My Grandmother's Fried Chicken

My Grandmother's Fried Chicken

Maura McEvoy

Provided by: Taste Editors

30 mins total 15 mins prep Full Screen

Servings

Recipe courtesy of My Family Table by John Besh/Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2011.

It’s this classic buttermilk batter that gives chicken its crunchy texture. The batter should just barely adhere to the chicken, so make sure you give each piece a little shake to let extra batter drop off before frying. After the chicken is in the hot oil, my grandmother would put the lid on her pot and a kind of pressure cooker thing begins to happen inside, meaning the meat inside gets to cook, leaving the outside crispy.

Ingredients

• 1 free-range, organic chicken, cut into 8 pieces
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 quart buttermilk
• 3 cups flour
• Canola oil

Directions

• Season the chicken pieces generously with salt and pepper. In a large bowl, soak the chicken in the buttermilk for at least 15 minutes. The idea is that the lactic acids tenderize the chicken. Sometimes my grandmother would even put the soaking chicken in the fridge overnight.
• Mix the flour, salt, and pepper together and spread on a plate. Dredge each chicken piece in the seasoned flour to coat well.
• Heat about 1 inch of canola oil in a cast iron pan until it reads 350˚ on a candy thermometer. In small batches, place a few pieces of the chicken in the oil at a time and fry for 6 to 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, turn each piece over, then cover the pan to cook for an additional 6 minutes. Drain on paper towels and salt well.

• Filed under:
• Chicken,
• American,
• Deep Frying,
• 30 Minute,
• Quick,
• Dinner

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Comments

[jgw845]

11:05 PM on 05/03/2013

Meh! This is just Southern Fried Chicken.

Now touted as a "Caribbean" recipe, which I'm sure it is, in the days before refrigeration, areas around the Gulf of Mexico used citrus juice to make "buttermilk." Those of us who live here are fortunate to have access to "Seville" or sour oranges. Chicken (or other things) that has been marinaded sour orange buttermilk and then cooked your favorite way have a unique and delicious taste! There is even a recipe for sour orange pie that parallels "key lime pie" in every way except taste. Which one you ate back in the day depended on if you lived in a frost free area or not. While Seville buttermilk is preferred, any citrus juice will work to change fresh milk into buttermilk. So will vinegar.

My grandmother made three batches of buttermilk biscuits every day, each from scratch and she used lard. Usually she made a batch of buttermilk the night before using orange juice she had squeezed that day. What few the family didn't eat went to the chickens. On Sunday, the circle was completed. Her buttermilk fried chicken, fried in lard, was heaven, served with homemade mashed potatoes (or rice and gravy), fresh bean pods of some sort, corn, and, of course, her fresh biscuits. Sometimes on Sunday instead of a "yard chicken" she served venison from a deer she had killed in the Ocala Nat. Forest. A story for another time.

[Binky90265]

04:13 PM on 01/20/2013

That chicken looks really good....sometimes less is best...but i'm sure everyones version is just as awesome....would like to try them all !!

[Anders32]

02:35 PM on 01/11/2013

I am making this tonight!I will add a little chili powder to the spice mixture,but YUMM I cant wait.

[cfahooligan]

08:07 AM on 12/26/2012

This recipe is no bueno. There is more to fried chicken than this. Peanut oil is a better fry oil. It's okay to season your flour with more than salt and pepper echoing what all the other comments. In fact it's preferred. A buttermilk brine on the chicken for 2 hours is all you actually need for perfectly awesome and juicy chicken. And season that brine too! That's all the secrets I can give a way. My fried chicken is legendary.

Using a deep fryer is usually better. I always have trouble with a cast iron skillet on gas heat regulating the temps. Breasts take longer to cook in the skillet and end up darker. In a deep fryer, it's always 17 minutes in the oil.

[gadflyonthewall]

05:58 PM on 12/21/2012

Ugh, Canola oil! The most insidious Canadian plot against the U.S. yet!

I deep fry chicken. First, I 'season' the oil by frying a pound of bacon in it. I take the incredibly crispy bacon out, pulverize it to dust, and add it to my batter. Always a hit.

[Donna Laur Joy]

06:30 AM on 09/09/2012

If you want the absolutely best fried chicken soak chicken overnight in salty ice water. Drain and rinse the next day. Pour Canola oil in a cast iron skillet. In a gallon baggie add 2 cups of flour, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper and paprika. Shake bag well. In a med bowl add 3 eggs and approximately 1/3 c. Franks Hot sauce. beat eggs well. Get oil hot. Dip each piece of chicken in egg mixture, then put into flour mixture in baggie and shake well. Lift out and shake off excess flour. Drop slowly into hot oil. Cook approx. 6 - 8 minutes on each side. Drain on paper towels. Yum! Yum! P.S. The chicken will not be too hot or spicy.

[oldgraymare]

10:01 PM on 08/22/2012

My mom used cornstarch along with the flour. And garlic powder, and paprika along with the S&P. Drained it on brown paper bags. Still the best chicken....ever.

[Ja Bacon]

09:27 PM on 08/21/2012

This is probably the most generic chicken recipe you could have. I don't understand how it could be the best. They don't even do anything special in preparation or cooking that would set it apart from your standard fried chicken.

[RedRat]

02:52 PM on 08/21/2012

They guy says "seasoned flour", but in the actual recipe there is no seasoning mentioned. What gives? That is where the flavor is going to come from. I would suggest some thyme, marjoram, cloves, and paprika, at the least.

[stealur]

11:33 AM on 08/22/2012

'seasoned' usually means salt and pepper. In the instructions he does say to spread flour salt and pepper on a plate.

[RedRat]

01:57 PM on 08/22/2012

If that is the case, then I don't see what is so special about this particular recipe for fried chicken. Basically, it is nothing more than standard fried chicken. I have had this type chicken, while OK, there is nothing so special about it. I would not walk across the street to buy it or eat it. Meh.

[violettefemme]

11:46 AM on 08/30/2012

"Season" means to salt and pepper whatever you are planning to cook. That's it. "Season to taste", you will find in many cookbooks, and that is what they mean.

[RedRat]

01:06 PM on 08/30/2012

Hey, I am an avid watcher of the Food Network and Cooking Channel, I have seen all kinds of things mentioned in seasoning. Yes, sometimes it is simply salt and pepper. In other cases, especially fried chicken recipes, I have seen all kinds of "seasonings" added the flour and even on the bird prior to putting it in the coating. As I said, I don't see anything terribly special about this recipe, it is just plain, standard, old fashioned fried chicken that people (including my grandmother) have made.

[GraceNotes]

10:27 AM on 08/21/2012

Split open a brown paper sack, line with paper towels and drain chicken.

[Lily P]

10:42 AM on 06/29/2012

Using crackers instead of flour makes it way crispier.

[Revrant]

03:31 AM on 06/28/2012

No spices? Uh?

[Bopcolarry]

09:24 AM on 07/04/2012

This is the UN-KFC Fried Chicken, for all those people without taste buds.... Skipping the salt and pepper, makes it really scrumptious, just remember to buy Generic Unflavored Bread Crumbs!!!

[Revrant]

06:34 PM on 07/06/2012

I can't for the life of me see how you skip the SPICES, not salt and pepper, I've had just plain chicken before and it's nothing amazing, I've also had tongue-destroyingly delicious southern fried chicken and I was told the secret was preparation and secret spices.