There's a place in town that claims to have the best fried chicken in the valley. I have to agree, as I've not yet had chicken that good anywhere else, and I've been wanting to try my hand at preparing it myself. It is not a traditional dish in Holland so I can't remember ever frying chicken before. I love these little adventures!
From what I've read, one is supposed to marinate the chicken in a buttermilk dressing for 24 hours, then flour and let sit for another four. Well........this girl wants to eat now! For those of you that know me well enough, you're probably laughing right now because you all know that patience is NOT one of my virtues.
So I made a buttermilk dressing, de-skinned the chicken parts except for the wings and marinated the whole thing for a whopping.......20 minutes. That's about the time it took me to make the flour mix and to get the fryer started. I deep-fried these puppies, but you are welcome to fry them stove-top instead in a large skillet with an inch or so of oil. As always, please take care in the kitchen, especially with hot oil. Roll up your sleeves so they don't catch on a handle or hang in the oil, send kids/pets/husbands out of the area so that you don't have to worry about tripping or anybody getting hurt.
Fried Chicken
2 chicken legs, no skin
2 chicken wings
2 chicken thighs, no skin
1 cup of buttermilk
1 tablespoon of mustard
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic salt
2 cups of flour
1 tablespoon Old Bay spices
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Oil for frying
Mix the ingredients for the marinade in a ziploc bag and add the chicken one by one. Make sure each piece is covered with the marinade, push most of the air out of the bag and close. Set aside, turning over every now and then.
When you feel the chicken has marinated long enough (if you are planning on using the chicken within half an hour of adding the marinade, you can leave the bag on the counter. Any longer and you should refrigerate the meat with the dressing, for food safety reasons), mix the two cups of flour with the rest of the ingredients and put it on a large platter. Take a piece of chicken out of the bag, and while dripping wet, lay it on the flour. Do the same with the rest of the chicken. When all the pieces are on the flour, discard the rest of the marinade. Turn over the chicken pieces so that each piece is now covered in flour. Set aside for ten minutes, then turn them over again. The marinade will slowly moisten the flour that's on the chicken. By turning it regularly, you will be able to add additional flour which will give you a nice crispy crust while keeping the meat moist.
After about thirty minutes, turn on the fryer or heat two cups of oil in a skillet. When hot, carefully place the chicken, two by two in the pan. If you are using a fryer, check the manual to see what setting is recommended for frying chicken. Fry only matching parts at a time, that way you know they will all be done at the same time. Fry the chicken legs for approximately 7 minutes or until golden-brown. Now fry the rest (they will need less time) and let all the pieces drain on a plate with several sheets of paper towels.
You can serve the chicken with dressing or just as is.
The picture is probably the most un-inspiring one of this series. If it was only scratch-and-taste.......
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