some thoughts on fried chicken

[no it's not burned -- i just put a sh*tload of cayenne in the batter]

i've been making a lot of fried chicken lately, because we filled up the deep fryer for a recent catering event (lol). in googling recipes i've noticed there is a lot of drama surrounding the best way to fry chicken, along with a lot of ridiculously complicated recipes and tips. (for example: this insanity). i think most of these fried chicken debates are useless because it's kind of hard to make it taste bad. i do have a few suggestions, though.

first of all, i think brines are a waste of time (and this is coming from a person who used a 20 gallon gatorade dispenser to brine a turkey for two days). as long as you're working with bone in meat and have your temp and time correct, the meat isn't going to be dry. that being said you should definitely soak it in buttermilk! most recipes say 8 hours; sometimes i just let it sit for an hour as the chicken comes to room temp before i fry. (yes, you should let your chicken come to room temp before you fry! makes for more even cooking.) you can still tell a difference. lots of hot sauce in the buttermilk is good, too. (and of course salt and pep).

let it sit on a cooling rack for about ten minutes before you eat it. if you put it on paper towels on a plate, it will get a little soggy. also it's incredibly hot when it first comes out of the fryer so for real don't try to eat it unless you want burned fingers. pictured above are two bone-in thighs, which cook for 15 minutes at 350 degrees if you're using a deep fryer. some people insist that chicken has to be fried in cast iron, which is chill and probably more common since lots of people don't have deep fryers. in this case it will take longer and it will be harder to control the temperature. use a meat thermometer! i actually don't have one but i'm recommending this anyway because the worst thing in the world is going to all this work and waiting 25 minutes between cooking and cooling and then biting into an under cooked piece :(.

in this instance i made potato salad because i had just read this recipe, and it sounded like a good combo. it's red potatoes, which you boil until just cooked (overdo it and they'll be mushy/falling apart once they're dressed). mix together mayonnaise, parsley, dill, mustard, horseradish, and salt and pepper for the dressing, and combine it with the potatoes and finely diced red onions and celery. i like to add boiled eggs, too, though i was out when i made this batch.

here's what you need for the chicken:

neutral oil for frying (something with a high smoke point -- canola, vegetable, peanut)
1 egg, beaten
buttermilk (enough to cover the chicken in a bowl)
hot sauce
cayenne pepper
salt
pepper
flour
a whole chicken, broken down (2 breasts, 2 wings, 2 thighs, 2 legs [my fave])

i know i'm never putting specific quantities in my recipes but that's because i like my chicken HOT and i add a ton of hot sauce and cayenne to the batter (and the buttermilk soak). then i add more hot sauce as i eat it. i like the flour and the buttermilk and the egg to be red. (hah). if that's not your speed, just add a couple dashes to the buttermilk and maybe a tsp of cayenne to the flour. if you like really hot chicken too then you should try this recipe at some point.

an important thing to remember is that you need to season each step of the process to make sure there's a lot of flavor. if you were cooking for a crowd and really wanted to get crazy you could batter something (anything in your kitchen: a carrot, a piece of onion, etc.) and fry it up to test the batter before you cook the whole batch. this is my process: i take a piece of chicken from the buttermilk, coat it in flour, then dip in the egg, then coat in flour again. you could use a paper bag for the flour and shake the chicken around in there as some recipes suggest. i typically just use a plate.

when i don't have buttermilk, i just use egg and flour. if i'm out of eggs, i just use buttermilk and flour. if you don't have flour, fry it anyway. it will still taste awesome. it's fried chicken. there are like a million options in terms of temp and time so google it (are you wondering why you're reading this right now haha). a basic guideline is 350 degrees for 15 minutes, and you can keep the pieces in the oven so they stay warm if you're frying in batches. i recommend frying like pieces together and adjusting your time depending on which part you're cooking.

good luck y'all!