Fried Chicken 101

Before I was a Mom, I was a professional school teacher. I taught middle school Home Economics, and as part of our curriculum, we cooked. I LOVE teaching cooking! I don't do as much cooking now that I'm a Mom, and that will change as Hannah enters school and life settles down (ok, it will just change). I was talking with a friend of mine tonight, and she confessed that she's never made fried chicken before. I offered to come teach her ANY TIME, because teaching cooking is one of my passions. The same offer holds true for any of my friends--I can help you learn how to cook most anything, and I will willingly tell you if you're trying to cook something out of my league.

Anyway, I was thinking that there may be more than one of my readers who has never made fried chicken before and would like to learn. Obviously, this is NOT diet food, but I don't make it more than about 4 times a year (and only once a year the last 2 years). I typed up a "tutorial" that I'm going to post here--but I still freely offer my services if you'd like personal help. This meal is a bit tricky, and a hands on lesson is probably NOT a bad idea.

I'm also going to add a slight disclaimer: This is a recipe adapted from my Grandma Betty. She made some of the BEST food in the universe, but her recipes were born of decades of cooking--so they don't have many exact measurements. Practice makes perfect. In my own cooking, I don't measure many things exactly. Most of the food I make doesn't depend on exact measurements--a pinch of this and a dash of that and voila! So if you're looking for exact measurements, you'd better look at foodnetwork.com because I don't have them!

Fried Chicken 101

Philosophy: First of all, if you are on a diet or can't spare the calories, you don't need to be making this dinner. Second, it's against my religion to make this dinner WITHOUT milk gravy and mashed potatoes, so this tutorial will include instructions based on that.


Tools Needed:
big fry pan (regular or cast iron)
2-3 pie pans or other shallow pans
2 pair tongs, 2 table forks
1 “cooking” fork (NOT the table kind)
cooling rack
cookie sheet
paper towels
sifter (nice to sift the flour after dipping the chicken—to use for gravy later)
wisk (silicone/rubber-coated, if your fry pan is non-stick)--for making gravy
big pot
colander
potato masher
electric mixer (not necessary)

Food Needed:
chicken for frying (cut up fryer with bones is cheaper, but I use boneless, skinless breasts)
flour
spices (pepper, seasoned (or not) salt, garlic, etc.)
eggs (amount depends on how much chicken you're cooking—about 1 for every 3 breasts)
oil for cooking (I use canola or vegetable; CAN use shortening)

potatoes for mashing
butter
garlic
sour cream

milk (for gravy)


Basics for chicken frying, gravy making, and potato making:
First, rinse off and prepare your chicken. Cut off all the extra fat globs, and I like to cut the breasts in half—easier to maneuver in the pan when frying. Prepare your seasoned flour for dipping the chicken AND for making the gravy. I pour a “mess” of flour into a pie pan or shallow bowl—REAL exact measurement, I know. Then I dump in a LOT of garlic, some pepper, and some seasoned salt. Stir it all together with a fork. Then I make the “spudge.” I crack some eggs into another pie pan, add some water (like you were making scrambled eggs) and scramble the whole mess. THEN I make the “staging area.” I put a cutting mat or paper towels on my counter and sit a cooling rack on top of that. That's where your chicken will “rest” before putting it into the fry pan. Trust me, you'll be glad you do this step.

After you've done the prep, it's time to get the chicken ready. You need a fork for each bowl, and DON”T MIX THEM UP! A fork for the wet stuff and another fork for the dry stuff. Spear a chicken piece and dredge it in the flour, then in the egg, then again in the flour—then put it on the cooling rack. You dip in the flour first, because that helps the egg to stick. Letting the chicken “rest” on the cooling rack helps the coating to harden a little bit, so that the crust doesn't all fall off during cooking. Once I get the cooling rack mostly full, I pour a little bit of oil into the fry pan—cover the bottom and come up the sides of the pan about ¼ inch. Chicken doesn't have to be submursed in oil to cook. Turn the heat on high and fix 1 more piece of chicken (that's about the length of time you'll need to get the oil to heat up if you have a gas stove—2 pieces if you have electric.).

When the oil is hot, take a piece of “rested” chicken and dredge in the flour again and put into the hot oil. Do this until the pan is full—but don't squish too much chicken in the pan. Chicken cooks about 5-7 minutes per side—it depends on how thick your chicken is and how hot you keep the oil (and if the chicken was fully defrosted when you started). After you get your chicken into the pan, you can turn the heat down somewhat—too hot and it smokes (fire potential); too cool and you get greasy chicken. While your chicken is cooking, you can prepare more chicken for the pan (if you're making lots). Also, turn your oven to 180-200, and insert a cookie sheet covered with paper towels. This is where your chicken will go when it's finished cooking.

I prefer to turn my chicken with tongs, rather than a cooking fork, so that the juices stay inside the chicken. When the chicken is golden brown on the bottom, turn it over and cook for another 4-7 minutes. Try not to turn it more than once, or the coating will start to fall off. When chicken is cooked throughout, put it in the pre-heated oven on the paper towel-covered cookie sheet. Keep cooking chicken until it's all cooked—the more batches you cook, the browner the chicken in the pan will get, so be careful (“dirty” oil makes browner food). Also watch your temperature. You should be able to turn the temperature down after the first chicken starts cooking. If your oil smokes, it's TOO HOT! While your last batch of chicken is cooking, sift the remaining flour into another bowl. This will get out any “chunks” that don't taste as good in gravy.

After your last batch is finished cooking and has gone into the oven, turn off the heat. Pour out any oil you don't need for gravy—trying to leave any “brown bits of heavenly goodness” still in the pan. How much oil you need is REALLY a matter of how much gravy you want to make, and I am NOT good at estimating that. You should want about ¼ to ½ cup. Get your wisk ready, and pour in enough flour to make a roux—about twice as much as your fat (enough to mix with all the fat). Then (still off the heat) mix in a bit of water—it will get real thick real fast. Then mix in some more and some more—small amounts (1/4-1/3 cup at a time). After your mixture starts to resemble THICK gravy, turn on the heat (medium high) and add at least 1 cup of milk. Gravy-making is NO exact science, so it's really hard to give exact measurements. It will be VERY thin. Stir constantly and bring to a boil. Gravy must cook at a full boil for at least 1 minute, or it tastes like paste. During cooking, it will thicken. If it gets too thick, add some more water. If you make it too thin, cook at a boil longer—eventually, the liquid will evaporate—just stir constantly. Keep in mind that milk gravy WILL thicken as it cools—you may have to add more water to it later, and you will certainly need to add more water to it if you're using leftover gravy. For leftover gravy, I heat it slightly in the microwave, and GRADUALLY stir in enough water to make it a little bit thinner than I want it. Then cook it until it's hot enough—then it's usually the perfect consistency.

Mashed potatoes: Unless you have someone else to help you, prepare your potatoes FIRST. Wash and/or peel them and put them in a big pot of water and start the water cooking. Potatoes need to boil 20-30 minutes before they can be mashed, so you have a little bit of time. I start the stove on the potatoes when I start dipping the first piece of chicken. After potatoes have cooked, drain, put them back in the pot and add butter and garlic powder—unless you don't like garlic. Use a potato masher (if you have one) to mash it up a bit. Then add a couple of globs (yes, an exact measurement) of sour cream, or a splash of milk. Either mash with the potato masher some more, OR use your electric mixer to “fluff” the potatoes. Use enough sour cream to reach your desired consistency. Eat with chicken and gravy—YUM! It's really handy to have another helper when your potatoes are ready for mashing, because at this point, you're probably making the gravy. If you don't have a helper, mash potatoes after making the gravy—then re-heat the gravy if you need to.

That's it! LABOR of LOVE, but SOOOOOO worth it!!!