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. 

 

How to Make "Pre-War" Pandesal

The staple of the Filipino breakfast, the pandesal never fails to make its appearance on the table. What exactly it is, is not really clear for one thing, there is no such thing as "salt bread" which is what pandesal translates into and when eaten as bought in the bakeries of the Philippines, its taste can range from neutral to sweet, the color could be white to somewhat yellow resembling brioche and the consistency soft to even crunchy. This varied range of character that describes this bread then leads to the controversy of "pre war" pandesal. 

The Pandesal: theoretically should be
crunchy outside, soft inside.

Unless one did actually live in the years prior to the Japanese invasion of the Philippines and actually ate one of these things, I don't think we can actually gauge what pre war pandesal is all about. But there are several clues on how to unravel this mystery.  

The Pandesal is a roll, usually served during
breakfast, could also serve as a
quick snack with any spread
and coffee.

The first one is based to a joke that goes like this. There was once a person who was charged of murder. Questioned by the police, he was asked, "So you killed him. How did you do it?" 

The man then meekly replied, "It is said in the bible, 'If a man throws you a stone, throw back a piece of bread." 

"But if you threw bread, then how come he is dead?" 

"I don't know. But I threw a piece of bread that came from the jar." 

That joke wasn't a good one. But in Tagalog, the jar here is translated as garapon which is an earthenware jar in which bread is stored. Bread in its real non preservative state and recipe has a tendency to become hard as days go by. Therefore, pandesal is the same way which, as days go by, gets crunchier and hard. Thus, pandesal that is soft and remains soft for the next days has a recipe that is not reminiscent of so called pre war pandesal. 

Secondly, my father who is now almost eighty five said always, "Pandesal these days don't seem to have that crunch. In the olden days, because the ovens were really hot," remembering the time his Father used to bake bread for a living, "the bread would sometimes pop." He referred to this pop as "putok" meaning, to burst in Tagalog. This observation therefore leads to the third point. 

Europeans, of which Spain, Italy and France - all countries well renowned as bedrocks of culinary techniques and art in the Western hemisphere, seem to be fond of breads that have a crunchy crust and a soft inside. Unless specified to be a different type of bread such as the brioche which is the basis of sweet breads such as sweet rolls, cinnamon rolls, ensaymada and sticky buns and are relatively soft, the usual staple bread is white, taste neutral and crunchy on the outside with the soft inside. Case in point, the baguette has this character and so is the sourdough bread or the Italian dinner rolls served by Bertucci's or the ciabatta bread. These breads are white, taste neutral, not sweet. That being the case, it seems that by historical inference, knowing that the Philippines was a former Spanish colony, the pandesal of the "pre-war" and even Spanish era might be the same way. 

Now, theoretically speaking breads are best baked in a very hot oven.  In the olden days, especially when one is looking at the classic cookbooks of the 19th even 18th centuries, oven temperatures were not described in terms of degrees Fahrenheit or Centigrade, rather in terms of "hot" or "very hot" or "moderate" or "slow" oven.  Usually, hot or very hot ovens refer to the hotness that of a clothes iron which is unable to be touched and usually the tester would immediately remove his finger lest he be burned. In terms of temperature, this is about 500 to 600 oF. Because ovens of the olden days are made of stone and brick, one can imagine just how hot this is that according to my Dad, it was so hot that one can see breads pop open because of the instant dough expansion as the crust is made so quickly by the dry heat that the gases will expand tremendously and break the tough crust. Hence, this may be the scientific explanation for the  phenomenon of the "potok". 

Lastly, my Father said before that in order to develop a crunchy crust it helps to spray the bread with a salt solution - nothing more than just salt and water mixed together and sprayed using a regular fine mist sprayer. If one thinks about it, this is how one makes roasted pork skin crispy - the saturated salt crystals would be enough to draw the surface water out hence helping in the dehydration process with the oven's high heat. 

Guava Jelly (and this from the Philippines too!!!)
with cheese - as Homer would say,
"Hmmmmmm."

The sweetness and tartness of the jelly with the flavor
of cheese is just heavenly. (Note the crusty bread.)

In this recipe, we attempt to recreate this bread, the "Pre-War Pandesal" 

"Pre-War" Pandesal 

• 2 cups lukewarm water 
• 1 tablespoon yeast
• 1 tablespoon to 1/4 cup white sugar (more the sweeter) 
• 1 tablespoon to 3 tablespoons salt (more the saltier) 
• 1/2 to 1 cup butter (more, the more resilient) 
• 7 cups flour 

1. Mix sugar, yeast and water together. Leave alone for about fifteen minutes until bubbly.  This means that the yeast has been activated and ready for bread making. 
2. Add salt, mixing for a minute or so until the it is dissolved. 
3. Using a mixer with the paddle or whisk attachment at low speed, add the butter and put slowly two cups of flour to mix well until batter stage.  Leave this for about thirty minutes while the yeast bubbles and creates gas. 
4. Switching to the dough kneading attachment at some time, add slowly, one cup at a time, the remaining cups of flour until a stiff dough is achieved. This may need a total of 6-7 cups of flour. Remove from the mixer and cover with a damp cloth and leave to rise until more than double in bulk - usually this takes about two hours. 
5. Punch in the middle and leave to rise again until double in bulk. 
6. Remove from the bowl and divide the dough four long loaves of about three inches diameter thick. 
7. Spread bread crumbs on the table and roll each loaf on bread crumbs. 
8. Using a knife or your own hands, divide each loaf further into buns of about 2 or 2 inches thick. Line a baking sheet with these pieces of dough cut side up. 
9. Let rise the dough pieces are double in bulk. 
10. Using the highest setting of your oven - usually 450oF in electric ovens and if possible 550oF in gas ovens, bake the bread for about fifteen minutes. (Try higher temperatures if possible.) 
11. Without removing the trays from the oven, spray with a fine mist of salt solution (about 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup salt). 
12. Bake for about three to five minutes more until brown. Or, broil as necessary.  
13. Remove from oven and serve. 

Tip! I noticed that traditional bread becomes tough as it gets older by the day. With this bread, it seems that reheating it in very hot oven of about 500oF for about ten minutes makes the crust even crunchier on reheating and the inside bread fluffier typical of Italian dinner rolls!