[honeychile]

Originally Posted by NutBrnHair

OMG!

Not sure if this thread will continue, but...

I was gonna say that -- honeychile, I agree with you 99% of the time, BUT

NO WAY is McDonald's chicken as good as Chick-fil-A -- Come on Chick-fil-A uses peanut oil!

::::::::shaking head:::::::::

But it was Sunday! No Chik-Fil-A on Sunday! I was going for the next best thing! *hangs head*

Originally Posted by EE-BO

Actually, I fry chicken in a big old Circulon frying pan that was part of the stash of essentials Mom packed me off to college with as a freshman. It is very heavy, but not sure if it is iron or not.

That pan has seen a good 15 years of use and is perfectly cured at this point. Having a well-used cured frying pan makes a big difference. When I got all new pots and pans last year, I kept the old frying pans and only got 1 new one.

What I do is blend 2 eggs into about 2 cups of buttermilk and then soak the chicken (usually I make chicken tenders) for a bit in the fridge. Then I heat vegetable oil in the pan on med-high heat- maybe 1/4 in deep for tenders and 1/2 inch for pieces. When I roll the chicken in the flour mix, I don't even both draining off the milk. So you have to roll each piece by hand to be sure the outer coating of flour is dry. If you shake them in a baggie with flour or do not get lots of flour on there, the crust will stay gooey and soft when you cook the chicken.

The first batch cooking on the first side will always take the longest- even with the oil preheated for a couple of minutes. And I just let them go until they are very dark brown and then flip them. The chicken will cook most of the way on the first side, and the second side will go faster and really be more about getting the crust crispy.

One pan can do about 3 batches at which point there is too much loose flour and batter mixed with the oil that starts to blacken and will make additional batches more soft and doughey while never getting a good browning throughout.

So if you are making more than 3 panfuls- after the 3rd pan just quickly scrape the old oil and other stuff into a cup, put the pan back on the stove and add more oil. It will heat up again pretty fast.

For draining, I put the pieces on paper towels and do not stack them. Once they have drained a bit and cooled down some- then they will be good and crispy.

Final note- if you, like me, enjoy fried chicken cold as well, put leftovers in the fridge uncovered. You can stack the pieces at that point, but don't put a lid on the container. Or if you must seal them, do it in aluminum foil and do not stack the pieces. Then they can go in the fridge for 3-4 days and keep that crispiness.

Thank you! I'll try your method this weekend!