Chicken… Fried Chicken

It’s been quite a day around here. We started out early at 5 AM getting a steer up and loaded to take to the processor. Once we got back I started reviewing orders for Tuesday’s deliveries… which reminded me I needed to do an inventory recount of all the beef and chicken freezers. Keeping up with inventory has been challenging since Jeremiah and I are on two different schedules and we’re both pulling for orders… but I think I finally got a good system in place. Anyways, I noticed the vacuum seal on a couple of packs of chicken legs had come undone… now they’re not sellable so why not fry up some chicken for lunch!

I really didn’t have time to fry up chicken today. I have an entire house to start clearing out and decluttering since we’ll be listing our house on the market soon. I was really dreading it, so I started frying chicken.

My sister makes some good fried chicken. Nothing fancy really, and it’s a super simple recipe, but if you follow her instructions you’ll get a nice thick, crispy shell on your chicken that won’t crumble off.

First, start with about 8 chicken legs with the skin still on. I use my cast iron skillet and heat up some peanut oil over med-high heat. Vegetable oil, canola oil, even Crisco would work but I just prefer the peanut oil. I put enough oil in the skillet to where it’s about a 1/2” deep, along with a couple of tablespoons of butter.

Next, whisk an egg together with some milk. I typically use buttermilk but I only had heavy cream on hand today and it worked just fine. Now my sister tells me to salt and pepper with every step- your raw chicken, your egg wash, your flour breading, every time you turn the chicken in the skillet - she says that chicken just soaks up the salt but she also use to lick the salt shaker as a small child so use the salt and pepper to your liking.

So after you got your egg wash whisked up, put some flour in a shallow dish. Now I like to use Kentucky Colonel Seasoned Flour - I fry everything in this - okra, green tomatoes, pork chops. But if you’re using basic flour, you should probably add the salt and pepper and maybe try some other seasonings, too, like garlic powder, paprika, white ground pepper, thyme, celery salt.

Once your oil is real hot, coat your legs in the egg wash, then your flour mixture, and place each leg in the skillet. Try and fit all those legs in there because those legs need to cook for about 40 minutes so you don’t want to be fooling with trying to cook in batches. Then turn your heat down to medium. So here’s the secret to getting that crispy skin that doesn’t fall off your chicken… DON’T KEEP TURNING THE CHICKEN. Place the chicken in the skillet and leave it there for a good 8-10 minutes. You’ll start to see that brown golden color creep up the sides of the chicken legs. Take one chicken leg and check underneath for that crisp skin and when it’s ready then turn all your chicken pieces. Do this until all sides are cooked. It’ll take you about 40 minutes total.

Once finished, just put on a plate with paper towels to soak up the excess oil and then they’re ready to eat! It’s really a simple recipe with simple ingredients and offers a lot of flexibility to create your own frying mix.

Find the recipe below. I don’t measure anything when I cook… so I did my best guestimates on amounts 😬

Crispy Fried Chicken

Ingredients

• 8 Hollow Oak Farm Chicken Legs

• 1 egg

• 1 c. buttermilk

• 2-3 cups KY Colonel Seasoned Flour

• 2 tablespoons butter

• peanut oil

• salt & pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat your oil and butter in a large cast-iron skillet over med-high heat. You want about 1/2” - 1” of oil resting in your skillet.

2. In a bowl whisk together your egg and buttermilk.

3. Put your seasoned flour in a shallow dish. Season with additional salt & pepper if you like.

4. Coat each chicken leg with the egg wash and then dredge in the flour.

5. Place all the chicken legs in the cast-iron skillet. Reduce heat to medium.

6. Allow chicken to cook about 8 minutes on each side, turning the chicken only once per side (see the underlined note above). Continue until all sides are crisp and golden brown.

7. Allow chicken legs to cool and to drain excess oil on a plate lined with paper towels.