Make fried chicken

The Chicken

Delicious fried chicken starts with the bird. You can cut a whole chicken into parts for frying, but if you want all dark meat, or vice versa, or just to save time, you can buy the parts.

Karsten Moran for The New York Times
1. Maybe you’re feeding a bunch of children who prefer drumsticks, or someone who will only eat white meat. Buying parts lets you tailor the meal to their tastes.
   For dark meat aficionados, go for a mixture of drumsticks and bone-in thighs. For those who prefer white meat, a pack of bone-in breasts will do just fine. Figure on two or three pieces per person, plus leftovers because cold fried chicken eaten the next day is fantastic.
   A whole chicken of 3 or 4 pounds can be cut into 10 parts for frying: two drumsticks, two thighs, two wings and the two breasts each cut in two, with the backbone discarded. This will feed four people nicely. (Here’s a videodemonstrating how to do that.)
   Buy the freshest chicken you can at the store, organic if possible.

The Brine

To brine a chicken means to submerge it in a solution of salt and water, sometimes flavored with other ingredients, in order to add moisture and flavor to the meat. You can certainly fry chicken without brining the parts, but we recommend against that. It’s very little work, and adds tremendously to the finished flavor.

Karsten Moran for The New York Times

1. BASIC BRINE

   For a basic chicken brine, simply dissolve 4 tablespoons kosher salt in 4 cups lukewarm water. Add the chicken to the solution, cover and place in the refrigerator for a few hours and up to overnight. (You might add a few tablespoons of sugar to the mixture, along with some fresh herbs orchopped garlic.)

2. BUTTERMILK BRINE

   For many fried chicken aficionados, the only acceptable brine is made withbuttermilk. To make one, dissolve 2 tablespoons kosher salt in 4 cups fresh buttermilk, along with a healthy grind of black pepper. Add the chicken to it, cover and place in the refrigerator for a few hours and up to overnight.

3. PICKLE BRINE

   Put 2 cups pickle juice into a large bowl and add the chicken to it. Cover and place in the refrigerator for a few hours and up to overnight, turning a few times along the way. The result is shockingly flavorful, juicy meat.

4. COLA BRINE

   Combine 2 cups cola in a large bowl with 1 tablespoon kosher salt, 4 cloves chopped garlic, 8 sprigs fresh thyme, and a tablespoon or more of hot sauce. Add the chicken, cover and place in the refrigerator for a few hours, turning a few times along the way. The cola adds a caramel hue and distinctive sweetness to the meat, but after more than a few hours it begins to degrade it, too. Proceed with caution!

5. CIDER BRINE

   Cider brine: For a sweet, almost autumnal fried chicken, dissolve 4 tablespoons kosher salt in 2 cups apple cider. Add the chicken to the solution, cover and place in the refrigerator for a few hours and up to overnight.

The Coating

A shatteringly crisp crust is a hallmark of great fried chicken. You achieve that by covering the exterior of the meat and skin with starch before cooking.

Karsten Moran for The New York Times

1. BASIC METHOD

   The easiest method for dredging chicken is simply to place the parts in a big paper bag filled with flour that has been seasoned with salt, pepper and occasionally paprika or hot pepper; close the bag; shake it a few times, and then carefully remove each piece and shake off the excess flour before frying.
   You can of course use a large bowl in place of the bag. Just dredge the chicken pieces through the seasoned flour and proceed as directed.
   You’ll want to dredge the chicken right before frying; leaving the chicken to rest in its coating will gum up the flour, reducing its chances of crisping up in the cooking oil.

Karsten Moran for The New York Times

2. OTHER COATINGS

   Not all cooks use all-purpose flour to coat their chicken. Alternative starches include gluten-free flours, bread crumbs, the larger Japanese bread crumbs known as panko, cracker crumbs and potato starch. (Other coatings include — really! — crumbled Cheetos and Doritos.)
   Whatever starch you use, the precepts remain the same: dredge the chicken in it, then shake off the excess, then fry.

Cooking

Once your chicken pieces are coated, you’ll gently place them in hot oil and fry them until golden brown and gloriously crunchy. A few tips: Use tongs to turn the chicken a few times while it cooks. And, crucially, do not crowd the pan. You want plenty of oil surrounding each piece of chicken, but not so much that it spatters everywhere. (In warmer months, if you don’t want to mess up your kitchen, cook outside, using a gas grill and a pan set on the grate above the burner.)

Karsten Moran for The New York Times

1. THE FAT

   Time was, people fried chicken in shortening. Some fry in lard, others in oil, or in a combination of the two. What you want is an oil that has a high smoke point, which means that it can be heated to a high temperature without burning. Olive oil and butter have low smoke points. Do not use them for fried chicken. Instead, try peanut, canola or vegetable oil.
   You can deep fry the chicken in a lot of oil, or you can shallow fry it in a little less, but if you go the less-oil route, the fat should rise to at least halfway up the pieces to ensure even frying.
   As the oil heats on the stove, you might slide a single slice of bacon into it to perfume the fat, but this is hardly a requirement. If you do that, remove the bacon before frying the chicken.

Karsten Moran for The New York Times

2. THE TEMPERATURE

   The ideal temperature at which to fry chicken is a steady 350 degrees. Monitor that temperature by using a candy thermometer. And, especially if you’re new to the chicken-frying game, use a meat thermometer to monitor the internal temperature of the chicken. It’s done when it reaches 165 degrees. Make sure that you’ve brought the oil back up to 350 degrees before you add the next batch of chicken.

Karsten Moran for The New York Times

3. THE RESTING

   After you remove your chicken from the skillet, you should let it rest before serving. Some people do so by placing the hot chicken on a paper bag, or on paper towel. This method, however, can lead to soggy skin, particularly on the side that’s in contact with the paper. A better technique is to rest the chicken on a wire rack set on top of a baking sheet, sprinkling a little salt on it when it’s hot for extra flavor.

Resource: cooking.nytimes.com