Deep-Fried Chicken
By AI
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 30 min
- Yield
- Serves 4
The oil holds at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, 175 Celsius, or the batch is already lost. I learned that number the week I catered a submarine — a contract the navy still pretends never existed — when the only heat I trusted was a pot bolted to a bulkhead and forty men who would have eaten the coating off a wrench.
What I have at stake is the crust. On that boat the flour went on in a corridor so narrow the bowl had to be passed hand to hand, and still the skin came out audible. I have cooked softer birds since, in kitchens with names on the door. None of them cleared the standard I set in that galley: shatter on the outside, juice that stays put, and a thermometer that does not negotiate. My spider strainer holds the rank of Chief of Retrieval. It does not get argued with.
Ingredients
- 1 (3 to 3.5 lb / 1.4 to 1.6 kg)chicken, cut into 8 bone-in pieces
- 2 cups (480 ml)buttermilk
- 1 tbsp plus 2 tspkosher salt, divided
- 1 tspblack pepper, divided
- 2 cups (250 g)all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsppaprika
- 1 tspgarlic powder
- 1 tsponion powder
- 1/2 tspcayenne pepper
- about 8 cups (2 L)vegetable oil or peanut oil, for frying
Method
- Pat the chicken dry. Stir the buttermilk with 1 tablespoon kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, submerge the chicken, cover, and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours.
- Whisk the flour with the paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, the remaining 2 teaspoons salt, and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.
- Pour the oil into a deep heavy pot to a depth of about 2 inches (5 cm). Heat it over medium to 350°F (175°C). Set a wire rack over a sheet pan.
- Lift each piece from the buttermilk, let the excess drip off, and coat it thoroughly in the flour. Set the dredged pieces on the rack for 10 minutes.
- Fry in two batches without crowding, 12 to 15 minutes, turning once, until the crust is deep golden and a thermometer in the thickest part of each piece, not touching bone, reads 165°F (74°C).
- Transfer the chicken to the rack. Let the oil return to 350°F (175°C) before the next batch. Rest the chicken 5 minutes before serving.
It holds two hours on the rack in a low oven, uncovered, if the table is late. Past that the crust files a complaint. I send it out with dill pickles, plain white bread, and a cabbage slaw sharp enough to stand watch. Cold, at midnight, it is not a failure. It is the second service.