Cook it Fresh

Kentucky Fried Chicken on the left, Buttermilk homemade fried chicken on the right

I am not a big consumer of desserts and most of the junk foods I love fall into the savory category.  I love a big plate of fresh onion rings with lots of mustard or a bowl of buttered popcorn but one of my favorite indulgences is fried chicken.  The crispy, salty breading and tender, juicy meat are an irresistible combination.  However, I sometimes find the fast food variety too oily for my tastes, so I decided to make homemade fried chicken and compare it directly to a bucket of Kentucky Fried.

I’ve noticed, in my constant perusal of old cookbooks, that the role of fried chicken in our gastronomic landscape seems to have shifted over the years.  At one time, it seems that fried chicken was a special occasion food, served at Sunday dinner to a large group or on holidays as a special treat.  Nowadays, most people I know (myself included) consider fried chicken to be more of a fast dinner you pick up when there’s nothing in the fridge.  I only mention this change because I think the way you view fried chicken will affect how much effort you are willing to put into the creation of a fried chicken dinner.  That being said, here is the recipe I have developed for homemade fried chicken.  It combines my husband’s Grandmother’s tried and true recipe with a few variations I’ve tried lately:

Buttermilk Soaked Fried Chicken

Marinade:

2 cups buttermilk

1 Tablespoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 medium chicken, cut up

Breading:

2 cups flour

1 Tablespoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

vegetable oil for frying

1.  In a large bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, salt,  cayenne pepper, and Worcestershire sauce.  Add the chicken pieces to the buttermilk and turn to coat.  Cover the chicken and marinate in the refrigerator for a few hours.

2.  For the breading: In a shallow dish stir together the flour, salt and peppers.  Once the chicken is finished marinating, remove each piece of chicken from the marinade and dredge in the breading mixture.  Place breaded chicken pieces on a baking sheet and let rest for 10 minutes to allow breading to adhere.

3.  While chicken is resting, heat 1 inch of oil in a large skillet (preferably cast iron) over medium heat.  Once the chicken has rested for 10 minutes, dredge it once more in the flour mixture and place immediately in the hot oil.  Fry on medium heat for 10 minutes per side, or until the chicken has reached an internal temp of 180 degrees.  Check often to make sure the coating is not burning and turn down the heat a little if the chicken seems to be browning too quickly.

4.  Once the chicken is finished frying, place it on a paper towel lined platter to soak up the extra oil and serve immediately.

I fried up a batch of this chicken today while my husband simultaneously ran out for a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken.  We then sat down with a few friends to compare the two kinds of chicken and the votes are in!  The four tasters pretty much unanimously agreed that the homemade fried chicken was better overall.  I personally found the homemade chicken to be less salty but more flavorful than the Kentucky Fried.  The coating on the homemade chicken was perhaps a tad less crunchy, but it was very flavorful with a bit of tang from the buttermilk.  The meat on the homemade chicken was so tender, making the Kentucky Fried seem a little stringy in comparison.  The one complaint about the homemade fried chicken was that it had a little too much crunchy coating, especially on the smaller pieces of meat.  The drumsticks had almost more breading than chicken!

Given the decided preference for the flavor of homemade fried chicken over the take out variety, is it really worthwhile to make homemade?  As far as the price goes, the answer is “yes”.  The homemade fried chicken, even made with hormone free, organic chicken, cost about $8.00 for 10 pieces.  Conversely, an 8 piece bucket of Kentucky Fried chicken was $11.99 before tax, and was almost certainly not made with organic chicken.  The sticking point, for me, is the effort that one must put into a batch of homemade fried chicken.  Not only is there the time needed for marinating, breading and frying the chicken but there is the considerable job of cleaning up afterward.  Frying chicken makes an oily mess of pans, cooktop and even the kitchen floor, so that clean up takes almost as long as frying the chicken.  I don’t normally take cleaning time into account for these comparisons, but fried chicken is an especially messy dish.

Bottom Line: The homemade fried chicken was delightfully crunchy, flavorful and just a bit tangy with tender meat and was also considerably cheaper than takeout.  Kentucky Fried, however, has the distinct advantages of being easy to pick up and needing little clean up.  Given these facts, I suggest that we return to the tradition of occasionally gathering together a big group of friends and frying a big batch of chicken.  For weeknight cravings, however, I’ll be sticking with KFC.