Lenny's Perfect Fried Chicken

Category: Our resident chef

Oh baby, was this a production! With secular new year falling on a weekend, I figured that I would have an extra day to recover from any self-inflicted food coma. I decided on New Year’s day to try to develop the best kosher fried chicken recipe. I actually started this madness last summer. I dropped subtle hints of my desire for a real cast-iron skillet. I was rewarded for my birthday with a skillet from Lodge in Tennessee. American made, super high quality and very reasonably priced.I bought two books devoted to fried chicken. John Edge’s “Fried Chicken” and Damon Fowler’s “Best Fried Chicken Recipes from Around the World”. The one thread that ran through both books was that most cooks elect to brine their chicken before cooking. We do that already! Once again, this affirmed my belief in the quality of kosher meat, especially poultry. First, I bought Wise brand organic whole chickens to cut myself. Although most fried chicken cooks feel that is the best way, after cutting up four whole chickens on sunday and subsequently buying a regular Empire cut by my butcher on Monday for a retest, I have a piece of advice: save the time…have your butcher cut the chickens (under 4lbs). Kosher butchers know what they are doing. Usually the cut-up chickens are just as fresh, if not fresher that the whole ones. By the way, I thought the Empire was better than the organic, free range.

Okay here goes. One by one analysis of my fried avian culinary quest.

1. Simple–Wash chicken under cold tap water. Dry thoroughly. Grind up fresh ground pepper into all-purpose flour. No salt. In my humble opinion, kosher meat NEVER needs salt. Dip chicken in flour. Shake off excess.Put chicken in bone side down.Fry in 375 degree peanut oil for 9-10 minutes, turning at about the six minute mark. Use a frying thermometer. Maintain the temperature above 350 degrees for best results. Don’t crowd the chicken. I use peanut oil. It works the best. It is not the cheapest but it combines a high smoke point, reasonable cost and clean flavor. I love love love olive oil.But it is expensive for frying in bulk and is not forgiving in the scorching department. My tasting panel loved this recipe. Simple is ususally better, but what about spicy, extra-crispy, caribbean or Austro-Hungarian Schnitzel style so dear to my father-in-law Herr Rothschild? We’ll get there, but first let me clarify. My father-in-law is from Frankfurt, not Vienna. Can’t insult the Yeckes.

2. Austrian Wiener Schnitzel style–It is a little more involved….okay…messy than the simple version. Once the chicken is coated with flour, then it is dipped in egg and then dipped in bread crumbs. You can use Osem or other Israeli schnitzel coatings. I prefer the basic Jason unseasoned. Although I love the Milanese-Viennese style, it was a notch below the simple, original style. My father-in-law liked it, but now I owe him apple streudel.

3. Spicy Crispy–I have many male family members who pride themselves on their ability to handle to heat. In addition, I wanted to see if I could make a crispy version also. So I decided to fry two birds in one skillet. For the crispy part, I bought parve crackers. I crushed them in a large freezer bag under a rolling pin until the crackers were reduced to flour. I added chili powder and cayenne powder to the flour. In the fried chicken world there is considerable debate on whether to marinate….in wine, juice, buttermilk or someother type of acid. Some southern cooks swear by buttermilk. I found a spicy recipe that marinated in buttermilk and hot sauce. I used soy milk and a hot sauce I found at my butcher.Long story short….this recipe needs tweaking. The cracker crust worked well. Crispy…not greasy. The soy milk and hot sauce marinade…..not so good. I love soy milk. I have even contemplated making parve biscuits using soy milk but that is a project for another time. Basically, the marinade did nothing for the chicken. The soy milk masked the heat of the hot sauce except for the vinegar flavor. What I got was crispy chicken that tasted like a pickle.Next time, I will grind up all kinds of peppers….serrano…..scotch bonnet……jalapeno and rub the chicken before dipping in the flour.

4. Caribbean Garlic Style– I marinated the chicken in crushed garlic, sliced red onion, freshly squeezed lime juice and some allspice. I left it in the frige all day. Be advised, the lime juice starts to “cook” the chicken…like ceviche. It comes out of the frige looking and smelling pretty funky. But I pressed on. After wiping away any stray garlic or onion, I dipped in flour and you know the rest. It tasted pretty good. Especially the next day.

Conclusion—–I learned a lot trying to get “perfect” fried chicken. I found myself coming back to one central idea: simple is usually better. Most marinades and other “techniques” were invented to hide the flavor of inferior ingredients. Use the freshest chicken under four pounds. Spice to your taste. Get a good pan. Don’t crowd when frying. Add a lot of love and enjoy.