sweasel.com

Coincidentally, I’ve been watching chinese cooking video on youtube; orange chicken is a favorite of mine. I wish I could cook.

In these videos, marinate, and coat the chicken in corn starch- egg batter. Fry in hot oil (360 degrees)3-5 minutes. Remove from oil for ten minutes. Heat oil to 390 degrees – fry until a light golden color.

Several different channels to choose from. They make it look so easy that I might even try it.

The Colonel

Alton Brown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X2I4eZimTw

I think to make cultured buttermilk you add a bit of vinegar, although I supposed the acid in the lemon juice will do much the same thing. I don’t know nothing about frying no chicken tho.

At the risk of inciting SomeVeg – I went on a katsu cooking spree for about 4 months last year and got passable at it. The locals got really tired of katsu a couple times a week and I had to tell them it was chicken parm.

Prior to that I wasn’t much of a chicken (or pork) frier.

The latest kick has been Indian food.

Now, son #3 – HE can fry chicken – he was a trainer for Raising Cane and did store openings all over the country.

So of course he NEVER (never, ever, ever) southern fries chicken for us. Instead he makes chicken stir-fry.

Hey, they look like a Lanterloo deck

I’ll just leave this here…

https://twitter.com/FamilyFeudCa/status/1215650371047165952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1215650371047165952&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ffox4kc.com%2F2020%2F01%2F10%2Ffamily-feud-contestant-blows-big-money-chances-with-wrong-answer%2F

This brings back a song from childhood (slightly modified for the occasion)

I’m Popeye the chicken man
I live in a frying pan
you turns on the gas
and your burns of my ***
I’m Popeye the chicken man.

The secret to good southern fried chicken is a soak overnight in buttermilk (I add a bit of hot sauce to mine). Then pull it from the fridge and let it dry to room temp on a cookie cooling grid. Dry it with a towel, flour, egg dredge, Panko crumbs. Hot oil in a cast iron skillet. I don’t bother to drop the temp because the oil will naturally drop temp when you add the chicken. I’ve tried many pans, pots, etc but nothing works like a cast iron skillet.

@Armybrat – You bring back fond memories! And that cast iron skillet is also the perfect thing to make milk gravy in once the chicken is done and the biscuits are about ready.

The Jack of Diamonds is a hard card to play.

Yes, I’m going to use a cast iron skillet. Lid or no? How deep the oil?

Stoaty – no lid, oil depth about ⅓ of the thickness of the chicken pieces. The idea is you want only the bottom part of the chicken pieces in the oil.

My mother would transfer the finished chicken to a flattened out brown paper grocery bag to drain, and then make gravy in the skillet.

Cast iron is the only way to go.
Great stuff.

Lots of good advice here. I brine in pickle juice overnight, then flour, rest in the fridge, then egg/milk and final breading. Salt and season the final breading to your taste.
Use a heavy cast iron pan if you can.
Grandma can get by without a thermometer, but you and I can’t.
Ride the heat at 325, and place the finished chicken on racks to drain.

Pickle juice? Any benefit from the pickle flavor?

Follow-up: How was the chicken?

Watch the oil temperature no matter what kind of pan you use. I did it by eye for many years, hit or miss, but last summer I bought a Dot thermometer from Thermoworks for my grill, and I now use that thing every time I fry. It really works, though I have to fuss with the stove dial all the time. Everything I fry now comes out just about perfect. Don’t forget to clean your oil afterwards with the gelatin trick, which works real well as well.

Being a Southerner my Gran made great fried chicken. Buttermilk with a shot of Crystal and soak as long as you got. I think an overnight soak makes the chicken spongy. Pat dry and into a paper paper bag with half flour-half fine ground cornmeal, salt, pepper & a tiny pinch of sage. Shake until well floured and drop into hot oil in a cast iron skillet, you want to keep the heat medium high, too hot and the flour can taste burned.

I changed it up a bit, I add pinch of garlic powder to the flour mixture and deep fry @375 in my trusty cast iron Dutch oven, but everything else the same. The cornmeal makes the crust extra crispy and the shot of Crystal in the buttermilk gives it that Je ne sais quoi, or as the foodies like ta say umami.

Ah…a photo of the new slimmed down Royal Family, eh?

Sorry late to respond…I’m on vacation in sunny FL. So, deep sided cast iron skillet, oil to 375 and yes, I use a thermometer. Oil to about half the thickness of the chicken. No lid. And once you pull the chicken from the oil and let it drain (cookie cooling grids are great for this) season with a bit of salt. Yes, I season my flour dredge and crumbs (not to mention the buttermilk with hot sauce). But a very little bit of salt sprinkled over the chicken just as it’s pulled from the oil will make you slap yo’ mama!

DurnedYankee, I use a huge amount of spice and garlic in my pickles, so yes.