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So I have this thing for making fried chicken, right. I don't know exactly why it's there. I think it's just that it's such a classic staple of both Southern and African-American kitchens. Maybe that's what mystifies me about it. Perhaps that's what motivates me in my quest to find the fried chicken recipe that is above all fried chicken recipes. And so I've always wanted to be able to do it well, but that hasn't always been the case. *laugh* Even now, I still struggle to get it right.
*sigh*
So I decided that I would try to tackle it again this week. I'm always looking for excuses to break out my deep fryer, which I absolutely adore, and yet rarely get a chance to use. And since I hadn't made fried chicken since last Easter, now seemed about as good a time as any to give it a go.
You know, maybe that's my problem. Maybe I don't cook it often enough. Maybe I just don't care enough. Maybe that's why I can hear the chickens laughing at me all the way from the farm whenever I give it an attempt.
Anyway, you would not believe the number of fried chicken recipes that I have in my possession. I started collecting them two or three years ago, all in the hopes of finding the right recipe. You know, the recipe.
The one that knocks people's socks off.
The one that people dream about.
The one that has everyone asking for your recipe, which you quite naturally refuse to share, lest your "secret" be discovered.
Unfortunately, I have yet to find the recipe so my search continues.
When frying chicken, one thing that I like to do beforehand is soak it in buttermilk for at least 24 hours in order to tenderize the meat. I actually ended up soaking it for almost 72 hours, since I didn't get around to cooking it the day that I thought I would. Oh! I also decided to try seasoning the buttermilk, to see if that helped infuse flavor into it. Maybe it did, maybe it didn't. I dunno. I'd like to think it worked, thus I will do it again.
Anyway, I'm not going to get into how I seasoned the chicken or the flour since it doesn't really matter. The chicken was really good, not great, but really good. Definitely my best to date. The problem is I'm not looking for really good fried chicken. I'm looking for great fried chicken! Excellent fried chicken! Fried chicken that can kick the Colonel's butt up and down, up and down the street. That's the fried chicken that I'm looking for! I mean, really people, I'm not asking for a lot. Just perfection. Is perfection too much to ask for?!?!
*sigh* Evidently so. Ah well.
Oh! One thing I do want to mention is that one thing I do have great success at is producing a crispy fried chicken. Not everyone likes a crispy fried chicken, but it was actually a requirement during my recipe haunt. Luckily, I came across a recipe, maybe by (Isn't He Pretty?) Tyler Florence, that called for adding cornstarch into the flour and seasonings mix that you bread the chicken in. Surprisingly enough, it worked beautifully. Cornstarch added to flour produces a wonderfully crisp chicken coating. So if you didn't know that, now you do. :-)
Anyway, I simply cannot close this post without asking if any of you readers have a faithful, tried and true, "make you wanna slap yo' momma" fried chicken recipe? If so, please, please, PLEASE do share it with me. Perhaps your recipe is the one recipe that will bring my (thus far) fruitless quest to an end.
Until then, the chicken quest continues.
Labels: fried chicken
