Recipes in this Post
In the summer, even though it’s hot, I still think about fried chicken, and I’m not talking about that stuff at Kentucky Fried that tastes like a salt lick either. I’m talking about fried chicken like my Grandmother, Grace Boswell, used to make. She came from Texas, and she made the best friend chicken in the world, well in my opinion. Now, it’s my turn to pass on a tradition.
No Instructions, Experimentation Necessary
My Nana did not like to share her recipes, and really didn’t want anyone in the kitchen when she was cooking. She just wanted, and got, the accolades when the finished dish was on the table. The only time I saw the chicken before it got to the dining room was when there was a pan of it already fried, waiting to go to the table, which was too late. So, I’ve had to do some experimenting to get it right.
Batter Up!
My grandmother always has buttermilk on hand. I don’t remember seeing her drink it, so she must have used it to marinate the chicken. I used buttermilk once, but Spane didn’t like the way it turned out, so I had to find something else.
Indian Tandoori Chicken is marinated in plain yogurt with spices before being cooked. It’s wonderful, if you haven’t tried it already. I figured I could do something similar, and yogurt is certainly easier to find than buttermilk. I put some of my spices in the yogurt and marinated the chicken over night. I was right, the yogurt did the trick. The meat of the chicken was moist and flavorful.
I’ll Take it Crispy, Please
I like a crispy skin, but not so much batter that I’m eating chicken surrounded by dough. I found that adding cornmeal to my coating did that trick.
Make it with Bacon
Fat is all important, and I had some nice fat left over from cooking some uncured hickory smoked bacon. What flavor could be better than that?
Apologies
Sometimes, my son gets a hold of my things, this time, he got a hold of my camera. It’s an inexpensive Vivitar, but I think it does a pretty good job. I was horrified, however, when I saw the pictures were all yellow looking. Then I realized my child had put the camera on Sepia mode. I couldn’t retake the pictures because I had already cooked the chicken. So, please excuse the sepia tones in some of the pictures.
Recipe: Bacon Fried Chicken Fingers
Summary: Despite the use of cayenne, these Bacon Fried Chicken Fingers are not spicy at all. Stay tuned for a recipe for Hot Wings using this same method that DO turn out spicy.
Ingredients
- 1 large Chicken breast (or more if you want more fingers)
— Batter/Marinade —
- 2 cups Plain Yogurt
- 1 teaspoon Onion powder
- 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Poultry Seasoning
- 1 teaspoon Paprika
- 1 teaspoon Cayenne
— Coating —
- 2 cups Flour
- 1/2 cup Cornmeal
- 1 teaspoon Onion powder
- 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
- 2 teaspoon Paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne
- 1 teaspoon Herbs de Provence
— Fat —
- 1/4 cup Bacon fat
- 2 cups Safflower Oil or other non-GMO vegetable oil
Instructions
- Cut the chicken breast into fingers.
- Put the yogurt in a deep bowl, and add the remaining ingredients for the batter. Mix well, and drop the pieces of chicken in, coating them well. Marinate in the refrigerator at least one hour, preferably over night.
- Put the coating ingredients in a large bag and shake them about to combine them. Have ready a sheet pan with a baking rack to hold the chicken.
- Remove the chicken from the marinade, and drop the pieces into the bag. Don’t crowd them too much. Shake the bag to coat the chicken, then remove the pieces and put them on the baking rack. When all the pieces have been coated, put the chicken in the refrigerator to settle for about 30 minutes. Throw out the coating and batter.
- In a heavy skillet, put the bacon fat and oil. The oil should go about 1/3 up the side of the pan, if you need more, add more oil, Heat the oil until it reaches 325. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator, and have ready a second sheet pan with baking rack.
- Place chicken skin side down into the pan. The oil should come half way up the pan. Cook chicken until golden brown on each side, approximately 10 to 12 minutes per side. More importantly, the internal temperature should be right around 180 degrees. (Be careful to monitor shortening temperature every few minutes.)
- Drain chicken on a rack over a sheet pan. Don’t drain by setting chicken directly on paper towels or brown paper bags. Why not? Because you don’t want to be eating paper that might stick to the chicken, now do you?
Quick notes
If you are on a diet, these are not for you. You could make these occasionally as a treat.
Variations
If you prefer other spices, please feel free to add them to the marinade and coating.
Preparation time: 24 hour(s)
Cooking time: 20 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 4
Culinary tradition: USA (Southern)
Calories: 1552
Fat: 130 grams
Protein: 27 grams
My rating
Copyright © The Good Plate.
Recipe by Adrienne Boswell.
Microformatting by hRecipe.
I have been looking for a recipe like this for quite a while, thanks for posting this.