Fried Chicken







Most of us remember the best fried chicken we ever had.

Whether you were visiting down south and had a fantastic piece in a restaurant or visited Grandmas every Sunday for her fabulous fried chicken, we all have had it somewhere.

I have been frying chicken for years for my family because it is something we all love so much.
We eat it while hot from the fryer with our favorite sides, grab a piece cold right from the refrigerator as a midnight snack, or pull it from the bone and have fried chicken biscuits for breakfast.


You must first decide whether you want to cut up your own chicken or purchase it already cut up.
The first time I bought a whole chicken to cut up myself I was probably about 19 or 20.
My cousin Robyn ... AKA...RBG ... was at my house and I swear she is my witness, I butchered that chicken.
By the time I was done it wasn't even recognizable.

I did give it my best shot and never gave up. I practiced, watched cooking shows and finally I can now cut up a chicken. My first lesson was to use a good knife. I think the first time I tried when Robyn was with me, I was using a thin serrated steak knife...I laugh so hard over that now.


Most of the time I use my cast iron pot to fry my chicken. If you don't have a cast iron pot then use what ever deep fryer you have, or even a good heavy Dutch oven is good for deep frying.
I cant fry many pieces at the time in my cast iron pot, so when I have a lot to do I will use a skillet.

Sometimes I use my electric skillet because it is large and I can fry more pieces at once.
 

I also use my all-clad stainless skillet, or my cast iron skillet.
Either of those work great.


You will use less oil with skillet frying adding a little over an inch to your pan.

Make sure you are using a skillet that has deep sides to avoid oil spilling over, and don't crowd your pan.





Frying times will vary with each batch of chicken you fry. Some pieces are bigger and some are smaller. Just make sure when frying chicken that it is done. You should not see any blood what so ever. Fried chicken can look done on the outside and still be raw in the middle if you aren't careful. Just make sure your stove is not set to high while frying causing the crust to be ready before the inside of the chicken. Safe minimum internal temp for poultry is 165F recommended by Food Safety.Gov


You may choose to prepare your chicken ahead of time by soaking uncooked chicken in buttermilk over night. I do this often and sometimes add hot sauce when soaking as well.

This is a basic fried chicken and you can make changes with the seasoning in your flour mix by adding many different ingredients.
Cajun spice for Cajun fried chicken, your favorite seasoning salt, Italian seasoning for Italian fried chicken, ranch mix for ranch fried chicken. The option are endless and after you make your first batch of basic then you can use your imagination and make additions.

The perfect side for fried chicken is my Basic Potato Salad


Jodies Kitchen Basic Fried Chicken

Oil (canola, vegetable, peanut or lard)
2 eggs beaten well
1/4 cup milk
2 cups flour (all purpose)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 whole chicken cut up

*Prepare chicken by letting rest out of refrigerator while preparing oil and ingredients to knock the chill off.
*Prepare pot or skillet with oil. Oil temp should be between 350F to 360F. Pan frying: a little over a inch of oil in pan.Deep frying: Just slightly over half way up sides in pot. Commercial fryer: Use manufactures recommendations.

In a rectangular dish add eggs and milk, combine well. In a large bowl, paper bag, or plastic zip bag, combine flour salt and pepper. Dip chicken pieces in egg mixture coating well and letting excess mixture drain off, then add chicken to your flour mixture coating each piece well. Place chicken into hot oil and fry until golden brown and internal temp reaches 165F.If deep frying chicken, it should start to float as it get done. Remove chicken pieces as they are ready and drain on paper towel.Chicken should be fried in batches to avoid crowding the pan, dropping oil temp, and overflowing oil.