I can remember making fried chicken as a girl. The recipe was very basic. I shook the chicken in a baggie with flour and then fried it in an electric skillet. It was always kind of bland, very often either undercooked or had burned spots, and never looked anything like KFC. The only real redeeming factor was I did learn to make a very tasty, albeit quite salty, gravy for the mashed potatoes we always had with our fried chicken. As an adult, I have bought fried chicken anytime I am in the mood.
Girded with the experience of breading chicken at work in my newfound position of doing whatever needed to be done to keep busy, I thought I would give it a shot at making fried chicken at home. With my recently acquired knowledge in the kitchen, I knew I could not just dump the chicken in a bag and shake it up. Instead, I went with Thomas Keller’s recipe. I used the brine for cornish hens recently and knew it was delicious.
Lemon-Brined Fried Chicken
1 gallon cold water
1 cup plus 2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons honey
12 bay leaves
1 head of garlic, smashed but not peeled
2 tablespoons black peppercorns
3 large rosemary sprigs
1 small bunch of thyme
1 small bunch of parsley
Finely grated zest and juice of 2 lemons
Two 3-pound chickens
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 cups buttermilk
Vegetable oil, for frying
Rosemary and thyme sprigs, for garnish
Instead of two chickens, I used four chicken thighs, so cut the brine recipe in half. I combined a pint of the water with 1/2 cup of salt and added the honey, bay leaves, garlic, peppercorns, rosemary, thyme, and parsley in a pot. I added the lemon zest, juice, and lemon halves and simmered it over medium heat, stirring until the salt dissolved.
I should have prepared the brine the day before and brined the chicken overnight but did not plan very well on this one. Instead, I found myself running out of time to get the chicken brined for at least eight hours before I fried it. Instead of allowing the brine to cool down on its own, I created an ice bath to cool it quickly. I used two metal bowls, sized to nest one inside the other, and put ice and water in the bottom bowl. I poured the hot brine into the top bowl. My, I thought, ingenious idea worked, and the brine was completely cooled in 15 minutes.
I poured the brine into a gallon bag, added the rest of the water and the chicken thighs, and put it in the refrigerator. After eight hours, I pulled the thighs out of the bag, scraped off the herbs and peppercorns, and patted the thighs dry with paper towels. I would cut them into pieces if I had whole birds at this point.
I set up a two-bowl dredging station with the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, and the remaining salt in one bowl and the buttermilk in another (again using half the recipe). I almost did not include the cayenne as I did not want spicy chicken, but decided to follow the recipe. The small amount of cayenne added flavor but not heat.
I dipped the thighs into the flour mixture, pressing the flour into the meat. Next, I dipped the thighs into the buttermilk, letting them sit for a few minutes, before putting them back in the flour. Again, I pressed the flour mixture into the chicken, ensuring it was fully covered. Helpful hint – when dredging, use one hand for wet and one hand for dry so you don’t end up with big, messy clumps of flour stuck to your fingers. Also, I like to use gloves for messy work. I put the breaded chicken on a tray lined with wax paper.
I heated an inch of vegetable oil in a large, deep skillet, using a thermometer, to 330 degrees. I had a little bit of trouble maintaining the temperature, most likely because I have an electric stove and do not have the instant reaction that would come with adjusting a gas flame. I thought I was doing well until the oil shot right past 330 and zoomed quickly up to 390 degrees. I adjusted the burner and waited until it came back down before frying the chicken.
When I added the chicken, the temperature dropped down to 250 degrees, taking a while to come back up to 330, and then jumping to 340 degrees. The recipe says to cook the chicken for about 20 minutes to an internal temperature of 160 degrees. I noticed that my chicken seemed to be done long before the 20 minutes were up. I checked the temperature when the crust started getting dark to find that it was way past 160 degrees, so I pulled it out immediately and put it on paper towels to drain. I did not realize until I was ready to use them that the thighs were boneless, but I had to work with what I had available at that point. Apparently, the boneless chicken cooks very much faster than bone-in pieces.
I served the chicken with sauteed zucchini and macaroni and cheese. Apart from being a bit overcooked, the crust was very crunchy with a very faint burned essence, the flavor was beautiful. I did think it was a touch on the salty side. I probably should have quartered the brine recipe since I had one-fourth the amount of chicken. I will definitely make fried chicken again, adjusting the brine, using a whole chicken, and only breading it once as the recipe says. If I practice a little on my technique, I think I will soon be able to fry some really great fried chicken.
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