Pan-Fried Goodness

Mummo, my mother’s mother and the only grandmother I ever knew, made the best fried chicken in the world. The last time I saw Mummo was 30 years ago in her basement apartment in my uncle’s house in Birmingham, Alabama. I had recently transferred to Tuscaloosa to manage a Pier 1 and came up for a visit and lunch. She asked what I wanted her to fix and I said fried chicken. She did and it was as wonderful as I remembered.

My mother’s fried chicken was good, but uneven in execution and I have searched long and hard for a match for her mother’s chicken. I came close on occasion, but could never replicate the results. In fact, I still can’t for a whole chicken. But I have mastered frying chicken breasts or thighs.

Getting each piece of a whole chicken to the same degree of doneness for the same meal is an exercise in magic.

First, I should note that in my world chicken should be pan-fried. The best that can be said of deep-fried chicken is that sometimes it’s edible. With pan-fried chicken the crust is a key element, but the chicken comes first and the wonderfully crackling crust when fresh from the pan morphs into an equally delicious, albeit slightly soggy element, on a picnic the next day. The key in both versions is restraint – not too much crust.

Another key is cooking the same pieces. Legs, thighs, breasts, and wings all cook at different rates. Getting each piece of a whole chicken to the same degree of doneness for the same meal is an exercise in magic – doable as Mummo proved, but magic. So I choose pieces rather than whole chickens. In this case I chose breasts.

I should note, smaller pieces work better than big ones. The breasts you see pictured were almost a pound each and it’s hard to not over-cook the crust while getting the meat done. Six to eight ounce breasts or five to six ounce thighs work best.

Southern Pan-Fried Chicken
Serves 6.

3 lb bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts or thighs
oil for frying
Marinade:
1 qt. cultured buttermilk
1 tbsp hot paprika
2 tbsp salt
Coating:
1 c all-purpose flour
1 tbsp hot paprika
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

Thoroughly mix marinade ingredients in a zippered plastic bag, add chicken, and refrigerate 12 – 24 hours, turning occasionally to ensure coverage.

Thoroughly mix coating ingredients in a zippered plastic bag. Remove two pieces of chicken from marinade, shake off excess marinade, then dredge in coating. Set chicken aside on a piece of foil and repeat for remaining chicken. Allow to rest for 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 200F.

Heat 1/2-inch oil in a large, straight-sided, lidded skillet over medium high heat. Once oil is hot, re-dredge 2 or 3 pieces of chicken in coating, shake off excess, and add to skillet (skin-side down if cooking breasts or thighs). Cook for four minutes or until a light golden brown.

Turn chicken over, reduce temperature to low, cover, and cook 15 – 20 minutes. (Ideally, cook until an instant-read thermometer registers 150F for breasts or 155F for thighs.)

Remove cover, increase heat to medium-high, and turn over again. Cook another 5 minutes until coating is crisp and mahogany brown. Drain on a plate on paper towels and place in oven to keep warm. Repeat for remaining chicken.

Note: Although cast iron is widely lauded as the skillet of choice for pan-fried chicken, I find stainless steel or aluminum work better. Cast iron is slow to heat and slow to cool and you really want a quicker response when you turn the burner down and up.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | chicken | fried+chicken

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