No idea if this is already on BYC. (and yes, I'm too lazy to check!)
My mom typed this up for me today, and I found the information at the bottom excellent!
Try it and let me know what you think.
Marty
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NOTE: A whole 4 pound chicken, cut into 8 pieces, can be used instead of the chicken parts. Skinless chicken pieces are also an acceptable substitute, but the meat will come out slightly drier. A Dutch oven with an 11 inch diameter can be used in place of the straight sided saute pan.
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
Table salt
Dash hot sauce
3 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 l/2 pounds bone-in skin-on chicken parts (breasts, thighs, and drumsticks, or mix, with breasts cut in half), trimmed of excess fat
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
l 3/4 cup vegetable oil
1. Whisk 1 cup buttermilk, 1 tablespoon salt, hot sauce, 1 teaspoon black pepper, l/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon paprika and a pinch of cayenne together in large bowl. Add chicken and turn to coat. Refrigerate, covered, at least 1 hour or up to overnight.
2. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk flour, baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt and remaining 2 teaspoons black pepper, 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 3/4 teaspoon paprika and remaining cayenne together in large bowl. Add remaining 1/4 cup buttermilk to flour mixture and mix with fingers until combined and small clumps form. Working with 1 piece at a time, dredge chicken pieces in flour mixture, pressing mixture on pieces to form thick, even coating. Place dredged chicken on large plate, skin side up.
3. Heat oil in 11 inch straight sided saute pan over medium high heat to 375 degrees. Careful place chicken pieces in pan, skin side down, and cook until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Carefully flip and continue to cook until golden brown on second side, 2 to 4 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to wire rack set in rimmed baking sheet. Bake chicken until instant read thermometer inserted into thickest part of chicken registers 160 degrees for breasts and 175 for legs and thighs, 15 to 20 minutes. (Smaller pieces may cook faster than larger pieces. Remove pieces from oven as they reach correct temperature.) Let chicken rest 5 minutes before serving.
SCIENCE EXPERIMENT
Salting the Milk
In fried chicken recipes, soaking the chicken in buttermilk is a standard approach that helps tenderize the meat (mainly the outer layers). But is adding salt to the buttermilk really necessary to ensure meat that's also juicy?
Experiment
We cooked four batches of chicken side by side. Three of them were soaked for an hour, one in a solution of buttermilk and salt, one in only buttermilk, and one in plain saltwater solution. The fourth was not soaked. All of the chicken was dredged in flour before frying.
Results
The unsoaked chicken was dry and tough. The saltwater-soaked chicken was moist but a bit rubbery. The chicken soaked in plain buttermilk, while tender, was not terribly moist. Only the chicken soaked in salted buttermilk came out both tender and moist.
Explanation
Buttermilk and salt play equally important roles here. Buttermilk contains lactic acid, which activates the cathepsin enzymes naturally present in meat as it penetrates mostly the outer layers of the chicken. These enzymes break down proteins into smaller molecules, tenderizing the meat. (We've found that strong acids such as wine and vinegar can break down so many proteins that the meat turns mushy, but the lactic acid in buttermilk is too weak to have this effect.) Just as in a traditional brine, the salt helps change the protein structure of meat so that it can retain more moisture as it cooks, producing noticeably juicier results.
My mom typed this up for me today, and I found the information at the bottom excellent!
Try it and let me know what you think.
Marty
=-=-=-
NOTE: A whole 4 pound chicken, cut into 8 pieces, can be used instead of the chicken parts. Skinless chicken pieces are also an acceptable substitute, but the meat will come out slightly drier. A Dutch oven with an 11 inch diameter can be used in place of the straight sided saute pan.
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
Table salt
Dash hot sauce
3 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 l/2 pounds bone-in skin-on chicken parts (breasts, thighs, and drumsticks, or mix, with breasts cut in half), trimmed of excess fat
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
l 3/4 cup vegetable oil
1. Whisk 1 cup buttermilk, 1 tablespoon salt, hot sauce, 1 teaspoon black pepper, l/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon paprika and a pinch of cayenne together in large bowl. Add chicken and turn to coat. Refrigerate, covered, at least 1 hour or up to overnight.
2. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk flour, baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt and remaining 2 teaspoons black pepper, 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 3/4 teaspoon paprika and remaining cayenne together in large bowl. Add remaining 1/4 cup buttermilk to flour mixture and mix with fingers until combined and small clumps form. Working with 1 piece at a time, dredge chicken pieces in flour mixture, pressing mixture on pieces to form thick, even coating. Place dredged chicken on large plate, skin side up.
3. Heat oil in 11 inch straight sided saute pan over medium high heat to 375 degrees. Careful place chicken pieces in pan, skin side down, and cook until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Carefully flip and continue to cook until golden brown on second side, 2 to 4 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to wire rack set in rimmed baking sheet. Bake chicken until instant read thermometer inserted into thickest part of chicken registers 160 degrees for breasts and 175 for legs and thighs, 15 to 20 minutes. (Smaller pieces may cook faster than larger pieces. Remove pieces from oven as they reach correct temperature.) Let chicken rest 5 minutes before serving.
SCIENCE EXPERIMENT
Salting the Milk
In fried chicken recipes, soaking the chicken in buttermilk is a standard approach that helps tenderize the meat (mainly the outer layers). But is adding salt to the buttermilk really necessary to ensure meat that's also juicy?
Experiment
We cooked four batches of chicken side by side. Three of them were soaked for an hour, one in a solution of buttermilk and salt, one in only buttermilk, and one in plain saltwater solution. The fourth was not soaked. All of the chicken was dredged in flour before frying.
Results
The unsoaked chicken was dry and tough. The saltwater-soaked chicken was moist but a bit rubbery. The chicken soaked in plain buttermilk, while tender, was not terribly moist. Only the chicken soaked in salted buttermilk came out both tender and moist.
Explanation
Buttermilk and salt play equally important roles here. Buttermilk contains lactic acid, which activates the cathepsin enzymes naturally present in meat as it penetrates mostly the outer layers of the chicken. These enzymes break down proteins into smaller molecules, tenderizing the meat. (We've found that strong acids such as wine and vinegar can break down so many proteins that the meat turns mushy, but the lactic acid in buttermilk is too weak to have this effect.) Just as in a traditional brine, the salt helps change the protein structure of meat so that it can retain more moisture as it cooks, producing noticeably juicier results.
