Fried Chicken

[spacial]

Just read through this thread.

Love chicken. Sadly, my wife prefers to cook as her mother did. Fresh chicken and everything cooked in a pot. They didn't have ovens and oil was used for dressings.

Even after all these years, it's still a terrible struggle to get her to even shallow fry. Her mother did have a grill so she thinks that grilled is better than frying.

I did manage to get her to use the oven, but years ago, she read somewhere that the bulk of the fat in chicken is under the skin. So she always peels chicken before cooking. As you can imagine, unless it is steeped in a caserole or similar, it tends to be somewhat dry.

Does anyone know of a recipe to make decent southern chicken in an oven?

Incidently, Janet's recipe has my mouth watering. But I don't think it's going to happen.

[Joelene9]

  I do not fry chicken in a pan, but I oven fry it though.  Frying chicken is messy.  I fry beef and pork.  I do deep fry fish nuggets with the various batters in a nonstick saucepan with the higher sides to prevent splatter.  I sieve and save the corn oil in the refrigerator to be used for other stuff.  I pour off the rend into a saucepan when the oven fried chicken is almost done for gravy.  I use various coating mixes on my chicken, depending on mood.  Luzianne brand Cajun style is my favorite. 

  Joelene

[Jamie D]

Just read through this thread.

Love chicken. Sadly, my wife prefers to cook as her mother did. Fresh chicken and everything cooked in a pot. They didn't have ovens and oil was used for dressings.

Even after all these years, it's still a terrible struggle to get her to even shallow fry. Her mother did have a grill so she thinks that grilled is better than frying.

I did manage to get her to use the oven, but years ago, she read somewhere that the bulk of the fat in chicken is under the skin. So she always peels chicken before cooking. As you can imagine, unless it is steeped in a caserole or similar, it tends to be somewhat dry.

Does anyone know of a recipe to make decent southern chicken in an oven?

Incidently, Janet's recipe has my mouth watering. But I don't think it's going to happen.

I make my fried chicken in the oven as well.  I usually buy a whole chicken, already split into separate parts, and follow the Bisquick recipe (below).  I cannot recall if you have the Bisquick brand in the UK, but it is dry mix of flour, salt, and baking powder.

http://www.food.com/recipe/Oven-Fried-Bisquick-Chicken-93914

[Devlyn]

Buy some breast tenderloins, six will work great in a one quart Slideloc bag. For larger batches use a gallon bag. Add your dry seasonings to the bag, I use powdered sage and thyme, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, italian seasoning, chili powder, and salt. Add a little soy sauce, hot sauce, and a splash of red wine vinegar. Mix it up really good, then add your chicken to the bag. Add red wine vinegar until its halfway up the chicken. Add water until it just covers the chicken, close the bag and mix everything up and let it marinate at least fifteen minutes. An hour is better. Drain your liquid out of the bag, add about a half cup of flour (we season the meat, so the flour is plain) close the bag and shake until all the chicken is dry and flour coated. You can add a bit of flour if the chicken "took" it all Melt 1/4 inch of vegetable shortening in a pan over the lowest heat. Turn it to high and when its smoking a bit, lay the tenders in it and cook four minutes. You may have to turn the heat down if its getting too hot, Turn them over and give them four minutes on the other side. Take them out of the pan and let them rest five minutes on a wire rack. The house will smell like the county fair! Hugs, Devlyn

[spacial]

Thanks you everyone.

Jolene. I'm not sure how to onen fry. Sorry to be so ignorant. It's just never occured to me really. Can you say how you do it?

JamieD. That sounds good. I don't think I've seen Bisquick here, but I do kinda live in the back of beyond, (ie outside London), so range is limited. But I did find this which is apparently a substitute. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisquick

Thank you Devlin. My mouth is watering at the thoght of it.

I'm a wee bit concerned though about the possible alcohol in the wine vinigar. Do you know if there is any?

Sadly, alcohol interferes with my meds. But that looks so good It may be worth a visit to the hospital. Though probably not quite!

Jill

Addition.

My wife has just suggested that we might also try a suggestion by a Chef here in the UK, Marco Pierre White,( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Pierre_White ) of rubbing the chicken with a stock cube. (Chicken in this country is very bland. Having tried hand reared chicken in Africa, which her mother killed then cooked, I can assure anyone, there is a huge difference. We can sometimes get good chicken in France, but it's not guaranteed to be available. Most if it is, as they describe it, poulet Anglais. ).

Any thoughts?

[Devlyn]

Chicken is raised and slaughtered quickly here, and doesn't have time to develop flavor like a free range, old hen. You will have to raise your own chickens for that. I don't think any alcohol in vinegar survives the high temperature frying process. The recipe will work with water, salt, and seasonings just fine. You only live once, try it! Hugs, Devlyn

[Joelene9]

Thanks you everyone.

Jolene. I'm not sure how to onen fry. Sorry to be so ignorant. It's just never occured to me really. Can you say how you do it?

Preheat oven to 400° F (205°C).  Line a small cake pan with foil (optional for a cleaner pan afterwards) if for yourself or for two, or a cookie sheet with the raised sides if for a group.  This depending of the number of pieces you want to cook. Put a small amount of oil in just to wet the bottom, smear it around the bottom of the pan with your fingers.  Prepare the chicken by separating the bird into pieces if whole.  Rinse and coat each piece in a coating mix.  Sometimes you can coat each piece in a beaten egg mixture (2 eggs to 3 tbsp of milk or water) to precoat to gather more coating mix. 
  Coating mixes vary.  There are some you can get at the grocer here in the US under Oven Fry, Shake and Bake, Luzianne and others.  Usually there is a binder such as wheat flour or dried bread crumbs in the mix depending of texture of the baked coating.  You can add dried herbs such as sage, marjoram, powdered chili pepper of your choice and some other herbs that are good with poultry.  The salt and black pepper is usually added, but optional.  Chicken pieces are either dredged in a bowl with the coating mix or shaken in a small paper or plastic bread sized bag. 
  Google "baked chicken coating recipes" for more of this. 
  This is usually baked at 400° F (205°C) for 45 to 55 minutes depending of how many pieces are in the oven.  They are done by testing a piece by piercing it with a knife through a thick part to the bone.  A clear liquid should appear with no red or pink in it.  You need to cook poultry completely to kill off the samonella that is present.  Small pieces such as wings can be removed earlier as long as they are done.  Boneless breast pieces, 40-45 minutes.  You can remove the rendered grease about 10-15 minutes before it is done to prepare the gravy if you like. 
  Oven frying chicken uses its own fat to cook making it less fatty than the frying oil used in frying on the stove, plus the rend makes good gravy. 

  Joelene

[Devlyn]

Also, when you're frying, most of the grease stays in the pan, it's not like you're eating it. My dog is a fat pig, but I'm not. Hugs, Devlyn

[spacial]

Thank you Joelene, that sounds OK.

Let you all know when I do it and report back.