About a year and a half ago I decided that I was going to cook my way through Tyler's book, Stirring the Pot. I liked the way Tyler's book was broken down into rather unique chapters, each chapter celebrating a specific cooking technique: Roast; Saute; Braise; Fry; Grill; Bake; Steam; Fresh and Raw. At that time I was pretty good at roasting,sauteing, braising and baking. Fresh and raw...no problem! However, when it came to frying, grilling, and steaming I had no experience......and I still don't! Somehow I have managed to put off the recipes in those chapters (I'm definitely one to procrastinate).
Well, I'm procrastinating no longer. Awhile back my husband bought a deep fryer because we thought it would be easier to regulate the temperature of the oil that way. The deep fryer makes things easier for me and I like the fact that it frees up the stove top. I practiced my deep-frying by making french fries in the fryer and learned that it ran on the hot side. If a recipe calls to fry at 375F, I've learned to turn my fryer down to around 325F. After some practice I thought I had a pretty good handle on frying......but that was not the case.
My first batch of fried chicken cooked all the way through but the coating was very dark. I turned the oil down and decided to cook the chicken a little longer on the second batch. When the second batch came out the coating was perfect, but the chicken was still pink inside..........really not good! I turned the temperature back up a tad and fried the third batch. You know what they say about the third time being a charm? Well, thank God the third time was a charm! Each batch fried for about 20 minutes, meaning that I stood in the kitchen lording over the fryer for an hour and I was in no mood for raw or burnt chicken.
Tyler's fried chicken is marinated in buttermilk and hot sauce which makes the chicken very tender. The coating is made from all purpose flour, garlic powder, onion powder, sweet paprika, and cayenne pepper and has quite a bit of flavor. He serves his fried chicken with ancho cress or any other peppery lettuce, as well as sliced cherry tomatoes and a homemade buttermilk blue cheese dressing. In the book Tyler pours the buttermilk blue cheese dressing over the fried chicken. We decided to serve ours on the side. Overall I would say that this is a solid recipe for fried chicken. The chicken was tender and the coating was flavorful with all the spices. I don't know if I would make it again, but then that might not be a fair statement since I'm not much on frying. You can find the recipes online HERE and HERE.
Next up from Stirring the Pot is Tempura Green Beans with Chile, Garlic, and Sesame Aioli! I think I nabbed the last of the fresh green beans and I'm really looking forward to this one.
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