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Fried Chicken
It has been too long since I’ve cooked for people. Call it a block or a resistance or lay it down to the reality of living too many months in an apartment with no ventilation and the worst cooking facilities you can imagine1. Whatever the reason for not cooking there was one. Or perhaps there wasn’t. Perhaps it just came to a halt. After cooking almost every day of the last 15 years it came to an unexpected and confusing halt. I couldn’t muster the energy to feed myself anything more than rice and vegetables, often mothered by kewpie and leftover fermented chilli paste. It hasn’t been by any measure the worst way to sustain myself but it is far from the best way to feed myself.
To break the funk on my birthday a few weeks ago I invited friends around for fried chicken. Good fried chicken is so special and fun and childlike and so full of that wonderful nostalgia and comfort that it can make you want to just eat and laugh and drink and roll around and laugh some more and eat some more and drink some more again2. It’s happy food. It’s food that can be so full of joy and that can equally bring such joy in the most infectious way. An endless day cooking, leading into an endless night, leading to chicken for breakfast. There is nothing wrong with chicken for breakfast.
At times I would sell a whole fried chicken on the menu, broken down into its component parts and served with pickles, a fermented chilli jam - the same one that I would eat with rice - white bread and butter.
It is a dish to be shared but can also be eaten alone, don’t be scared. It may seem like it takes too much time to be bothered to go to the effort but it is truly very simple. A few steps with some basic treatment technique. The most important thing is to allow the chicken enough time to brine in the fridge - 24 hours is ideal - and to not undercook the chicken.
This recipe, in terms of the buttermilk amounts and flour mix will be based on a whole chicken - or total meat weight regardless of cut as long as that bloody skin is on - weighing 1.5kg-2kg.
You can find the recipe for quick pickles here and the recipe for fermented chilli jam here.
As ax extra note, don’t use all the flour at once, keep half aside incase you don’t need it all and then you have some leftover for next time, pre made. Same goes for the buttermilk. With the oil, once its cooled, run it through a sieve and back into its containers. You can use it again next time if you so choose.
Chicken Brine
Ingredients
6 lemons halved
6 bay leaves (fresh if possible)
16 pepper corns
1/2 bunch of parsley (80-100gr)
1/2 bunch of thyme (20-40gr)
1 head of garlic, cut length ways (equator style)
80-100gr honey
3 litres of water
150gr kosher salt
+
1 the chicken to brine
Method
Break down the chicken.
Take the remaining ingredients and put them all in a big pot. Bring ingredients to a boil over medium heat. Once it reaches a boil, take it off the heat and allow it to cool.
When the brine is at room temperature put the bird in. Leave it for 8-24 hours to brine. Preferably in the fridge.
After the brine time, remove the chicken from the liquid and pat it dry with a paper towel or a cloth.
Organise the chicken onto a tray in order of how you want to fry it and prepare to fry.
Fried Chicken
Ingredients
For the flour mix:
400gr of flour
22gr garlic powder
20gr onion powder
5gr smokey or mild paprika
4gr cayenne pepper powder
6gr fine salt
4gr cracked black pepper (or more to taste if you like)
For the chicken:
1.5-2kg chicken brined
700gr buttermilk
Seasoned flour (above)
2 litres Vegetable oil / Sunflower oil / groundnut oil (peanut oil)
Salt
Chilli jam.
Method
In a heavy based saucepan or cast iron pot add the oil so that it is about 2 inches up the pot, high enough to immerse a chicken piece in. Get it onto a medium heat to heat it up to temperature.
You will be wanting to fry the chicken when it is at about 160°-170°C, or when the oil spits when a sprinkling of water hits it. Do not burn the oil. Be careful, it can happen quickly so keep an eye on it.
While the oil is heating combine all of the ingredients for the flour mix in a large bowl and mix with a whisk or your hands to incorporate.
Transfer into a rectangular container - or keep it in the same bowl you mixed it in - but keep it aside. Somewhere neat, for everyones pleasure.
Tip the buttermilk into a container and put it next to the flour mix. I know you would be thinking at this point;
“Hey Dan should these two things be near where you will be frying?”
The answer is yes. Arrange the prep in the following order - furthest from the stove first - on the bench - chicken, followed by buttermilk, followed by flour mix, followed by oil on the stove.
You take the chicken one piece at a time, put it in the buttermilk, then in the flour and then in the oil - making sure to shake off any excess flour from the chicken piece.
The order of frying will be as follows:
Drumsticks
Thighs
Breasts
Wings
The drumsticks and thighs can take anywhere from 13-28minutes where as the breast from 8-11min and the wings only 6-7 minutes.
Using your left hand pick up the first piece of chicken place it in the buttermilk and get it fully covered.
Using your left hand again pick up the chicken from the buttermilk and place it into the flour mix.
Now, using your right hand, turn the chicken around in the flour mix, ensuring that it is completely covered.
Pick up the piece of chicken with your right hand and give it a little shake and then place it in the oil.
n.b You can, if you like - before placing it in the oil - repeat this dredging process with the buttermilk and the flour. I like a single dredge but others love a second dredge. Worth noting. I would suggest single dredging some and double dredging others for what we now call ‘hashtag fun’.
After 4-5 minutes - as it starts to brown - turn the chicken in the oil to get a good coating of fry.
You will continue to turn the chicken until the desired colour is achieved on all sides or until the chicken is cooked. You want to temp probe the chicken if you have one - make sure it is above 73°C if you are worried about it being under cooked. Remember just because it is a bit pink inside doesn’t mean it is not cooked - temperature is key. Temperature is key.
Repeat the process with the other pieces.
Once the chicken is fried, pull it out and let it drain on a piece of paper towel. If you want to keep it warm you can pop it in the oven @ 190° a few minutes before you eat it. Eat it with pickles and chilli jam and this cut white bread.
Note - it is also fucking delicious out of the fridge. Cold. For breakfast.
Yes it was a choice to live there. Yes it was a choice to continue living there. Yes I was aware of the fact the kitchen sucked big time but it had a claw footed bathtub and delicate plaster work on the high ceiling… It wasn’t worth it.
This is absolutely a weird and unconventional sentence - I stand by it.