Grandma went to the Garai and bought
home two struggling chickens. Their neck was cut and we had fried chicken for
dinner. It was delicious.
Nowadays I have to look for happy chickens that ran freely and grew up without
growth hormones and antibiotics. Most supermarket chickens come from factory
farms and make poor friers. Check out Deboned Breaded Chicken. Numerous recipes advise
soaking the chicken in ice water. It’s a bad idea. The meat will constrict and will be tough. Brining tenderizes the meat, cuts down on cooking time and makes the meat succulent. But it will not stop underdeveloped bones from bleeding. Brine if you
want; just make sure the meat is brought to room temperature before cooking.
TRADITIONAL FRIED CHICKEN
organic, free range chicken
breasts and legs with the bone in
oil for frying
Breading:
1-1/2 cups flour
2 eggs, well beaten with a fork
2 cups breadcrumbs
- Cut both halves of the breast meat into three parts.
- Divide the legs at the joint.
- Remove all the skin and all the fatty bits.
- Rinse the meat and pat it dry with paper towels.
- Sprinkle with salt and set aside on the counter for 2-3 hours. Don’t chill.
- For breading set out 3 plates, one with flour, one with beaten eggs, and one with fine breadcrumbs.
- Roll one piece of chicken into the flour coating well.
- Next, dip it into the well beaten eggs, coating well.
- Finally, roll it in the breadcrumbs.
- Press the crumbs onto the chicken to assure even coverage.
- Repeat until every piece of chicken is coated with the breading.
- Place 2-3 inches of oil in a heavy fry pan.
- Heat up the oil slowly over medium heat. Wait it out, be patient, but don’t leave the heating oil unattended. The girls and I once danced our way to a kitchen fire. Long story.
- When the oil is ready slide in one piece of chicken. It should start frying immediately.
- From here on strive to maintain a steady frying temperature. If the oil is too hot, the crust will burn and the meat will remain uncooked. If the oil is not hot enough, the chicken will soak up the oil instead of frying. So the challenge is to get the oil to the right temperature and maintain it in an even, steady pace.
- Wait a little before adding the next piece.
- Leave lots of room for turning and not touching. It isn’t a time saver if you crowd the pan. A crowded pan in fact takes longer to fry.
- Use two forks to flip over the meat. Avoid piercing it. At this stage the breading is too fragile for the kitchen thongs.
- Never put a lid over frying chicken, it makes the breading soggy. Maintaining a steady heat fry up all of the pieces to golden brown.
- By the time chicken fries to uniform golden brown crispness, it is done.
- Transfer the pieces to a wire rack to drain. Don’t put hot breaded chicken on paper towels; this makes the breading soggy.
- Serve it immediately.
- Reheating alters the flavour. Do not reheat. But do enjoy it cold, it will be delicious.
