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Southern Fried Chicken?

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Effigy View Drop Down
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    Posted: 23 August 2013 at 00:46
I want to learn how to do this, and it seems you guys are quite likely the best people to learn from.

The Junk Food thread got me hankering for crispy chicken, but because of my self imposed need to prepare as much food as I can with homegrown or locally sourced produce, this dish eludes me.
Asian crispy skin chicken is common-as here, but I want to learn about what inspired KFC, (which has a really bad rap down here).

If you draw a diagonal line from LA to Pittsburgh and look north, that's as much of the USA I have visited. I have never got to the south. So given the fact of where I live, it is pretty certain I have never tasted the real McCoy.

Any one want to help? Please?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hoser Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 August 2013 at 02:26
I'll be glad to help Anne...I don't make deep fried foods very often, due to the obvious health risks but when I do it's likely to be fried chicken.

One of the best recipes I have ever used comes from southern cooking maven Paula Deen (who's been under fire lately, receiving some undeserved criticism over a single word she uttered 30 years ago!)

Anyway...Paula's recipe is terrific. It will probably seem to you that it calls for too much hot sauce, but don't be afraid....you can barely notice it when the chicken is finished.

First of make sure you get your oven heated to about 200°F and have some paper towel lined baking sheets to keep the chicken warm, as it takes a bit of time frying it up in batches.

Here is the recipe exactly as I used it.

Ingredients
3 eggs
1/3 cup water
About 1 cup hot red pepper sauce (recommended: Texas Pete)
2 cups self-rising flour
1 teaspoon pepper
House seasoning, recipe follows
1 (1 to 2 1/2-pound) chicken, cut into pieces
Oil, for frying, preferably peanut oil
Directions
In a medium size bowl, beat the eggs with the water. Add enough hot sauce so the egg mixture is bright orange. In another bowl, combine the flour and pepper. Season the chicken with the house seasoning. Dip the seasoned chicken in the egg, and then coat well in the flour mixture.

Heat the oil to 350 degrees F in a deep pot. Do not fill the pot more than 1/2 full with oil.

Fry the chicken in the oil until brown and crisp. Dark meat takes longer then white meat. It should take dark meat about 13 to 14 minutes, white meat around 8 to 10 minutes.

House Seasoning:
1 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder
Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

This recipe is just as easy as it sounds Anne...and I'm sure you'd love it.

If you can't get Texas Pete hot sauce over there, I guess Frank's would be a good substitute, or Louisiana hot sauce.
Go ahead...play with your food!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Effigy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 August 2013 at 03:29
Woo Hoo! Thanks Dave.

I read labels in the supermarket Geek
Any chance you could scan or copy the backs of those sauce labels?
I am thinking Franks is the most likely candidate for a local replica. I recognise certain graphical notes in that label, and we already have 'Franks' juices. (See! A degree in visual arts does have uses)

Question 2;  Am I right in thinking the dark meat is the better way to go with this?
Given that we are discussing 'heart-attack-on-a-plate' here. Embarrassed

Interesting that peanut is the oil for cooking, here it is an ingredient. Which makes this a really expensive experiment. Given that peanut oil is $11.40 / litre. (US $8.90)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote HistoricFoodie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 August 2013 at 07:22
Several comments Anne, that might help you out.

1. What made KFC was not so much the recipe but the method. The Colonel came up with a way of pressure-frying chicken. This, in turn, made the entire fast-food industry possible.

2. I've had Paula's chicken, as Dave presented it. It's good. But, as with so many of her dishes, it's not Southern Fried. The hallmark of Southern fried chicken is that the chicken is first soaked in buttermilk beforehand. This both helps tenderizes it, and lends a flavor note of it's own.

3. Some Southern cooks use fine cornmeal as the final part of the breading. But seasoned flour is the more traditional.

4. Light or dark meat is a matter of choice. Here in the South the bird is broken down into 8 pieces, and they're all fried. The livers are reserved because fried chicken livers are another Southern favorite.

5. Oil temperature is the key. Oil (which does not have to be peanut oil. Lard is traditional) should be no lower than 350F, and up to 375F is even better. If your chicken (or any other fried foods) comes out greasy then the oil temperature was too low.
     Peanut oil is expensive everywhere. If you want, just go with a less expensive vegetable oil. Just make sure to choose one with a high smoke point.

Dave left out one thing: To truly be Southern fried, the chicken must be cooked in an old black skillet. There are deep-walled designs that actually are called chicken fryers.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TasunkaWitko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 August 2013 at 08:49
g'morning, anne! some information here might be helpful:
 
 
one thing that i learned was that covering the chicken while it cooks makes a big difference; when i started doing this, i noticced a dramatic improvement in the final product, especially where the crispy-crunchy coating is concerned.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote gracoman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 August 2013 at 09:25

Anne, 

 

There are as many recipes for Southern Fried Chicken as there are southern cooks.  Each places their distinctive trademark on the basic recipe.  Ah, but which basic recipe, you ask.


There are 3 and they are based upon the marinade.  Buttermilk, evaporated milk or water brine.  


Recipes all use a marinade (buttermilk, evaporated milk, milk, water),  they all use a seasoning (cayenne, cajun, hot sauce, salt & pepper), they all use flour (AP, self rising, home made self rising) and they all fry in a fat (vegetable oil, peanut oil, lard).  Now let the controversy begin.


There must be hundreds of additions and/or subtractions to these 3 basic recipes. 


Following is outstanding recipe for each:


Emeril Lagasse’s buttermilk fried chicken

Buttermilk Southern Fried Chicken


Austin Leslie’s Fried Chicken

Evaporated Milk Southern Fried Chicken


NOLA Cuisine’s Southern Fried Chicken

Water Brined Southern Fried Chicken


Hope this helps

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Effigy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 August 2013 at 22:51
Thanks everyone...
I guessed that there would be as many variations as there are cooks. So getting the important major commonalities is a great help thanks.
It looks like I have some reading to do.
I have a 7.8 litre size 3 cast iron potjie I think that will work well, also I have all day tomorrow to figure this out.
I will let you know how I get on
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote gracoman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 August 2013 at 06:51
Perhaps this article will get you moving in the "right" direction.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote gonefishin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 August 2013 at 07:13
   Nice discussion guys and gals!

   I don't really have much to add on this subject...but I just wanted to say...thanks Smile 

   Okay, I'll add one thing as to hot sauce.  Everyone has their favorite, mine is Tabasco.  With only three ingredients (peppers, vinegar, salt) that are treated right, aged up to three years, in Oak Barrels.  The process can be found here.  Tabasco Reserve is even better...more flavor and a little more heat.  This is the same process with select peppers and aged for an extended time, up to eight years, in the oak barrels. 

 
Enjoy The Food!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Effigy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 September 2013 at 00:19
Well tonight is the moment of truth - chicken is floured and setting, oil is heating....

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Effigy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 September 2013 at 01:28
Star
Who says too many cooks spoil the broth????
I read everything you all wrote, and I thought about it and I figured I understood and:

It was so yummy - crunchy, moist, spicy a bit - but not too and G O N E Big smile

This forum is fantastic.



Flowers for you all
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Effigy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 September 2013 at 01:52
Now for the horrifying truth of what I actually did.

Buttermilk - I had none, so I used week old cream soured with 2tsp lime juice and pepped up with garlic and really hot chilli sauce - I put the garlic in the cream because all the recipes I read called for garlic powder. I hate the stuff, (maybe yours is better) so I just used loads of crushed fresh in the cream marinade.

(now that I am relaxed and thinking again I realise I could have used the cream to make butter and real buttermilk, du'oh.)

I only had boneless, skinless chicken breast so I felt that there was a healthy trade off marinading in soured garlicky chilli double cream Smile

I used 2C plain flour, 2 tsp Baking Powder, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp white pepper, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp coriander (dried leaf) 1 tsp dry thyme, 1 tsp dry sage all shaken in a bag

After 7 hours in the cream I wiped most of the cream off the chicken and dropped it in the bag of seasoned flour one piece at a time, gave it a good shake and set in the fridge to rest. I gave it 3 shakes 15 minutes apart.

I used half Canola half Peanut oil heated to 375°F and fried 3 at a time in a cast iron pot with a lid. What actually happened was I found the first piece cooked faster, the next two dropped the temperature to 350°F... I found that by cycling through the three pieces - removing the last piece as the temperature reached 375°F and dropping in the next new piece, by the time it reached 375°F again the first piece was cooked, golden moist perfect! Easy peasy.

So whilst my ingredients were adapted, I think I got the technique - and judging by how fast it all went I did something right.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hoser Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 September 2013 at 04:24
Great job Anne...that's what it is all about....enjoying your food and enjoying your friends. Clap
Go ahead...play with your food!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TasunkaWitko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 September 2013 at 09:14
I think you did very well - your adaptations seem to be perfectly sound ~ and more importantly, it sounds as though it tasted GREAT!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote africanmeat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 September 2013 at 11:06
great job .
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote gonefishin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 September 2013 at 06:55
   Sounds great Anne!  You really are an inspirational cook!  You have a task and hand...and then execute it in your own way, bravo!

Dan
Enjoy The Food!
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