look ma! fried chicken!

DISCLAIMER: this is not my healthiest recipe. If you get fat from making this recipe, it's not my fault. If you do however gain weight, at least you'll be fat and happy.

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Fried chicken is one of those things a lot of people love to eat but aren't too good at making. It's one of the trickier dishes but once you practice a few times you can get a system developed tht really helps you become more confident with your chicken. My boyfriend (who is almost sickeningly obsessed with KFC and Popeyes) and I tried our hand at making our own fried chicken for the very first time a few months ago. We were actually shocked how good it turned out, but made a list of things we would do differently when we did it again.

Well yesterday I found myself with some spare time on my hands and some drum sticks..because that's just a typical day for me, so I decided I'd put the list of things to do differently when making fried chicken to use!

I researched a good bit of fried chicken recipes and based off the knowledge I learned from making chicken with my boyfriend, I came up with this recipe:

Fried Chicken (Hmm..)

Ingredients:

• 1 quart low-fat buttermilk
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped finely
• 1/4 cup hot sauce
• Whatever chicken pieces you'd like
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons salt (kosher works best)
• 2 tablespoon finely ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons garlic salt
• 4 eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 3 cups vegetable oil 
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter

Directions:

Combine the buttermilk, garlic, and hot sauce and stir well. Submerge the chicken pieces in the buttermilk. Let soak for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator, but I let it sit overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat the oil  over medium heat in a large skillet ad add the butter after the oil has heated, about 5 minutes.

Mix together flour, garlic salt, salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Mix eggs and 2 tablespoons milk in another shallow dish.

Pull the pieces of chicken out of the buttermilk 1 at a time. Let the excess buttermilk drip off into the bowl and then place the chicken into the seasoned flour. Coat well and shake off any excess flour.

Dip the chicken into the egg mixture and coat well. Return to the flour mixture, ensuring the chicken is coated on all sides. Shake off excess.

Place the chicken skin side down into the hot oil. Cook until nicely browned, 10 to 12 minutes per side. (If you're using small pieces like I did, it'll take about 8-10. If you're using larger pieces like breasts, it may take up to 15.)

Place the chicken on a sheet tray and bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes. This will ensure that the chicken is cooked through and that the skin is nice and crispy.

Let sit on paper towel until most of the grease has been absorbed.

Go ahead, make yourself fat & happy :)

For a video tutorial that follows the same basic step-by-step process that I followed (not the exact same recipe, but close), check this out: