My Fried Chicken

Everyone knows a fried chicken recipe, especially if you live in the south. So I'm definitely not here to revamp any one's recipe or tell anyone how to make fried chicken. But I want to show you how I prepare my friend chicken and the seasoning mix that I use. Admittedly, some-odd years ago, I used to be a little scared of frying chicken. It can be tricky; you don't want to burn it of course or have it be too dry but you also don't want it to be under-cooked. For a long time, I would only fry cut wings or wingettes and drumettes because I was confident with that size. But I've gotten a lot more confident so I would like to show you a few tricks.

 
 First, I like to brine or soak the chicken a couple of hours before cooking it. This time I just gave it a little soak in a mixture of Dijon, hot sauce, seasoning salt, lemon pepper, curry powder, ground turmeric, ground ginger and Italian seasoning plus a splash of milk.

Once I'm ready to fry, I mix flour with ranch dressing mix and flour the chicken a batch at a time. One thing to remember when frying is not to overcrowd the pan. So for the size of the pan I was using, five drumsticks was a good amount for each batch. Therefore, I floured and rested five pieces at a time. Resting the floured chicken on a rack before frying helps the breading to stick when it is frying.

  When I start frying, I like to make sure that the oil is "screaming hot". The oil temperature is going to drop when the raw chicken is added so starting hot is usually a good idea. Of course, you don't want it to be too hot because the breading will burn before the chicken is cooked. So a medium high heat is great to start with. Once the chicken has started, I usually turn the heat down just a small notch. In this case, the chicken cooked for about 11 minutes on each side. When in doubt, find the thickest piece of chicken and cut into it, down to the bone, to check for doneness. If any pieces aren't completely cooked, pop them in the oven to finish.

So there! An awesome fried chicken dinner (if I do say so myself). We enjoyed it and I hope you try out these tips next time you feel like trowing some birds into that inferno hot tub.