Friday, May 6, 2011

Pan Fried Chicken

When one hears the words "Fried Food", I believe most immediately think of food fried in a deep fryer.  Well that is one way of frying food but there is also pan frying of food.  In deep frying, you need deep enough oil to completely cover the food you are frying in the oil.  Pan frying requires much less oil.  The most you need in pan frying is to cover whatever you are frying about halfway up.  The best equipment to use for pan frying is a heavy pan.  You can use the sauteuse pan I talked about earlier or a good sized cast iron pan.  In pan frying, you will always turn the food over once the first side is done.  Either method, deep frying or pan frying, usually involves a food product that has been breaded some way.  A few products that are good for pan frying include; chicken fried steak, breaded pork chops and fried green tomatoes.  Below is a recipe for pan fried chicken.  Enjoy!


Pan Fried Chicken
(4 servings)

Ingredients:

4 Bone-in Chicken Breast or 8 Bone-in Chicken Thighs
1 Quart Buttermilk
1/8 Cup Bottled Hot Sauce (our favorite)
2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 Tsp. Seasoned Salt
1/2 Tsp. Black Pepper
2 Tsp. Paprika
Canola Oil for frying

Directions:

Take a gallon zip-lock bag and carefully pour the buttermilk and hot sauce into it.  Zip shut and mix.  Carefully add the chicken, one piece at a time, to the bag.  Zip the bag shut squeezing out as much air as possible.  Then place the bag in a 9x13 pan as a safe guard to the bag leaking.  Place the pan in the refrigerator over night.  When it is time to start frying the chicken, place your sauteuse pan or a large cast iron frying pan over medium high heat (#7 on an electric stove).  Fill with canola oil to about 1/4 full before turning on the heat.  While the oil is heating (about 350 degrees), mix the flour, salt, pepper and paprika together in a medium size bowl or pan.  Take one piece of chicken at a time and let it drip free of buttermilk.  Then dredge the chicken in the flour and shake off any excess flour and place on a cooling rack that has been placed in a sheet or cookie pan.  When all the chicken is floured and the oil is up to temperature, start adding one piece at a time. Be careful when placing the chicken in the oil and don't over crowd the pan.  The oil should come up to about half way on the chicken.  The chicken should take about 10 to 12 minutes per side or until it reaches an internal temperature of a 170 degrees.  The internal temperature should rise to 180 degrees after letting the chicken sit for a 5 to 10 minutes.  It's too hot to eat right out of the pan so letting it sit could keep you from burning the inside of your mouth.  Remember that dark meat takes a little longer than white meat to cook.  If you need to cook in batches, you may have to add more oil to the pan.  If you do add oil let it heat up before frying more chicken.

Note:  You can use a whole cut-up chicken in this recipe.  Just remember that
           the wings and legs won't take as long to cook as the breasts and thighs.

Note:  You may have to turn the chicken pieces over more than once.  You
           want to get a nice golden brown all around the chicken.

Note:  You could use this recipe for boneless chicken too.  But for good fried
           chicken, you really need the chicken skin on the chicken pieces.

Ideas for Future Efforts:

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