How to Fry a Chicken - Southern Style.

 

Fried Chicken, somewhat the staple of every meal is not as common as one thinks.  Now, it is easy to get them from the supermarket and of course, the restaurants and any outlet that deals with them.  In my day, fried chicken was not a daily occurrence for meat, chicken included, was reserved for special occasions and that goes for fried chicken as well. Chickens then took quite sometime to grow to full edible maturity unlike the hormone pumped chickens of today with supersized breasts and meaty thighs. So, when I was a child, it was only during birthdays we could be able to indulge on these and that would involve a deep fried half chicken for each person. Otherwise, we didn’t have the luxury of eating fried chicken on a whim. 

Fried Chicken...mmmm.

 KFC was not in Manila in my day even though there was an attempt to bring "Kentucky Fried Chicken" then.  Remember this was the old name of what KFC stood for and it stopped because current branding laws in the United States forbade any company using names that did not accurately describe the product, e.g. Boston Chicken is not really from Boston or Kentucky Friend Chicken is not really Fried Chicken typical of Kentucky style. But "Kentucky Fried Chicken" in the Philippines was a flop in the 1960's and that did not catch on until the 1990's when it was reintroduced to the newly accustomed fast food Filipino market as the rebranded KFC. 

KFC before as it was known by the full name.

  

Going back again to this piece of history, the main reason why chicken was very much a home cooked meal those days is that most housewives then used to do it. However, with the advent of fast food, it seemed that such skills are slowly becoming history especially with everyone working in their respective jobs, women included that no one has the time to cook even simple meals, fried chicken included. 

There are many versions of fried chicken and in fact, my mother used to make it "Chinese Style" by adding five spices as part of the flavor and instead of dusting the pieces with flour, she used corn starch instead which gave the product a lighter feel.  I read somewhere in a Chinese inspired cookbook, that some would even sauté the chicken pieces in a sugar-light soy sauce mixture after frying them to give it a "Hong Kong" flavor. 

Light soy sauce, sugar, some chili even and sesame seeds
now its time for some Chinese Chicken!

But here in the US and if I believe it's what "traditional" fried chicken is all about, "Southern" style is the way to go. The reason why Fried Chicken is very much a product of the South is the fact that most farms during the time of "home cooked" meals were very much a Southern phenomenon. In this regard, the farm economy of the nineteenth century involved manual labor which meant slave labor prevalent in those days. Chicken was and still is cheap here in the US compared to other forms of meat, fish and seafood and hence it was considered a "poor person" staple (Note: Fish on the other hand, is "poor person food" in the Philippines because of its abundance given that the Philippines is an archipelago surrounded by ocean waters.), that as a historical racial slur, fried chicken is associated with black slavery (again, this is just mentioned as a point of historical significance). I remember how a local supermarket in one of the Southern American cities, got flak for their billboard that said, "In celebration of Black History month, free Fried Chicken for everybody!" I didn't understand the upsetting connotation of that promotion until I got acquainted with the cultural history of the United States. 

Ads like these are considered politically incorrect.

But setting that aside - everyone loves a good fried chicken. Now, if there is anything that an African-American nurse friend of mine said once on the topic of this dish that is quite significant, it is this one piece of great advise, "Freyd, mah gradmuddher alwhays sayd - eef dher iz one things dhat youse need in chickhen, eets phap-er-reekha!" Note - its not paprika, its "phap-er-reekha"! The South is traditionally influenced by the cooking of France and Spain and if one looks at the traditional cooking of Spain, it may involve the savory spices including paprika, which is known as "pimenton" or a powder consisting of wood roasted red peppers that give Spanish chorizos its distinctive flavor. 

Paprika!

The second thing one needs to know in making Southern Style Fried Chicken is the use of buttermilk which serve two purposes - the acidity serves as a meat tenderizer and the thickness makes the meat moist enough for the flour to cling well.  These two qualities of buttermilk make the chicken tender and crusty which gives the chicken that juicy with a crunch to the bite. 

Thirdly, even frying temperature is what's important. Because some cooking utensils are so thin that they can absorb heat and become hot instantly, once the relatively cold chicken pieces get into the oil, the temperature drops instantly that the crust falls as the flour buttermilk batter on the meat's surfaces fall unto the frying pan, leaving the chicken naked with no crust. Hence, the pan needs to retain heat despite the chicken pieces. This is where the traditional thick Southern skillet comes in. 

The blacker the better!

My advise to you cooks and bargain hunters out there. So not go for the shiny new skillet that's good to be part of Martha Stewart's show. If you are looking for the best skillet available, go to the antique shop and get the blackest, most disgusting looking skillet you can find for that has withstood the test of time. The blackest of the skillets mean that it has been used over the years that the oils it came into contact with have been incorporated into the surface and in fact, this means that it has been seasoned so well, the oils have transformed into a microfilm of lubrication that surely food will not stick once it comes into contact with it. This quality goes for anyone looking for a well-seasoned wok too.  On a side note, my wok is the blackest of the black which I bought from a Kiwanis sale for only five dollars and my skillet came from Mike's great grandmother who passed it for generations and it actually was present during the bombs and cannons of Gettysburg. 

Next, what makes good fried chicken is the fat its fried in. For this, there is only one thing we need - lard and lots of it. For those who are weight watching, you know you shouldn’t be reading this article in the first place. But since we are in the topic of fried stuff, one knows that there is not an ounce of health in this discussion. Seriously speaking, the reason for the lard is it has a higher smoking temperature that it will not change the taste character during the frying process. This keeps the flavor to the dish. 

And you are surprised by the lard?!

Now that we are in the topic of temperature during the frying process, one needs to know the importance of uniform chicken pieces - none to big and none to small.  In this way, there is an even surface area of all chicken pieces exposed to the oil and heat and since the same relative sizes are placed in the skillet each time, one can assure the constant amount of time the frying process is given to yield consistent results. And for an average sized frying chicken of about 2 1/2 pounds total weight, the magic number is 13 and 7 - meaning 13 minutes on one side and 7 on the other. 

That said, one needs to remember this one golden rule. You are given only BUT one chance and ONE chance only to turn your chicken. There are reasons for this: first, prolonged exposure of the first side of the chicken pieces to heat ensures the solidification of the batter and second, while that is happening, the juices of the chicken along with the seepage of blood from the raw meat appears on the other side which is then cooked upon turning the chicken giving now the batter of the second side to solidify and achieve the crunchiness like that of the first side. If one keeps turning the chicken pieces during the frying, the action in itself is enough to inconsistently keep the temperature that it would take longer for them to cook. Secondly, the constant manipulation would not give the chance for the batter to solidify which then falls on the pan leaving you with nothing more than a mess. The only way to avoid this is let the pieces fry on the one side, then turn once to fry the next side. 

I've tried this recipe and it is a success everytime. 

 

Southern Fried Chicken 

• 1 whole frying chicken 
• 1 tablespoon salt 
• 1/2 tablespoon pepper 
• 1 cup buttermilk 
• 1 tablespoon paprika 
• 2 cups all purpose flour (some use self-rising flour) 
• 2 - 3 cups vegetable or animal lard (enough to half cover the chicken pieces during frying 

1. Cut the chicken according to the general way of cutting them into pieces. First, cut lengthwise on the breastbone flaying the whole chicken open exposing the neck and spine. Cut the chicken lengthwise as well dividing it into two halves. For each half, remove the wing cutting it through the joint. Likewise, cutting through the spine, separate the breast from the thigh and leg portion. Then cutting through the joint, separate the thigh from the leg. I sometimes cut the breast into two equal pieces although this is not necessary but it may be a good idea especially if the chicken is large. 
2. Combine salt, pepper and paprika in buttermilk and marinade the chicken pieces preferably for half a day. 
3. With a cup of flour in a plastic food saver with a tight seal, drop two or three chicken pieces and shake well until they are well covered in flour. If any of the surfaces are not covered in flour, it is best to dip those surfaces manually ensuring all are evenly coated. Leave the chicken pieces on a tray for the liquids of the chicken soak the flour creating a crust in the process. 
4. Meanwhile, heat the skillet with lard. Once the lard has melted and it begins to somewhat ripple in the heat, fry half of the chicken, i.e. a breast, a wing, a thigh and a leg in the lard leaving adequate space in between pieces and for a total of thirteen minutes. One would notice that the temperature drops with the addition of the chicken but keep the heat at a medium and surely as the frying proceeds, the temperature would creep to its acceptable level. 
5. After the thirteenth minute, turn each piece and fry for an additional seven minutes. 
6. Remove each piece and leave to drain on a rack or on paper towels. 
7. Do the same for the other half of the chicken. 
8. Let the pieces rest for about five minutes and serve hot.