Fried Chicken
yield: 18 pc fried chicken
| ingredient | quantity (g) |
|---|---|
| assemble as brine | |
| skin-on bone-in thighs/drumsticks | 7000 |
| buttermilk | 675g |
| egg | 4 |
| fry flour | |
| flour | 600g |
| corn starch | 240g |
| salt | 36g |
| baking powder | 15g |
| spice mix | |
| paprika | 48 |
| black pepper | 54g |
| garlic powder | 24g |
| dried oregano | 6g |
| cayenne pepper | 3g |
notes
- can grind up dried mexican chiles for more interesting flavor, substitue 2x ground chiles for paprika
- mix all spices
- in large cambro, mix buttermilk brine ingredients, whisk in six tbsp spice mix, if frying mushrooms, set a little aside in a quart tub and drop your sliced mushrooms in. Then add chicken to the brine.
- let chicken brine for 4-12 hrs in fridge
- mix all fry flour ingredients
- add remainder of spice mix to fry flour
- heat 5 inches deep oil ("canola fry oil" from the pantry) in medium-big pot (not the huge one) over propane burner at medium heat
- there are two controls to operate to get good flame. One: the red valve on the gas hose and two: the thin stainless steel collar that encircles where the hose meets the burner itself. Adjusting the collar (that is, sliding it left-right along what it wraps around) will change how much oxygen is available for the burning propane. You want to adjust it so the flames are almost entirely blue, not as much yellow.
- heat te oil for thirty minutes, but take the heat down if it starts to smoke.
- get your chicken from the fridge
- put ~2 cups of fry flour in a bowl. This is your tossing bowl.
- test with a single piece of chicken; using tongs (to keep one hand clean of raw chicken), remove the chicken from the brine. Drop it into the tossing bowl. With the other hand (your 'wet' hand, this is the only one that will touch raw chicken directly) move the drumstick about in the flour, ensuring a good coating of flour sticks to the outside. Then place the chicken in the hot oil.
- the closer you are to the oil when you drop the chicken the less it will splatter; get close, don't fling them in from an arm's length.
- if bubbles pour off the chicken like an alka seltzer tablet, the oil is hot enough, and you can add as many as six more pieces of chicken
- if the fry flour gets too wet and clumpy from repeat chicken brine drippings, use your clean hand to add more of your spiced fry four to the mix.
- fry until golden brown
- remove to a rack-lined baking sheet and transfer to an oven at 350
- give the oil 5 minutes to recover heat, then repeat
- once last batch of chicken is out of the frier, turn the red valve and the valve on the propane tank itself all the way to off.
- chicken is done when thermometers read 160+ in the thickest part of the meat.