What's cookin', good lookin'?

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[desertslave]

Ah, gristle and oyster. Yum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnnVd3wgTX0

 

[JorjaRayne]

Southern fried chicken, steamed squash, fresh butter peas and sliced homegrown tomatoes.

Watermelon for dessert

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[BiBunny]

Whatever Sweeney Todd made, just with less human.

Works for me.

I have never made good fried chicken. . Its a bête noir.

Fried chicken is almost the only thing I can make.

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[JorjaRayne]

The key is having a deep fryer. ;-)

 

[Primalex]

I have never made good fried chicken. . Its a bête noir.

How can you fail to dump meat into hot oil?

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[Primalex]

Oh, we have one, I just...wouldn't have thought to use it. We bought it to use if we are 'doing' Hanukkah and have used it twice I think.

How do you make fries?

Oh wait, you call them chips over there, right?

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[BiBunny]

The key is having a deep fryer. ;-)

^^^^ This does help if you're just not good at frying battered stuff in general. (I use a pan, though, because I lost the cord to my deep fryer forever ago.)

The mistake most people make frying chicken is that they try to do it too fast. The grease should only be *just* hot enough to keep the batter from floating away when you drop the chicken in and not a bit hotter. And once the batter has kind of...solidified?...on the outside of the chicken so that it's not going to float away, it won't hurt to turn the grease down a little bit more. It takes forever to do it this way, but it's worth it.

By the way, you may already know this, Elle. I just know it's a common problem for some people, so I thought I'd share the one and only cooking tip that I know.

I made fried chicken strips for my mother last week, actually. And rice, turnip greens, black-eyed peas, fried zucchini, slaw, and biscuits. And a peach cobbler! I have no idea why I forgot about posting about it here 'til just now.

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[1sickbastard]

Oh, we have one, I just...wouldn't have thought to use it. We bought it to use if we are 'doing' Hanukkah and have used it twice I think. . I just never learnt to cook that way so I don't think to use it.


Maybe I should try it, just to get over the fried chicken hump.

One can do fried chicken perfectly in a 10" cast iron skillet, but a splatter-guard is very desirable.
A couple of things:
-Use lard. Vegetable shortening, besides being a transfat, doesn't yield the same results. Other vegetable oils that are solid at room temp have lower smoke-points than the required 370F temp or will contribute off-flavors.
-Season the meat directly, then dredge in unseasoned flour. If one seasons the flour, the seasonings get cooked off or worse, burn.
-Marinate the chicken in buttermilk for a min of an hour before cooking (overnight is preferable)
-Buy a whole chicken and butcher it at home. It's less expensive and not very difficult.
-One can fry the entire chicken (after being cut into the appropriate pieces, i.e. two drums, two thighs, two wings & two breasts) in a 10" cast iron.
-Have a wire rack and let the cooked meat drain for 10 min or so before serving.

 

[desertslave]

I can make fried chicken but I don't....deep frying and my innards don't get along.

However, I make an oven-baked version that's pretty damn good. Skin on or off doesn't matter, but of course skin off is healthier.

Season with salt & pepper and a little paprika.
Thin 1 cup of yogurt with a few tablespoons of chicken stock plus 1 tbsp Cajun seasoning and baste the pieces with it.
Dredge in a mix of panko.

Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes. Less time for boneless pieces.

 

[Primalex]

I have to take the oil to the community rubbish dump afterwards

Use fat instead of oil. Then craft fat ball bird feeders from it.

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[BiBunny]

Edit: I thought bi bunny was almost allergic to cooking, That sounds like quite a meal!

Oh, I am.

My mother was just working for most of the week and then having a procedure done mid-week that required her to be sedated (but not actual surgery). I was there doing pretty much nothing but hanging out, so I kinda felt like I *needed* to do something. I had no idea if either of us would want to do anything, post-procedure, so I cooked a bunch of food the night before. We had it for dinner that night and ate on the leftovers for a couple more days.

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[Primalex]

I can do this in the deep fryer? k didn't know . Ok, really silly question I am sure, but......do I melt it first, . Or let it melt in there

It melts in there. You should start with the lowest temperature setting though, till it's completely molten.


I'm not a fan of lard myself, but I guess the correct fat/oil is a rather religious topic, as it also raises health and environmental discussions.

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[Primalex]

I don't think I could afford to fill the deep fat fry with coconut fat tbh, though use that for lots of light neutral cooking. Seems like about £40 quids worth would probably be needed, which seems a bit steep for practising fried chicken while I am meant to be economising. .

Money. The scourge of good food.