For some reason, fried chicken as delicious as it is seems like a daunting recipe to undertake. Let me tell, from the perspective of a novice chef, fried chicken is not difficult to make in the slightest. That being said it helps if you: read the recipe, plan ahead, and utilize teamwork.
I did none of the above which is why I’m telling you to do them. Instead what happened is the following. I grabbed the red cabbage instead of green cabbage. I most certainly did not plan ahead and had to run off next door to babysit instead of finishing up. Finally, I attempted everything by myself when making fried chicken can be a group activity. Learn from my mistakes people!
Without further ado, let’s get into the rest of my experience cooking fried chicken! The recipe I chose came from Bon Appetit (huge surprise there given my love for that magazine).
Ideally you make the coleslaw first with GREEN cabbage, but red works too if that’s what you mistakenly bought. I’ll admit this is a very basic recipe that seems near impossible to mess up, but I did. In any case it worked out and the slaw can be replaced with a fancier slaw if you desire or no slaw at all.
Next, place your boneless chicken thighs into a ziploc bag or between sheets of plastic wrap then start pounding. I used a rolling pan and found it to be a satisfying way to work out my aggression. Once you start it’s like you can’t stop, but you must when the chicken is thinner than when you started out.
Chicken aside, prep your three bowls one for the cornstarch, one for the eggs mixture and one for the breadcrumbs. For the egg mix I add as much cayenne pepper as desired because I like my food to have a good kick to it that you can feel and sends people reaching for their water. Lesson learned here is to use wider set bowls that aren’t super deep because it makes for an easier fit.
Set them in the order you will be dipping them so cornstarch first, eggs second and breadcrumbs first. Surprisingly that is not a given to some people.
Once all your chicken is coated and your fryer is sizzling, gently set them so the oil doesn’t splash you and fry till crispy brown on each side. I advise wearing an apron to protect your clothes and not being surprised when you actually get hit by the oil.
Now, BA says after frying your chicken is ready to serve, but I discovered after cutting one open that they needed to be cooked a little more probably because they weren’t thin enough. I placed them in the oven for fifteen minutes. If I hadn’t been in a rush to leave I would’ve used this time to prep the bread, mayo and slaw. I did not, but you should.
Put that beauty together and voilà you’ve just fried yourself some chicken.
