Fried chicken, I must admit, we did not eat a lot of this growing up. Actually, I don’t ever remember having fried chicken as kids unless we went to Kentucky Fried Chicken. But now every once in a while Tonia and I get a craving for fried chicken, and alas, I was the worst fried chicken cook ever! I can make almost anything but my fried chicken always came out dry as can be and burnt! I think part of it was the fear that it would be raw so I fried it way too long. We ended up getting our fried chicken from the grocery market in the bags by the steam table. It’s not bad when its fresh but sometimes it is like chewing jerky and the skin does not crunch when you bite into it. So after reading several recipes and watching many cooking shows, I have mixed and matched a style that works!! My chicken is now crunchy on the outside and moist in the center, and bonus, it is always cooked. So this is my new method, give it a try, it is pretty foolproof.
Ingredients:
4 chicken thighs, bone in (if you do not like dark meat, substitute white but the cook time will be less)
4 chicken legs, bone in (never seen a boneless leg!)
1 ½ cups milk – I use skim but any milk is fine.
1 tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp dried sage
2 cups flour
¼ cup semolina
2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
1 tbsp paprika
Canola Oil
Heat oven to 350°
Put the milk and the vinegar in a large bowl, big enough to fit all the chicken in. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Then add the chicken, salt, pepper and sage to the bowl. Let marinate for 25 minutes.
4 chicken thighs, bone in (if you do not like dark meat, substitute white but the cook time will be less)
4 chicken legs, bone in (never seen a boneless leg!)
1 ½ cups milk – I use skim but any milk is fine.
1 tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp dried sage
2 cups flour
¼ cup semolina
2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
1 tbsp paprika
Canola Oil
Heat oven to 350°
Put the milk and the vinegar in a large bowl, big enough to fit all the chicken in. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Then add the chicken, salt, pepper and sage to the bowl. Let marinate for 25 minutes.
In a large flat plate or shallow baking pan, mix the flour, semolina, salt, pepper and paprika together. After the chicken has marinated, take one piece at a time and press it into the flour mixture. I press mine on with my hand to make sure it is fully coated. Place it on a plate.
In a large skillet, I used a ceramic coated cast iron skillet, put about 1” of canola oil. Heat until oil is about 300°. I don’t usually check the temperature of my oil, but for this I did. I used my candy thermometer and it worked fine. Place chicken in pan skin side down. Do not move the chicken for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes flip the chicken and cook it another 5 minutes. Total time in the skillet will be 10 minutes. Remove the chicken and place it on a baking rack on a cookie sheet. If you do not have a baking rack, crinkle up some tinfoil and put it on the pan so that the chicken can get air underneath it. If it is lying flat on the pan, the part touching the pan will not be crisp.
Put into preheated 350° oven and cook for 20 minutes. Voila! Juicy, crispy fried chicken. I tried to give the meal a healthier element by serving cauliflower mashed “potatoes” with it. Actually, they were delicious, but the whole meal together was Mangialicious!!
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