What I’d like to know is a good fried chicken coating.
I have never made fried chicken; I’ve been intimidated by it.
But I’m sure there are great fried-chicken-cooks on FR, and you and I both will get some answers ;-)
-JT
Really truly......flour w/ some paprika, salt & pepper. If you have a brown paper bag just shake & then fry.
Flour. Pressed in well. LIGHTLY brown in butter and crisco or butter and margarine on top of stove (butter adds flavor but burns). Put in baking pan, overlapping not too much. Season with salt (and pepper if you want).
Do not cover. Bake at 350 for an hour or until done. I usually cooked two chickens.
If you want it crispier, cook it on top of the stove exclusively. But you have to stand over it and turn the pieces.
I know there are fancier ways of making it. But I love the way mine tastes. And it makes wonderful white (or we called it cream) gravy made like sausage gravy. And we always had fluffy mashed potatoes with it.
The first secret to frying anything is "dredge - drench - dredge." Three step process for breading. First dredge generally is well seasoned flour. The dredge is usually egg wash, but in the case of chicken, I prefer buttermilk. The second dredge for chicken would be seasoned flour. For food items that fry only a short time like shrimp or vegetables, you would use panko, cracker meal or breadcrumbs. Buttermilk Fried Chicken: 1) Cut up chicken and marinate in straight buttermilk overnight. 2) Drain and pat dry. 3) Bread in first dredge of well seasoned flour. Personal preference comes in here. Could be simple salt and pepper, cajun, southwestern, asian. Whatever you really like. Emeril has a good recipe for his Essence spice mix if you like cajun. 4) Drench in buttermilk. 5) Dredge is seasoned flour. 6) Fry in canola oil. 325 degrees, but no more than 350 degrees. I try to keep right at 325 so the cooking time can be longer without burning your coating. 7) When done, remove chicken to a bed of paper towel on a cooling rack. Leave space between the pieces. If pieces touch or get stacked up, your crispy crust will turn to goop. The only thing I don't fry like this is gamefish. I use Frying Magic for gamefish. Too much coating over powers the taste of the fish.