fried chicken

After hearing about Gus's Fried Chicken, I found a recipe that is reputedly based upon their recipe. Well, this had to be tried. It involves a soak in buttermilk, coating in highly seasoned flour and your standard frying in a cast iron skillet. Here are a few photos.




This was some good chicken. I prefer the shallow fried version of fried chicken, done in 1/4" of oil and a cast iron skillet, uncovered and without a lot of crust. This is what I got with excellent flavor, juicy and tender meat and crispy skin. This was very good flavored chicken. Here is a recipe for the coating.

The chicken flour dredge:
3 cups flour
2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Once the chicken is dredged, I like to let it sit for a few minutes to cure the coating. I believe this is key to having the coating stick to the chicken. It makes for a less built up coating as well. Here it is curing for about 15 minutes.

It is just like BBQ, all about heat control and patience. It really does take 12 to 15 minutes per side over moderate heat. I use the tried and true method of sticking a disposable bamboo chopstick into the oil when it first starts to shimmer, if it bubbles slowly, then chicken goes in. And then I cut heat to medium and look for a medium slow bubble rate. I will say, there is no substitute for cast iron and you have a good one, I really think the best chicken comes from a cast iron skillet.

I use a mix of peanut oil and canola oil most often. Mixing oils is a good strategy, especially since I need to be cost conscious of late (stupid economic failure and construction stoppage). Peanut oil has a great flavor and high smoke point, canola has low saturation and great government subsidies which keep it cheaper. I also use Wesson for Saffola for very large cooks, as it is even cheaper and formulated for frying.

The biggest two keys to frying, in my opinion, is always put wet onto dry, and vice versa. Hence if you are going to use a batter, flour first, if you are gonna bread, soak first. And buttermilk is your friend on this recipe. The other thing is to cure you coating, if you are breading, or coating for dipping, allowing the dry ingredients to set for 15 minutes will bind the coating to the meat much better.

I use cornstarch for all Asian style frying, that or rice flour. When you get those fried shrimp or fried chicken in a Chinese restaurant, it is those ingredients that give it that extra crunch. I do not like that texture for fried chicken, personal taste. I am of the opinion that the best panko products have cornstarch in them as well, that is why it is so crunchy. Although, Smokerjumper, one of the best fried chicken dishes I have ever had was stuffed and fried chicken wings at Silver Dragon in Oakland and Empress of China in the City.

It is my understanding that the chicken at Gus's is actually battered, but, I was not there watching. This recipe was very good, I may try creating a batter with the same profile to see if that gets me any closer. To be honest, I am not a battered chicken fan though.