Methods can vary slightly for fried chicken, but I got mine from watching Anthony Bourdain when he traveled around the South, and Roi Choi in The Chef Show. This way of frying, I cook the outside first so the skin gets really crispy, then I finish cooking the meat in the oven. The lemon juice may seem like a sort of weird addition but I think it’s a game changer. We ran out of flour to make homemade waffles so we had to use pre-made mix, but Alton Brown has my favorite simple waffle recipe.
Fried Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken or 2 bone-in skin-on legs, wings, and breasts
- 3-4 c canola oil
- 4 c all purpose flour
- 1 T paprika
- 5 T kosher salt plus more for brine
- 5 T black pepper
- 2 c buttermilk
- 1 lemon juiced
Instructions
- Break down whole chicken and add to gallon Ziploc, or add legs, wings, and breasts if using just pieces. Pour buttermilk over, add two or three large pinches of salt, and lemon juice from half of lemon. Try to get as much air out of the bag as you can, it help it brine more quickly. Refrigerate for half an hour or so.
- Meanwhile, combine flour, salt, pepper, and paprika in large rimmed baking sheet, preferably at least a quarter sheet.
- Pour oil into large pot, ideally a cast iron. Turn to medium-high/high heat. It will take a while to come to temperature – a good way to know is sticking chop stick in the oil, it should bubble pretty aggressively.
- When oil is hot and chicken is ready. Remove from buttermilk and dredge in flour mixture until well coated. Gently shake off to remove excess flour. Make sure you have a wet hand and a dry hand, it makes handling the chicken much less messy.
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Cook until golden brown. Don’t add too many pieces or it will cool down the oil and the chicken will come out gummy instead of crunchy. Should be roughly 3 minutes or so a side. Remove to lined baking sheet.
- When all chicken is cooked, place in oven for 5-7 minutes to finish cooking.
- Remove from oven, lightly sprinkle with salt and top with lemon juice.