First off, I'd like to thank the closet gods that finally relinquished my camera cord; it's been missing for about 3 weeks. I have no idea how it ended up in the closet, but I'm happy to have found it.
Anywho...
There's been a widespread hankerin' for some home cooking lately, so I feel compelled to submit. The weather has been changing rapidly and autumn is making it's final descent into the great northwest. Fried chicken is in order.
I've never been really interested in frying chicken on the bone; it always seems so intimidating! I can whip out some chicken breast tenderloin strips like no other, but taking to task bone-in, skin-on chicken is daunting; the varying cooking times due to size, shape, body part (body part?! Gross!) and the bone itself, not to mention the amount of time it sits in the oil and hence fear of burning, etc etc etc. Cringe-worthy.
But we've entered the season of poultry and I was able to get three hind quarters with thigh and leg for $2.44. We're in a recession, people. I'll take what I can get.
Due to my innate fear of failure, I had to spend a little time researching how to fry chicken on the bone. Here is what I've learned:
- Season your meat, don't just leave it up to the flour for the flavor. I rubbed mine down with some
Johnny's Seasoning Salt and Poultry Seasoning before any dredging occurred. I prefer the Johnny's that includes MSG. In case you don't remember from my
Yankee Delights post, I am of the opinion that MSG
really doesn't hurt you.
- Be liberal with the seasoning in the flour. Because the crunchy crust should be delicious. I went really basic with just Johnny's, I didn't want a lot of garlic or anything overpowering. Also, I imagine dried herbs would burn in the long, hot frying process, so an aioli or dipping sauce on the side can be served it you want to 'fancy it up.'
- Give your dredged chicken some resting time to allow the flour to absorb some liquid from the skin and egg wash. It will create an almost batter-like coating which will adhere to the chicken so you get crispy skin in each bite. No slippery skin on your first bite, where it takes all the good crunchies off and then you're left with sad, naked chicken for the rest of dinner.
- Shortening makes a good frying fat, keeping in mind: 'Fry- life, mouthfeel, product appearance, specific product requirements, ease of handling and cost are the major criteria for selecting a frying fat for a given application.' I learned this from an article from
Oklahoma State University. I'm telling you, I researched. I used a mix of 2:1 regular vegetable shortening and
Butter Flavored Crisco.
- Don't. Be. Afraid.
I seasoned my chicken, dipped it in an egg/milk wash and dredged it in seasoned flour.
I let it rest for about 10 minutes while I worked on some side dishes; corn on the cob, biscuits, mashed potatoes and gravy. I will be the first to admit that while I put on my 'from scratch' gloves for the chicken and the biscuits, I used
OreIda Steam 'n' Mash plain russets as my 'tatoes. I'm convinced it's the most amazing product on the planet and they usually do a better job than I would, anyway.
A quick anecdote: I love corn season. When I was growing up I spent a lot of time at my grandparent's farm in
Selah. In the late summer Grandma would walk us down to Al Calvert's; Al owned potato and corn fields. We would get spuds and corn to bring back for dinner and we'd shuck it on the back porch and feed the husks to the neighbors horses.
Once in a while Al's wife would take us out to her pea patch in the middle of the corn field and we'd pick peas to bring home with our corn and potatoes. They also had a creek that ran through their property that trout ran in and we'd go fishing. My life was like a
Country Time Lemonade commercial. Good times.
Anyway, after the chicken rested and the shortening melted and was good and hot I put in the chicken and LEFT IT ALONE.
In the meantime I put together my biscuits.
Since the biscuits and potatoes only take 10 minutes to cook I got them going right after I flipped my chicken; it cooked for about 10-12 minutes on each side. This had just about everything finishing at once, just the way I like it. When the chicken was fully cooked, which I checked with my nifty digital meat thermometer, I let it rest and drain. One important thing to remember is, if your oil is the right temperature (good and hot but not smoking) then your food won't absorb much oil and you aren't adding as much fat to your meal.
I was pleased with how the chicken turned out, and of course I loved the biscuits! I never pass up an opportunity to photograph my biscuits, because I love them. I love making them, baking them and eating them.
Everything came together pretty well. I would have liked to included something green, and I did make a cucumber salad with some beautiful cukes from my aunt's garden and a homemade creamy garlic dill dressing, but it was forgotten and left in the fridge. Oh well, it will be a good lunch tomorrow. The dinner was delicious, with some sweet tea and some freezer jam, which I'll post about soon.
For dessert, I went the quick-and-easy route with a fresh pear crisp. Pears don't get a whole lot of glory compared to apples, but they deserve it! The pears were fresh from my aunt's place as well (I picked them up with some amazing peaches that ended up in crisp last week. They were the most delicious peaches. Ever. The crisp went too fast to get a picture!)
The recipe was simple; just peel and thinly slice the pears, I used 7 medium-small ones. Mix in a baking dish with a quarter cup each of white and brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg to taste (I use a lot), a teaspoon or two of vanilla, a dash of salt, 3 tablespoons of flour and a tablespoon of butter, dotted about the place. Then top it off with some universal crisp topping (we usually double this recipe):
UNIVERSAL CRISP TOPPING (Courtesy of T.G. Nottingham and his mom)
1 cup sugar (sometimes I sub half with brown sugar)
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg (I'll sub both of these seasonings with a full tsp. of pumpkin pie spice when I'm in a pinch)
Dash salt
1/2 cup butter
Mix dry ingredients and cut in butter until mixture is coarse, pea-sized crumbs.
Bake at 350 until awesome (Usually 20-40 minutes, depending on the fruit, until gold and bubbly ).
It turned out rich and gooey and crispy and perfect for ice cream. All in all it was a real homey meal that makes me want to cuddle up on the couch and watch Steel Magnolias. A great way to take advantage of the weather change.
