I'm making fried chicken for dinner, because, umm, YUMMMY!
I was making chicken marsala last Spring and discovered the best way to fry chicken. Not being a selfish cook, I decided to share.
Put a couple of egg whites in a bowl with a couple teaspoons of water and beat it together a bit. This is what you will coat your chicken with before you bread it.
After coating your chicken well, roll it around in your breading of choice. For chicken marsala it's just bread crumbs with some parsley and garlic powder. For my family's favorite chicken I use crushed saltines and some shredded cheese. Tonight I'm going to try French's Onions and some shredded cheese. (This recipe is not on Weight Watchers, but it is on the make your tummy happy meal plan!)
After breading your chicken place it on a plate. Finish breading all of your chicken, cover the plate and refrigerate for 30 minutes before frying. This sets the coating so it doesn't fall off the instant you put in the pan.
I like to use a non-stick pan because the breading is not sacrificed to the bottom of the pan this way.
Make sure your oil is hot before you put your chicken in or your chicken comes out really oily. If you're using a non-stick pan, you don't need to use so much oil either.
Also, you may want to use a meat hammer (that's my name for the tenderizing thingy) to "even out" your chicken so it cooks evenly. If you are cooking breasts, they tend to be fatter on one side. If you whack the fatter side down a bit the skinny side doesn't get overcooked and the fat side gets cooked all the way through.
Last but not least, avoid the urge to constantly turn your chicken. Use your tongs to lift up one side just a bit to see how the breading is browning, but don't turn it until you absolutely need to.
Holly loves my fried chicken. She doesn't like to fry chicken because it tends to be a pain in the rear-end. But these nifty tricks my mom and one handy recipe taught me has made it easy. And when I'm craving good fried chicken, the colonel doesn't cut it for me.
all these things "everybody" knows: make sure your oil is hot, don't turn it all the time... Those are written directly at me as these are the things I have messed up on in making fried chicken. Now, I just make Aiden do it while I make the rest of dinner.
ReplyDeleteJust so you don't think he thinks YOU are remedial, it's just me.
Hey, some people don't know these things . . . some of it I learned trial and error. Granted, most people that read our blog probably already know a lot of this stuff, but it seemed okay to put it in just in case ;-)
ReplyDeleteYum. There is nothing like fried food. Thanks for the tips.
ReplyDeletewww.oneshetwoshe.blogspot.com