Fried Chicken to Die From

This recipe is from Cooks Country... It is amazing... and as Sue would say you wouldn't eat this everyday so its okay to eat this occasionally. It makes a chicken that easily beats KFC or the pressure fried types.  Everything needs to be close at hand and sequenced when the frying begins. I used my very cool infrared sensing thermometer to gauge the heat. I didn't quite have 3 quarts of oil... and I used a pint of peanut oil along with a medium wesson oil container.. it still worked. It took the time required to reach the meat temps required. The dutch oven my Kirkland version of the famous french Le Cruiset worked out beautifully.

Batter-Fried Chicken

From Cook's Country

August/September 2009

Why this recipe works: As far as technique went for our Batter-Fried Chicken recipe, deep-frying easily beat out shallow-frying. With shallow-frying, the batter always burned on the bottom. To ensure a crisp crust, we replaced the milk in our initial batters with plain old water. It turned out that when wet batter hit the hot frying oil, the moisture in the batter vaporized, leaving behind the solids that adhered to the chicken. With milk, the sugars in the milk solids browned too fast and produced a soft crust.
Using equal parts cornstarch and flour in the batter ensured a crisp crust on the chicken. And baking powder added lift and lightness without doughiness. We flavored our batter with black pepper, paprika, and cayenne for simple but unambiguous flavor.

Serves 4 to 6

Total time:

Halve breasts crosswise and separate leg quarters into thighs and drumsticks.

Ingredients BRINE

• 1 quart cold water
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces (see note)

BATTER

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 5 teaspoons pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups cold water
• 3 quarts peanut or vegetable oil

Instructions

• 1. MAKE BRINE Whisk water, salt, and sugar in large bowl until sugar and salt dissolve. Add chicken and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 1 hour.
• 2. MAKE BATTER Whisk flour, cornstarch, pepper, paprika, cayenne, baking powder, salt, and water in large bowl until smooth. Refrigerate batter while chicken is brining.
• 3. FRY CHICKEN Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat to 350 degrees. Remove chicken from refrigerator, pour off brine, and pat dry with paper towels. Rewhisk batter. Transfer half of chicken to batter. One piece at a time, remove chicken from batter (allowing excess to drip back into bowl) and transfer to oil. Fry chicken, adjusting burner as necessary to maintain oil temperature between 300 and 325 degrees, until deep golden brown and white meat registers 160 degrees (175 degrees for dark meat), 12 to 15 minutes. Drain chicken on wire rack set inside rimmed baking sheet. Bring oil back to 350 degrees and repeat with remaining chicken. Serve.

Fry in 2 batches.. if using a Foster Farms chicken don't bother with the back and neck pieces save them for soup. The foster farms fryers are generally larger than the eastern raised chickens. 

In the end you end up with a tempura style of fried chicken.  

yum yum! : ) Pat