Southern Fried Chicken

Very Loosely Adapted from Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller

This is a very loose adaptation of the recipe in Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home. I mention Thomas Keller here because I use some ideas from him that I would not have thought of on my own - specifically the particular seasoning he uses and the use of a pot with high sides, rather than a skillet, in which to cook the chicken. The way I make it is easy enough for a weeknight meal, especially since using the pot with high sides eliminates making a mess all over the stove. It is good dish left over. 

I use most of the seasonings Thomas Keller suggests with the exception of cayenne pepper, which I leave out because I don't want the heat. I use buttermilk to dip the chicken in. And I use a stock pot (an All-Clad 8-quart) with sides almost 6 inches high. The chicken fries perfectly, the oil doesn't splatter all over the stove, and the pan is easy to clean up. If you try this, you must be extremely careful not to tip the pan over because the oil is very hot.

Since I do not brine the chicken, and since Michael Ruhlman said brining is the secret to the success of Thomas Keller's actual dish, you might want to make the recipe as written in Ad Hoc at Home, a very approachable book, which is an excellent  - perhaps necessary - addition to your kitchen library. The book is beautiful and usable - truly a treasure trove of ideas as well as recipes. It is essentially a culinary course in itself to pore over and cook from. 

And I would like to direct your attention to Michael Ruhlman's Pan Fried Chicken Thighs, which makes fine use of boneless, skinless chicken thighs. 

Michael Ruhlman's Pan Fried Chicken Thighs

Southern Fried Chicken
Very loosely adapted from Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller

Peanut or grapeseed oil for frying

1 quart buttermilk for dipping

Chicken thighs - bone-in, skin-on and/or hicken drumsticks

For the coating, mix together:

6 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup garlic powder
1/4 cup onion powder
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika
1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

If the chicken has skin that is hanging off the piece you are holding, trim it a little, remembering the skin will pull taut and shrink, and you want the pieces covered with skin. 

Dip each piece of chicken in the seasoned flour, then in buttermilk, then in the

seasoned flour again. 

Fry the chicken in 2 inches of peanut oil or grapeseed oil heated to 350 degrees in an All Clad 8-quart pan until it is almost mahogany brown.