I've been hankerin' for some fried chicken lately. And finally, when I bought a 10-pack of thighs without a real plan on what to do with them, I fried 'em according to Paula Dean's grandmother's recipe, which isn't just frying, but steaming as well. I didn't care how it was done, it just looked really easy and really tasty. Plus, I'd been looking forward to frying some chicken in my cast iron skillet.
I've never tried any of Paula's recipes, but when I saw the video of her preparing this chicken and the tear in her eye as she ate the result, it stuck with me. Let's all rejoice in Grandmother Paul's chicken recipe.
Grandmother Paul's Fried Chicken
adapted from the Food Network
Salt and pepper, for seasoning chicken
Crisco shortening, for frying
3 eggs
1/3 c water
2 c self-rising flour
1 tsp black pepper
2.5-5.5 lbs chicken pieces
Heat shortening in a cast iron skillet to 350°F. (My skillet is 10").
In an 8x8" baking dish, season flour with pepper.
Beat eggs with water in a small bowl or another 8x8" baking dish.
Dip chicken pieces in egg mixture and then coat well in flour mixture.
Carefully add chicken to hot shortening, in batches if necessary; place lid on top of skillet, and fry until brown and crisp, turning once, about 13-15 minutes for dark meat and 8-10 minutes for white.
Allow hot chicken to rest on wire rack or a couple sheets of paper towel before chowing.
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Now that we've seen the jist of the recipe and know how the process goes, I've decided to post additional images I'd collected of subsequent batches. I have a habit of documenting repeat procedures even though most of the time they just sit and hog drive space unnecessarily. This time, I was much happier with how following batches appeared and feel it's only right to show how I achieved the headlining photo.
The chicken above, when flipped, was a little darker -- ok, blacker -- than I prefer. Fried chicken should be golden and heavenly to look at and eat, not blotchy with blackness, though Rodney might beg to differ.
I thought that blackness might be due to too little Crisco in the pan, allowing the chicken pieces to sit directly on the skillet rather than floating in oil just above the skillet. To fix that on batch #2, I added more Crisco. And while waiting for it to melt completely (three minutes), egg washed and dredged a second batch of three thighs.
The three thighs were added to hot oil (notice how much more vigorous the oil-boiling action is this time compared to batch 1 above) and fried for 10 minutes in the covered cast iron skillet.
The thighs were then turned, covered and allowed to fry an additional 10 minutes.
Notice that the skin-side of the thighs browned even more once flipped.
Once batch two was removed from the skillet, I started in on egg washing and flour-dredging batch three.
The thighs were placed in the hot oil, covered, and fried for 10 minutes.
The thighs were flipped, covered and fried an additional 10 minutes.
So it turns out that having adequate oil is key to prevent blackening, as well as allowing enough time for the oil to get hot. I didn't bother with checking the temperature of the oil, but maintained medium heat for all three batches. As expected, pieces became darker as the oil was more used, so keep that in mind if you plan to do more than three batches.
What is my take on the recipe? Easy! I like that there is a cover for the skillet as the chicken fries, greatly minimizing the clean-up and fear of freak-oil spatters. I don't know about you, but I handle hot oil as I do electric fences -- I stay away: far, far away.
I also liked that there was enough breading (egg wash and dredging flour) material called for in the original recipe that I didn't have to club-finger my way into preparing more.
In the future I will allow the oil to get to temperature before adding the first batch of chicken. I'm not sure that I'll ever use white meat to fry chicken, but dark meat? No problem. Dark meat is flexible enough that even a 20-minute total fry time isn't going to reduce it to cinders, but yield a deliciously succulent moist texture, while maintaining a golden appearance.
Would I make this again? Yep, no brainer; I'd make it again in a heartbeat. I will also include a little bit of spicy-hot, say some cayenne in the dredging flour.
Cost:
- chicken: $5.19/5.24 lb
- everthing else, SWAG: $1
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