Fried Chicken...Need help

I'm looking for some advise on cooking fried chicken. Ya know, the Southern United States way. I've a pretty advanced cook and honestly, few dishes intimidate me including the fancy stuff. But I feel like my fried chicken never really hits the mark. I've cooked it every way to Sunday but is still not right.

Cooking vessel: I use a 50% oil Mother w 50% fresh peanut oil. Pot is glazed cast iron over an induction hob set to 360 F degrees.

Most of the time the crust is too hard, but then is lowering the heat the crust falls off. I've even tried using Trisol flour with mostly corn starch, too hard.

I've tried marinating in butter milk and double dredging, still hard.

I've added to the wet batter, vodka, egg whites only.... Nope.

Its a dam mess and over 20 years of passionately cooking, I still can't dial it in as good as my local Lowes supermarket or Golden Coral. Help me please.

dennis

You obviously know what you are doing in the kitchen. I grew up in Louisiana and fried chicken is a staple. Earlier this year I had the best fried chicken and waffles of my 60+ years in a small restaurant in Oceanside, CA. What they do that I have been somewhat successful in replicating is this: They use only chicken thighs that they debone and butterfly at the thickest part. Then overnight in buttermilk, and then dredge in breadcrumbs. I think the secret is how fast the butterflied boneless thigh cooks. I realize this is not necessarily an answer to your question on how to solve the problem of whole cut up fried chicken, but it is all I do now.

Other than that I do remember that in the 60's the best home cooks were using lard and/or Crisco and not the currently popular peanut oil. One other important factor is to not submerge the pieces but only let the oil get 1/2 way up the pieces and turn only once. This is typically done in a shallow cast iron pan and not a pot.

Sorry got nothing for you. Best fried chicken I ever had was from a small grocery store by my sissy's in Paducah, KY. 10 pieces +2 sides +4 biscuts for $10. It's a damn good thing I live over 6+ hours from that place.

Have you tried using self-rising flour?

This is a lot more simple than people make it. Just don't fry it at a high temp. Do not double dip in dredge.


Buttermilk overnight. Ranch packets are good.

Shake off excess.

Dredge in seasoned flour. Ranch packets are really good.

Deep fry at 275 degrees until the cuts float. 12-15 min or more depending upon the cut and size.

Remove from oil. Season while still wet with Kosher salt and fresh pepper.


Serve with honey buttered cornbread and coleslaw. Win.

+1 to ThEoRy
For some reason people get that 350-375 degree stuck in their head.
Learned it early from my Grandmother, 275 in an electric frying pan with crisco...........and always thighs..........delicious

My granny made great fried chicken. Don't remember exactly what she did, but she also cooked at a lower temperature with a lid on for the first part of the fry time. She also turned the chicken fairly often. She soaked the chicken overnight in milk or buttermilk, and for the breading she put flour and spices in a brown paper bag, shook the the excess milk off the chicken pieces, dropped them in the bag and gave it a good shake before cooking in peanut oil. Sometimes electric fry pan, sometimes cast iron skillet.

Thanks all. My take away it to lower the oil temp

Razor--Hum, I'd been thinking the oil needs to be cooler too. All recipes including TKeller says fry in 325 and above. I do use fried dark meat for sandwiches.
PT--I think I tried self rising flour at one point. I'm trying to minimize as many variables as I can till I nail it.
Theory--Love the idea of adding ranch. I bet I could add dry ranch to the flour too.
Lucretia--Have tried the lid closed first 1/2 cook, flip chicken then finish cooking. Probably a good way to go, I just think I've been cooking at too high heat. Also, the best Southern fried chicken I've had was single dredge and drop it into hot oil. They weren't really sweating the technique, I don't know what its been so hard for me to nail.

Going to try this method:
1.) Rub whole chickens (Cornish game hens) with kosher salt, dash of sugar and leave open in the refrigerator for a couple of days. Flipping them daily. Break them into an 8 piece.
2.) First a buttermilk soak (I think all I have is Dugh), dredge in seasoned flour w/some corn starch.
3.) Deep fry in glazed cast iron at 275 lid, not turning but making sure they don't stick.

Try to keep it simple. I'll report back.

At home I'm pretty content deep frying until I get a nice gold exterior and then I finish in the oven on a baking rack over a sheet pan. No double dredge here. I want a nice thin crust.

Dave

Have you had a look at the Serious Eats take on it? I've not tried this one myself but a lot of their ideas are on the money.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/07/the-food-lab-best-southern-fried-chicken.html

Think of it as making french fries. Cook on the lower end till it's nearly cooked all the way through then crank up the heat for the crispy outside. I like to marinate mine in fish sauce. Then garlic powder and pepper before coating in flour. If I wanted a thicker coating I dip in egg before coating in flour.

Talim said:

Think of it as making french fries. Cook on the lower end till it's nearly cooked all the way through then crank up the heat for the crispy outside. I like to marinate mine in fish sauce. Then garlic powder and pepper before coating in flour. If I wanted a thicker coating I dip in egg before coating in flour.

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OMG we need a drool icon...

Brine overnight, sous vide 162degF for an hour, let cool. Dunk in buttermilk, then dredge in flour, wondra, baking powder, seasonings. Fry on 325 one minute.

Razor said:

You obviously know what you are doing in the kitchen. I grew up in Louisiana and fried chicken is a staple. Earlier this year I had the best fried chicken and waffles of my 60+ years in a small restaurant in Oceanside, CA. What they do that I have been somewhat successful in replicating is this: They use only chicken thighs that they debone and butterfly at the thickest part. Then overnight in buttermilk, and then dredge in breadcrumbs. I think the secret is how fast the butterflied boneless thigh cooks. I realize this is not necessarily an answer to your question on how to solve the problem of whole cut up fried chicken, but it is all I do now.

Other than that I do remember that in the 60's the best home cooks were using lard and/or Crisco and not the currently popular peanut oil. One other important factor is to not submerge the pieces but only let the oil get 1/2 way up the pieces and turn only once. This is typically done in a shallow cast iron pan and not a pot.

Click to expand...

What was the name of the place you ate at in Oceanside?

El Pescador said:

What was the name of the place you ate at in Oceanside?

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"That Boy Good" https://www.thatboygoodbbq.com/

\de-lurk

Al's Chickenette. Hays Kansas.
(if I could drop a mic, I would)

Otherwise I'm with Panda (pretty much... but think its important to let the meat air dry at least an hr)

WL
/re-lurk

Razor said:

"That Boy Good" https://www.thatboygoodbbq.com/

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you guy's should try, COLIMA'S (Mexican food) in Oceanside, the biggest carne asada burrito, you will EVER find ANYWHERE.
...but LAS BRISAS in fallbrook ca (aviation & main st ) is the best.

No idea what they did to it but I liked the chicken from Harold's(?) in Chicago as much as any I've had...bit of a sketchy drive but well worth it. Maybe it wasn't that great but I love the way it was served.

As an aside I can't think of any difference it would make but in my mind you should be using raw cast iron for this vs enamel. That said, I'm betting your rejects are still pretty tasty.

ThEoRy said:

Dredge in seasoned flour. Ranch packets are really good.

Click to expand...

Mucho Bocho said:

Theory--Love the idea of adding ranch. I bet I could add dry ranch to the flour too.

Click to expand...

YES, ranch flour! People love ranch!

Let us know of your future success. And pics or it didn't happen.

ThEoRy said:

This is a lot more simple than people make it. Just don't fry it at a high temp. Do not double dip in dredge.


Buttermilk overnight. Ranch packets are good.

Shake off excess.

Dredge in seasoned flour. Ranch packets are really good.

Deep fry at 275 degrees until the cuts float. 12-15 min or more depending upon the cut and size.

Remove from oil. Season while still wet with Kosher salt and fresh pepper.


Serve with honey buttered cornbread and coleslaw. Win.

Click to expand...

i'm gonna try this. lower temp!

i was always preached to to hit that 350ish mark. it actually burns the crust usually.

i'm gonna make onion rings anyways..all that hot oil...........

and i am going to use my wok. in the backyard.

panda said:

sous vide 162degF for an hour

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If you are going to sous vide that's way too high and kind of defeats the purpose of sous vide. I do 145 degrees F for 3.5-4 hours. It's a superior end result. More tender, much less moisture loss and a better chew.

Am I the only one who can't see the pics of Dennis's attempts this past weekend?

:viking:

I just use the serious eats recipe, and the only cut I use is de-boned and de-skinned chicken thighs. Skins are fried separately as I don't like how it creates a barrier if left on. Works pretty well, but people prefer fried chicken in so many different ways, so it's hard to say what will appeal to you personally.

I don't like the breading to be too hard, so I don't double fry. The oil I use is rapeseed or sunflower depending on what I have. I once used duck fat, but it was too much. I would imagine deep frying in chicken fat would be fun to try.

Where I work, we tenderize the chicken breast after butterflying.
They get marinated in buttermilk whisked with kosher salt(1/2 cup to 1Q buttmilk) and other spices over night. They get breaded in spiced flour, nothing too special. I enjoy how juicy it can turn out. I like to believe the kosher salt buttermilk mix really soaks into the tenderized sinews of the meat quite well.

Thanks guys, I made a batch I sent the pic's to DaveB to post. I can never get it right.

Soo, my favorite way to cook French fries is to cook them in cold oil, crank the heat and wait till the float and get brown. Brilliantly simply really. I thought, maybe this would work with chicken?

I used 80% bread flour to 20% bread crumbs. Cook the chicken until it became brown and crispy. Left untouched in oil for first 30 min. Took about 45 min overall.

Good:
Decent texture to crust. Because of the long cook at low heat 280 F the skin rendered nicely and stuck to the chicken. Produced nice audible crunch with lots of little crispy bits that were delicious, almost more so than the meat.

Bad:
Chicken was over cooked. Crust could have been lighter overall. The color to the crust was terrible.

Take Away: I don't think cooking in strait cold oil is a good technique for fried chicken. Maybe leave it for confit.

Overall: C-

ThEoRy said:

If you are going to sous vide that's way too high and kind of defeats the purpose of sous vide. I do 145 degrees F for 3.5-4 hours. It's a superior end result. More tender, much less moisture loss and a better chew.

Click to expand...

How long do you fry for after that? Just until golden?

Im going to try. Posting pics has become very trying......





















Dennis - you owe me lunch. And im changing my email addy[emoji41]

Mmmmm...

Just curious....everyone here has had Popeyes fried chicken atleast once in their life, right?

Nothing better then a few pieces of their spicy fried chicken and some fries. cleans the grease off your hands after working on a car 1,000 times better then pumice

And yeah, I've had their fried chicken at least once. Probably a couple of hundred times, actually. It is by far my favorite.