Dang Good Southern Fried Chicken Food

THE BEST SOUTHERN FRIED CHICKEN (+VIDEO)

Steps:

• Place the chicken in a large bowl. Sprinkle on top of the chicken: 2 tsp salt, garlic powder, and onion powder then toss to coat the chicken in the spices.
• Add the buttermilk and hot sauce to bowl, stir until everything is combined. Cover with plastic wrap and let marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours, but it's best if you can let it sit overnight.
• In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, 2 tsp salt, paprika and black pepper. Set aside.
• Fill up a deep fryer (deep cast iron skillet or dutch oven) with peanut oil (or neutral frying oil of your choice) and preheat to 350°F.
• Taking the chicken pieces one at a time, let the excess buttermilk drip off. Coat in the flour mixture, make sure the chicken is well coated. Shake off any excess. Set the chicken aside and let it sit for a few minutes until the coating starts to look a little pasty.
• Carefully add the piece of chicken to the deep fryer and continue with the next piece. Don't add more than three or four pieces at at time. You will need to fry in batches so you do not overcrowd the fryer. Fry until golden brown, turning every few minutes.
• Chicken is done when golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 165°F. Depending on the size of the chicken, dark meat can take about 12-14 minutes and white meat takes 8-10 minutes (these are estimates - use a meat thermometer for accurate doneness)
• When the chicken is done frying, place it on a paper towel lined sheet tray and immediately sprinkle a little flaked salt on top. Continue with the rest of the chicken pieces.

DANG GOOD SOUTHERN FRIED CHICKEN

Steps:

• 1. Rinse and pat dry chicken pieces and place in a deep bowl. Cover with buttermilk and hot sauce, and refrigerate at least 2 hours or best overnight. (*Buttermilk tenderizes chicken.) Heat oil or melt shortening in a cast iron skillet to a depth of about 1 inch or so. Heat to about 370º. (No thermometer needed, really. It'll get hot enough while chicken rests AFTER coating if you have your flame on about medium.) If it starts to smoke, turn it down immediately a bit. In a doubled brown paper lunch sack, mix together all of the dry ingredients.
• 2. (Shake to mix.) Remove chicken from bowl. Lightly season with a little bit more seasoning salt and pepper. Place chicken in bag, one piece at a time. Shake well until thoroughly coated. Shake off excess. Dip each piece in beaten eggs and coat with flour once again. Shake off excess, place on waxed paper for 15 minutes or until dry. Place chicken, skin/pretty side down, in hot oil or shortening. Do not crowd skillet. Use 2 if needed. Brown until golden on bottom side. When chicken pieces are golden on one side, turn pieces over, cover with tight fitting lid, and reduce heat to a simmer, turning chicken pieces occaisionally, for 35 to 40 minutes or until juices run clear and chicken is tender. *When lid is placed on, and heat is reduced to a good simmer, the good side of pieces are now the top sides. After about 10 minutes, turn back to skin-side down. After another 10 minutes or so, turn back to skin-side up for the last 10-15 minutes.) Uncover and cook 5 minutes longer for "crispy on the outside" crust. Remove at once, skipping this step, if a softer outside is preferred. My grandma and great aunts always drained their fried chicken on brown paper grocery bags. This seems to work best for me, too. Paper towels work "ok", but it made my chicken soggy on the bottom once when I tried it. *If doubling or making alot of chicken, or just wanting to keep it warm til the rest of your side dishes are done and ready to serve, place chicken on brown paper bag-lined cookie sheet in very low oven.
• 3. *GREAT cold, too!
• 4. To make chicken fingers: Use 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips about a 1/2-3/4 " thick. I skipped the buttermilk and hot sauce part, and dipped them into the flour mixture first, then into 1 egg beaten with about a half of a cup of half and half cream and a little hot sauce. Then back into the flour mixture. Worked out PERFECTLY. I lightly browned them in hot oil on one side, turned them, then put a lid on them. I then only cooked them for 8 minutes. I removed the lid, turned them and cooked them another minute. Drained them on brown paper bags. YUM! Best fingers ever!
• 5. *One extra tip: Don't ever turn chicken by piercing with a fork, all the juices will run out and the meat will be dry. Always use tongs and have a sharp spatula handy to get underneath just in case a little bit wants to stick. You don't want to lose that good breading! :)

SOUTHERN FRIED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Put the chicken in a bowl and pour over the milk. Tip the flour and spices into a large plastic bag and add a large pinch of salt and a good grinding of pepper.
• Heat half the oil in a large frying pan. Take half of the chicken out of the milk, shake off any excess and put in the bag of seasoned flour. Hold the top closed and shake well. Lift the pieces out and shake off any excess, but don't do this too hard or you'll end up with no coating. Lower the pieces into the oil and fry on each side until golden and crisp - don't overdo it as the chicken is being baked next and will brown further. Use tongs to turn the chicken and try not to tear the coating. Transfer to a rack set in a roasting tin. Repeat with the rest of the chicken.
• Bake for 30 mins until cooked - check one drumstick and one thigh with a skewer - cook for longer if you need to.

SOUTHERN FRIED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Heat peanut oil in a large deep pot to 350°F (do not fill more than half full--you don't want a hot-oil spill-over accident!).
• For sauce mixture: in a medium-sized bowl, beat the eggs with the water.
• Add hot sauce and whisk together well.
• Pour this mixture into a large plastic zip-top bag.
• For seasoning mixture: In a small bowl, combine 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper and 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder.
• For dredging mixture: In a another bowl, mix flour, baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
• Rinse and pat dry chicken pieces with a paper towel.
• Cut breast pieces in half across ribs.
• Sprinkle chicken generously on both sides with seasoning blend.
• Drop a few chicken pieces of chicken into bag of sauce mixture and squish around to coat thoroughly.
• One piece at a time, roll chicken in flour mixture and drop into hot oil.
• Don't crowd chicken pieces--I cook about half the chicken at a time.
• Fry chicken until brown and crisp.
• Drain on paper toweling.
• Dark meat will take about 14 minutes, white meat about 10 minutes.
• Remember smaller pieces cook faster than the larger ones.
• You can check for doneness by piercing to the bone in the thickest part with a fork.
• If the juices run clear, it is done.

MY OLD-FASHIONED SIMPLE & EASY FANTASTIC FRIED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Combine flour and seasoning in a paper (or plastic bag} and and do the herk and jerk thing to coat. You can add 1/2 cup of dry bread crumbs to the mix for texture and crunch if you wish. In a large skillet, (I use a cast iron one) melt enough lard (Yes lard, don't use anything else. T'ain't right) to cover the bottom of your skillet 1/4 inch deep. It's hot enough when a drop of water sizzles well.
• Now then, Don't crowd the chicken. Leave a minimum of 1/4" in space between all pieces. 1/2 inch" or more is better but hey, ya only got so much room in there, right?.
• Put in the breasts first, and lightly brown on all sides then add the rest and brown those on each side, cover tightly. and cook for till tender, about 20-30 minutes.
• Uncover for the last 10 minutes.