Yes, you read it right ‘Billion Dollar Chicken’, fried chicken today is a multibillion-dollar industry worldwide. So many restaurant chains and chefs operate their business based on this simple fried chicken dish. Fried chicken is like a religion to many people and they swear by their own recipes and family traditions. Today, I will discuss in detail about this simple sounding dish and the techniques involved to make it crispy and mouthwatering.
The history of fried chicken in the United States dates to the Scottish immigrants to the southern states, and they had a tradition of deep frying the chicken in fat that dates back to middle age, unlike their English counterparts who insisted on baking their chicken or broiling their chickens. When it was introduced to the United States, fried chicken immediately became a common staple. Later, Africans brought over in the slave trade became cooks in many southern households and incorporated seasonings and spices that were absent in traditional Scottish cuisine and elevating the simple fried chicken to another level. Fried chicken continues to be a weekend and holiday favourite in common household in southern United States.
Fried chicken is a common food item all over the world and they all have their own versions of the recipe. In Asia, the chicken is fried in such a way that the skin is extremely crunchy, but the white meat is relatively soft, and is served with salt pepper and prawn crackers in China and Hong Kong. It is a popular item served during Chinese weddings too.
In Korea, fried chicken is eaten usually as a bar food and as a snack. The chicken is usually seasoned with spices after it is fried. Korean chicken is small as compared to the ones available in the United States so the Korean restaurants fry the chicken whole and then cut them into small pieces before serving. Small wings and drumsticks are very popular in Korean restaurants.
Making a fried chicken may sound easy to you but it involves some prep work, knowledge about temperatures and time to get a perfect crispy outside and juicy tender inside. The world-famous KFC chicken started by Colonel Harland Sanders was adamant that his chicken to be pan fried while operating his restaurant, but he was also unhappy with the fact that the traditional method took more than half an hour, far too long for a conventional restaurant. Sanders purchased one of the first commercial pressure cookers ever produced in 1939 and converted it into a pressure fryer and found that the resulting chicken was as good as his pan-fried chicken and cooked in half the time. Not only his development set the cooking time in half but also paved the way to take his home fried chicken to a restaurant kitchen and expanding that one restaurant to all over the world.
There are three popular techniques for frying the chicken – pan frying, deep frying and pressure frying. Pan frying requires a shallow frying pan and fat to fry the chicken. The fat is heated to a temperature hot enough to seal the outside of the chicken pieces. Once the chicken is sealed the temperature is reduced to cook the chicken, some people also add butter in the end to give more buttery taste to the chicken.
Deep frying requires the chicken to be fully submerged in hot fat. The chicken pieces are floured or battered. The basic ingredients are eggs, milk and leavening. Constant temperature is maintained throughout the cooking process.
Pressure cooker uses a pressure cooker to accelerate the process. The moisture inside the chicken turns to steam and increases the pressure in the cooker, lowering the cooking time needed. The steam also cooks the chicken thigh, but still allows the pieces to be moist and ten floured or battered and then placed in the hot fat. The lid is placed on the pressure cooker, and the chicken pieces are thus fried under pressure.
Tips for a perfect fried chicken:
The best size chicken is 4-pound fryer.
Skin on chicken is preferred over skinless.
Marinating or soaking the chicken in brine or buttermilk for 30 minutes increases the tenderness and develop great flavour profiles.
You can coat the chicken in cornmeal to make it more crispy.
Let your chicken air dry for 20 minutes after coating to get a crispier crust.
Season the flour used to coating the chicken for more even seasoning.
Heat the frying oil to 375 degrees Fahrenheit to avoid chicken absorbing too much oil during frying.
Use peanut oil to fry the chicken as it maintains the heat more evenly.


Fried chicken


Ingredients
Serves 4
Free range chicken 2 nos.
Vegetable oil for frying
All-purpose flour 5 cups
Salt 2 tbsp
Black pepper ground 2 tbsp
Garlic powder 2 tbsp
Onion powder 1 tbsp
Cayenne pepper 2 tsp
Buttermilk 2 cups


Method:
Joint the chicken to fryer pieces and keep aside.
Preheat the oil in a fryer or heavy bottom pan to 375-degree Fahrenheit.
In a separate bowl combine flour, salt, black pepper powder, garlic powder, onion powder and cayenne pepper and mix well.
Pour the buttermilk into another bowl to immerse the chicken.
Take the chicken pieces and lightly dust them with flour mixture, then dip them in the buttermilk until they are coated, and then place them in flour mixture.
Take the pieces that are in the flour mixture and aggressively push the flour mixture into the wet chicken.
Make sure the chicken is thoroughly coated and gently immerse the pieces in hot oil.
Repeat with the remaining chicken pieces.
Check the internal chicken temperature with a probe after 15 minutes, if it reads at 170 degrees Fahrenheit it is cooked.
Remove from fat and allow to rest for five minutes and serve hot with choice of sauce on the side.