Nowadays, I'll still order the Colonel's chicken occasionally, but since the most prevalent spice in the combination of 11 herbs and spices is salt, I have to do it sparingly. That is, unless I want to swell up like a Macy's Thanksgivings Parade balloon or have my heart get one of those warm involuntary water-retention hugs.
So I've tried making my own at home so I can control the amount of that number one spice. And as long as you have a saute pan, a cast iron skillet, a dutch oven or a high-sided skillet, you can pan-fry up a batch for yourself. With this recipe, it doesn't matter if you're using a whole chicken cut into sections or a bunch of boneless, skinless breasts. Even if there is no skin, the breading will still form a perfect intact crust.
I have found that there are four secrets to good fried chicken...
1. Soak it in buttermilk - It's just like any other marinade. The buttermilk is slightly acidic, so a long soak of the chicken pieces will slightly tenderize the exterior, but it will infuse the chicken with whatever spices you add to the mix. And it creates a great viscous coating on the chicken so the breading will stick like glue.
2. Protect the tender spices - Some spices can endure high frying temperatures and some herbs will burn to a crisp. And burnt spices only add a charcoal taste to the food. These more delicate herbs need to have a barrier of protection so they'll do their duty when you crunch into it later. So the best way to ensure survival is to let them stay sealed between the skin and the breading. Sprinkle on those special herbs right before you shake on the flour breading.
3. Shake off the excess - You're going to shake on the flour breading, and there's going to be a lot of flour that sticks directly to the chicken. But there's also going to be some flour that just loosely hangs on. If it stays there, it'll fall off when it hits the oil. And extra flour in the oil with cook quickly and burn, turning your oil darker and the taste, well... burnier. You can't prevent this from happening completely, but you can reduce the amount considerably if you shake off as much as possible as you pull it out of the flour bag.
4. Maintain that oil temperature - Keeping the temperature around 350 degrees is a must. Yes, it'll dip a bit when you add the chicken, but try to bring the oil back to 350 as soon as possible. Frying is a perfect balance of the heat from the oil pushing in on the food and the steam from the water in the food trying to get out. If the oil isn't hot enough, the water doesn't get hot enough to convert to steam and the oil sneaks into the breading, making it greasy. If it's too hot, the water gets too hot and all the moisture disappears quickly. That'll mean greasy food, undercooked meat and burned breading. So it's best to keep the temperature of the oil between 330-355 degrees. And yes, using a food thermometer is a necessity.
Now we're pan frying the chicken, which is a little different than deep frying. It's the same method we used on our Stuffed Chicken Parmesan. Pan frying works with an inch or two of oil heated in a pan, so you don't have to submerge it in an oil bath, like you would with Chicken Tenders. You'll lay the chicken in the pan on one side, then flip it over to complete the cooking on the other side. There may be a small amount of darker coloring where the breading made contact to the pan, but that's normal, as you can see in the picture above. Try not to flip it more than once. It can allow a little grease to be absorbed on the side that's been down in the oil twice.
Buttermilk Fried Chicken
Serves 4-6
In the Buttermilk Soak
1 whole chicken, separated into pieces or 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
3 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup buffalo wing sauce
2 cloves garlic
Sprinkle ingredients
1 tablespoon thyme
2 teaspoons sage
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons paprika
Shaking ingredients
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon fresh ground pepper
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 1/2 teapsoon cayenne pepper
In a gallon ziploc bag, combine the buttermilk, buffalo wing sauce and garlic. Seal and squish to mix it thoroughly. Open the bag, add all the chicken pieces and reseal. Place the bag in another bag or a large bowl to prevent unintentional spills and place back in your fridge. Allow the pieces to soak up the buttermilk for a minimum of 2 hours, but doing this the night before or the morning of the cooking is even better. If you're doing the long soak, make sure to pull out the bag and squish it around 2-3 times, just to move the meat around and to ensure the buttermilk coats every inch.
When you're ready to cook, combine the sprinkle ingredients in a small shaker, or in a small bowl if a shaker is unavailable. Also, grab another gallon ziploc back and add all of the shaking ingredients. Seal and shake to mix it will. Also, place a pair of cooling racks on the counter, and make sure one has a triple layer of paper towels laid underneath. Fill a large cast iron dutch oven ,a large saute pan or large cast iron skillet with enough oil to either come 1 inch up the side or no more than halfway up the side of a skillet (because any more will cause a spillover and a 911 call). Place it over medium high heat until the oil reaches 350 degrees. Don't guess the temperature. Makes sure to use your digital thermometer.
Now for the coating.. Extract your chicken bag from the fridge. Open it and pull out a piece of chicken with your tongs. Lightly apply the sprinkle to the piece, then immediately drop it into the shaking bag. Close the bag and shake vigorously. Use those tongs again to remove the coated piece, shaking it to allow excess flour to fall off. Place it on the cooling rack without the paper towels and move onto the next piece. Repeat until everything is coated.
When the proper oil temperature is reached, add some of the chicken, but not too much to crowd the pan. You'll need to flip the pieces half-way through the process. Here are approximate cooking times...
Wings - 2-3 minutes each side
Boneless breasts - 3-4 minutes each side
Bone-in breasts - 4-5 minutes each side
Legs - 5 minutes each side
Thighs - 5-6 minutes each side
The color should be golden brown when it's done. Remove the chicken when it's finished and place it on the paper towel lined cooling rack. Let them rest for at least 5 minutes. Serve them while they're hot with any sort of side, or snack on it throughout the day, pack it up for a picnic or place it in a container and eat it as a midnight snack.
So cook up a batch, have a little picnic and let the Colonel have a night off.
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