Southern Kitchen

As I was eliptical'ing last week, watching "Trisha's Southern Kitchen" (yes, I watch cooking shows whilst working out... I find it inspiring... to finish faster to get home and eat dinner), I caught a fried chicken recipe.  I can honestly say I'm not sure I have ever actually had fried chicken, but it looked tasty, so thought I would give it whirl.

Well, I ended up using a Tyler Florence recipe instead, and here is how I did it:

Ingredients:
- peanut oil
- 2 T salt
- 6-8 pieces of chicken w/ the skin (i used thighs and legs)
- 2-3 C all purpose flour
- 2 T cayenne pepper
- 2 T paprika
- 2 T onion powder
- 2 T garlic powder
- 2 C buttermilk
- 2 T chili/garlic sauce
- salt and freshly ground pepper

Prep:
- Soak chicken in water and salt for min. of four hours in the refrigerator.  This will brine the meat and make it super tasty and super moist.
- Mix flour and spice mixture in 2 inch dish.
- Mix buttermilk with chili/garlic sauce in a bowl.
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line a baking sheet with foil and paper towel.

Step 1 - Heat oil (about 3 inchs deep) in a fryer, or a deep pan to approx. 350-356 degrees.  Thermometers are a must!

Step 2 - While the oil is heating, pat the chicken dry with a paper towel.  Next, dust in flour mixture, followed by buttermilk, and back into flour mixture.

Step 3 - Make sure oil is hot enough (Note: the oil will cool as soon as you place the chicken in it, so adjust the temp. accordingly), and gently place 3-4 pieces of chicken in the oil. Cook for about 4-5 minutes, then carefully turn to cook on the other side until golden brown, another 3-4 minutes, or so, depending on the size of your chicken pieces.

Step 4 - Remove cooked chicken and place on lined baking sheet. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and place in the oven to stay warm while cooking other pieces.

Serve warm with your favorite side.  I tossed some freshly blanched green beans in butter, olive oil, garlic and some S & P.

The chicken skin was SOOOO crunchy and so tasty.  NO sauce or gravy required.  Inside, the chicken was perfectly cooked and flavored nicely from the salt brine.  And, not oily at oil.

A must try for the fried chicken virgin.

I might even get real Southern, and eat the leftovers with waffles tomorrow.

Enjoy!