can hand mix the flour, salt, and pepper afterwards if it did not mix well. You may also need to make more seasoned flour later. It depends upon the size of your chicken.

Take a skillet with high sides. Pour about 1/2 inch of oil in the skillet and heat on medium high. After the oil is hot, you're ready to add the chicken. After cooking a batch or two or chicken, you may find you need to add more oil. If you do, make sure the oil is heated thoroughly before cooking the next batch of chicken.

Take a chicken piece and dredge in the seasoned flour, covering all sides. Then, put it into the egg / milk mixture, coating well. Then, dredge again in the seasoned flour. Place chicken in skillet. Do the other pieces the same way but don't crowd the skillet. Do not throw away any left over flour.

Next is an important part. After you have yoru chicken pieces in the skillet, cover it with a tight lid. Keep a watch while chicken is cooking so that it doesn't splatter over out from under the lid. Cook for several minutes. Check the chicken. You want the chicken to have a nice golden brown color. If it isn't this color, replace the chicken and cover again. After you get the golden brown, turn the chicken over, reduce heat to medium low and cover skillet again. Continue cooking, checking from time to time.

After the other side of the chicken is golden brown, it should be pretty much done. If the crust of the chicken is kind of soggy and you like a crispier crust, remove the lid and turn up to medium high. Turn chicken over and cook a while. You can turn the chicken as much as needed to get both sides to your desired crispiness.

After the chicken is done, here's the best part. Drain the grease through a strainer, keeping the oil. Keep the crispy leftovers. Scrape out the skillet, keeping the crispy leftovers. Return the grease to the skillet and make the gravy. Use the seasoned flour but sift it first. You may need to add more oil or flour as needed. After you have made your gravy, add the crispy leftovers.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do. Let me know if you try it out.

Danny

I brine all my chicken. This is the only way to get the spices in the meat. You could use and injector but it tends to leak our some and the the water tends to keep that spot from cooking up right. Oil can not properly make contact with the meat/flour if water vapor is there. Nascar you are correct that most chicken on the market already has a solution added to it. Go easy with the salt and it will carry the seasonings into the meat. It allows the fibers of the meat to relax and trap the solution within the meat. Brine isn't a tenderizer. I have never bought a tough chicken.

I'll have to give that a try next time

one tip I learned,put just a pinch of baking soda in the egg wash,it makes the flour puff up.I learned this through trial and error on CFS and southern fried chicken.

black iron skillet is a must......

Me and my sister are heading to east texas in november to get some chickens. We are also doing gardens and getting the green house set up. We have pretty much had it with how expensive everything is, all the preservatives and poisonings going on. Time to take matters into our own hands and get back to the basics.

She's got enough space in her backyard, we might even get a cow

wupbass --- How long do you keep the chicken in the brine?

D n T,

I would let it marinate a couple hours to overnight. You could start w 2 TBLS to 1/4 cup depending on your taste and work up if needed. Go Kosher. A lot more forgiving if you overseason. I have also read that buttermilk can be used instead of water. If you marinate longer go less on the salt. You can add sugar and any other spices you want. The sugar brings out some other hidden flavors and balences the mix. Hope this helps.

Abel

The best fried chicken is the simplest. Put about three cups of flour in a plastic bag, add a teaspoon of black pepper, at least a teaspoon of salt. Store the chicken pieces in a bowl of water, and shake them in the above mixture until coated well. Shake the water off each piece before shaking them in the flour or the flour will get pretty gummy before you know it.

Then fry them in preferably a cast iron skillet. Use enough oil in the skillet (canola or of your choice) to only cover about half of each chicken piece - about a half inch of oil is plenty. Put the chicken in when a drop of flour sizzles in the grease. Don't put them in if the grease is too cool or too hot - smoking is too hot. No sizzle is too cool. It takes about 30-45 minutes to thoroughly cook the chicken - turning at least once. Usually takes a good hour to fry a whole chicken as you will have to fry at least two pans full. Your might have to add a little oil in between and gently control the heat.

This is good chicken. Not overly battered and fresh tasting. This is the way the country people cook fried chicken. They don't get into egg batter, butter milk batter, etc. BH.