Fried Chicken, Part 2
When I posted Melissa's picture of a recent dinner, I found myself at a loss for words. Each attempt to write a post seemed like a windy treatise that dimmed the bright eloquence of the image. This, beamed the photo, is all that needs to be said.
You disagreed.
I know I'll disappoint you by not sharing the exact recipe for the fried chicken in that picture. That was a common request, but I use the one from Cook's Illustrated, and I respect the effort they put into their recipes.
But I can offer the gist of it. I started with a whole chicken, which I dismembered into ten edible pieces: legs, thighs, breast (cut widthwise on each half), wings. Cook's separates the wings as well. The back and wing tips are in my freezer awaiting their fate in a stockpot.
The dismembered pieces went into a potent buttermilk brine for two hours. If you have a flavorful bird, you'll want to skip this step, since brining overwhelms any real flavor and replaces it with saltiness. But frying is a dry cooking technique, and your average chicken lacks the juiciness to handle these methods with aplomb.
Once the bird is brined, let the pieces dry on a wire rack for another couple of hours. This helps the skin dry out a little bit so that it's not soggy when the chicken is fried.
Plunge the pieces into seasoned flour, then into a mix of buttermilk, baking powder, baking soda, and an egg, then into the flour again. Fry in two batches in vegetable shortening at 375°. Cook's suggests some very elaborate frying technique that involves covering and uncovering the pot at different stages, flipping the pieces, and genuflecting towards Vermont. But you'll probably do just fine by frying the pieces until they're a deep brown. Monitor the temperature to maintain it close to 375° and ensure even cooking by flipping the pieces after about 10-12 minutes. Drain the pieces on a plate lined with paper towels, and serve promptly. Melissa likes the cold fried chicken the next day. I'm less fond of it.
I chose a sparkling wine to go with the chicken because I dimly remember an article that half-jokingly suggested it. The more I've learned about pairing food and wine, the more I realized that it would work well. The acidity helps cut through the fat, and the wine has enough body to stand up to the weight of the food. The yeastiness in the wine bridges to the bready crust. Plus, sparkling wine turns any dinner into a celebration.
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