Frying chicken help!?!
Frying chicken help!?
okay, bare with me ...i'm a college student-that's my excuse and im sticking to it :) Anyway, I normally bake or grill chicken but i want some FRIED chicken and I'd rather LEARN how to fry it rather than go to Popeyes everytime I crave it.
I have some boneless, skinless chicken breasts and a cast iron pan and a non stick pan. Does it matter which pan I use, and if not which do you reccomend? Most importantly, frying the chicken! How do i do it? I've read some recipes and they use shortening and lard or whatever else, well i have olive OIL and vegetable OIL & i would like to use what i have (i'm a student, remember?).
I don't want any super fancy recipes, just some simple GOOD friend chicken lol. Also, make sure to let me know how much oil to use....do i drown the chicken?? LOL
HELP!!!!
Answers:
Hay Kianni girl,
Never fear, help from a black woman is here :)
Look, dont feel bad, Everybody had to learn how to fry chicken good at some point. Listen, you have mostly all the good ingrediants you need, so what I'll do is give you some chicken frying secrets:
Ok, a cast iron pan is really good, the only problem is that it might stick to the bottom of the pan if you cook it too fast, other than that, its good.
Ok, the key to cooking some good fried chicken is this:
Do Not Cook It On High!!! That will cause it fry on the oustide, but be bloody on the inside. Also, use vegetable oil, not olive oil. And last but not least--girl, no chicken is really fried unless you season it with a secret weapon: Lawyers Seasoning Salt. Girl, thats what makes it good! But, if you're in college, you can buy the cheap, store brand "Seasonsing Salt' and it will be fine. Black pepper will be good too, so get some.
So go out & buy seasoning salt, black pepper, and get some flour! (and pick up some paper towels)
Ok, here it goes:
--Fill the cast iron about 2/3 full of vegetable oil
--Turn the pan on medium/high (but closer to medium)
--Rinse the chicken, and sprinkle it with Seasoning Salt--but not too too much or it will be salty & the black pepper
--Put flour in a plastic bag (use the supermarket bag if you have to), and throw the chicken in there and shake it around until its fully coated. (you dont need to batter it with egg and all that).
--sprinkle the pan with a few specks of flour. When the flour sizzles on contact, the oil is ready
--place the chicken in the pan. If grease starts popping all over the place like gunshots are going off--its too high!! Turn it down!Move the chicken to a back burner until the burner cools down a bit, then move it back after it cools down/
--Leave it alone for about 7 minutes, just let it fry. (but since chicken breast is light, it might take only 5 minutes)
--Turn it on the other side, let it fry for 7 minutes
--Turn it back around, let it fry for another 5 minutes.
--It should be done. Take it out, and place it on a paper plate & paper towel to drain the grease. You can cut it to make sure its done. (If not, put it back in.)
--Then Eat!!
cast iron skillet is best. canola oil better for heart. temp on stove at about a medium. wait to get real real hot. put flour in a large baggie with salt and pepper mix and shake good to cover chicken. put in the pan and cook a MIN of 20 min on each side. if you can handle this you will make perfect chicken every time.
Grandmother Paul's Fried Chicken Recipe
My Grandmother Paul always said to season chicken and return it to the refrigerator and let it sit as long as time permits, at least 2 to 3 hours. And always use small chickens.
Salt and pepper, for seasoning chicken
Crisco shortening, for frying
3 eggs
1/3 cup water
2 cups self-rising flour
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 (2 1/2 pound) chicken, cut into pieces
Heat shortening in a cast iron skillet to 350 degrees F.
Beat eggs with water in a small bowl. In a shallow bowl, season flour with pepper. Dip chicken pieces in egg mixture and then coat well in flour mixture.
Carefully add to hot shortening, in batches if necessary, place lid on top of skillet, and fry until brown and crisp.
Remember that dark meat requires a longer cooking time (about 13 to 14 minutes, compared to 8 to 10 minutes for white meat.)
use the iron you want it to be about two inch with oil vegetable take your chicken run cold water over it then if you have some milk and egg you don't have to but if you do it makes it more crusty mix 1 egg with about 1 cup milk dip the chicken in egg and milk then add seasoning pepper seasoning salt if you have it but if not just salt some garlic salt or powder if you have some get your oil hot about med put chicken in flour put it in oil until golden brown on each side if you want it with soft crust when its about done put a lid on for about 5 minutes enjoy
Cast Iron pan, never use olive oil for frying.... put approximately 2 inches of oil in the pan... med/hi heat til hot then medium heat... make an egg wash with egg and water more water than egg... mix well
in plastic bag put some selfrising flour... and whatever spices you like... (garlic, salt & pepper are what i use) dip your chicken pieces in the egg wash and then put in the bag of flour. coat pieces shaking off excess place in oil carefully let cook on each side 15/20 minutes. drain on brown paper bag or papertowel before serving. If you cut the breast into strips it will cut down your cooking time.
Enjoy!
Cast iron all the way. I slice the breast in half lengthwise and pound them down to about 3/8". Use the cast iron if you don't have a meat mallet. Season them up with whatever turns you on ,such as lemon pepper or cajun ect. Heat the skillet up with some olive oil and when hot (not too hot) put the chicken in. It won't take too long. Flip only once. Polk with a fork and if you don't see blood, they're ready. Enjoy. You can even put them on a grill too.
Skin-on chicken is best for frying. I soak my chicken in buttermilk for a while. Then simply coat with flour seasoned with salt and pepper.
You want you grease fairly hot, but will need to turn down the heat and let the chicken cook. My grandmother (and I do it) , put a lid on it at this time. After chicken cooks on both sides and is about done, (165*) or fork tender, remove lid and turn heat back up just to crisp up chicken.
For spicier chic, add cajun seasoning to buttermilk.
This recipe works well for oven-fried chicken as well. Bake 350* on greased sheet, til fork tender. Hope this helps.
If you use too high heat, you may overcook the outsike and the meat be raw.
Don't use Olive Oil..it burns and becomes rancid at the temp you need to fry Chicken...
1.) after a thorough washing...soak the Chicken..use salt water and give it an hour or so covered in a bowl
2.) refer to a decent Cookbook..Joy of Cooking or Betty Crocker will set you on the right course..
3.) IMHO the pan you use matters...real Sunday Dinner Chicken fryers almost all use Cast-Iron skillets..me I use my
Farberware Chick Skillet..it's a 14" pan with a lid..that will fry a whole..8 pc chicken in one pass..
4.) In Maryland they say use beaten egg to coat the chicken and get a batter effect with your preference of coating..
House of Autry sells a great one in the Flour aisle of
most Wal-marts or any chain in the South/East..
.(I used to own a restaurant and we used "English's" famous method of coating the clean chicken with the flour/seasoning and letting in sit in the fridge over night..)
5.) Corn oil..or better yet Peanut Oil in the pan enough to cover the bottom 1/3 of the Chicken will suffice..and you get it evenly hot where you can drop a little piece of batter and get it to fry..it's time to add the chicken..brown it on both sides..then turn the heat down and put a lid over the pan to steam for 5-6 minutes..then take the lid off and continue to fry until it crisps..in all it takes a good 35 minutes to cook a pan of chiicken to the optimum..depending on how large the pieces you chose..
6.) the last step is to put the chicken on papertowels to soak any excess oil..and salt/pepper to taste..right when it is removed..
Do you really want to fry it, or get that fried chicken taste? you seem to be a little health conscience so why not use a coating mix like shake n'bake, and put it in a pan and bake it. you really do get that fried chicken taste without the extra artery clogging grease!
Ok use the cast iron pan... Ok put some vegetable oil (canola oil is better tho) in the pan. pour some about as big as a cd then stop pouring. Ok. Get some eggs & milk and whisk them up in a bowl. Put some flour in a plate. Now take the chicken 1 by 1 dip it in the egg mix then put it in the flour & flour all sides. put them in the pan. turn it on med. heat and fry it (be sure to turn reg.)! Should be delicious!! Good luck!
nope it doen't matter if your using a non stick pan.just use vegetable oil. yup. the oil must be a little above the chicken.. if you just want a simple friend chicken..try putting salt only in the chicken and just fry it..that simple..at wait until the chicken turn golden brown outsde..and your fire must be miedium heat.(i thnk)