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Well i tried the fried chicken last night and this northern girl has just got to learn how to fry stuff in grease. it's just not in my nature to know how to do this stuff. DH and DD thought it tasted wonderful even if it was a bit burnt. i think i got the grease too high to start with and ended up at first with burn crust and raw insides. i put it back for more cooking, but then i lost most of the crust to the grease in the skillet.
it also made the most terrible mess on my beautiful stove. i had grease splattered everywhere. the dogs where in heaven licking the floor and the base of the stove.
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It's as Berlyn said....there's an art to frying chicken! Maybe she can give us northerners some tips.
Treatmaker
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Yankees just don't know how to fry chicken without help!
That's why CHAMBERS had a recipe in their "Idle Hour" Cookbook for "Oven Fried Chicken". [img]tongue.gif[/img]
Oh - and for all splatters - use a SPLATTER SCREEN!
Wonderful invention!
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The Skillet Fried Chicken offered by Alton Brown is outstanding, try that one. I may be a total crispycrust weirdo but I think that the splatter screens don't let the crispycrusts get crispy enough...although they sure keep that stovetop clean which is great !
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i did try the alton brown recipe and the taste is great. it's just the "art of frying" that i need remedial courses in. over the years i've mastered sausage gravy, biscuits, pie crust (well sort of)and even collards. but frying chicken is a whole other ball game. this northerner will just have to keep trying.
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Fried chicken tips: Only use cast iron, Crisco is amazing, melt enough Crisco to come up one third on the inside of the pan, Temperature is critical....stay on top of it making certian you are never too hot nor too cold, only add room temperature food to the pan, arrange your chicken in this order: breasts and legs on the outside at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock position and thighs in the center of the pan...sounds silly but it works. Your Chambers cook quickly and evenly so start checking for doneness after several minutes.
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Asfan,
My relatives made some great friend chicken, in a cast iron skillet, of course!!
As I said there is "an art to frying chicken".
My relatives, like most did, took their frying chicken secrets to their grave!! That's why we have so many fried chicken "joints" here in the south!!
We in the south love our "yard bird"!!
Berlyn
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Here's an idea -
A friend of mine who is a restauranteur always had problems like yours - the crust burning before the chicken inside was done (probably using too hot of a flame - but watch it!: too cool can allow the grease to soak INTO your chicken. YUK! The idea is to seal in the juices and seal out the grease by creating a crust...).
At any rate, what she does is to par-boil the chicken (they don't like the skin) in seasoned water, then batter it and finish cooking it in the skillet.
Like the idea or not, it DOES work!
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I read this post when it came up a week or so ago and remembered it today when I, for the first time ever, successfully made fried chicken! Nope, didn't get to use my Chambers (still in the garage and not hooked up yet), but it still came out great. The secret: I used a low pressure heavy aluminum "Chicken Bucket" made by, yes of course, Wear-Ever ('cause you know what a fan I am of the old WE pans, although this one isn't that old.) You put the oil in the pot and heat to 350 degrees, then put the coated/seasoned chicken in it to brown, then put the lid on and cook for 12-15 minutes at medium heat. Came out perfectly, just like KFC. I just got my fryer in the mail yesterday so couldn't wait to try it out today. What was nice is that the lid stays on during all that grease spattering. Now I'm going to try the Alton Brown recipe since the recipe I had was tasty, but bland.
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Pray tell me why do you love the vintage aluminum pots?
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The Wear-Ever Chicken Bucket is a realyl NEAT appliance!
They were available in at least two sizes which were used on a top burner on the stove, and one model was electrified. Lots of people pay big bucks for the Recipe Book, even though it's downloadable from Wear-Ever's website for FREE! Go figure...
At any rate, they show up on eBay a LOT, but be SURE to get one that has a GOOD seal. Sometimes, NEW units show up on eBay. When I can afford one, that's the one I will get.
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Hi MaryOpal,
I like the way the old heavy guage aluminum pots heat up and then retain their heat. But, it does take some practice because I tend to want to keep the flame higher than I should after the pots are heated. Typically, you heat the pots on high, then turn down to medium or low to finish cooking.
Just as a side, since you probably didn't see one of my earlier posts: I actually got hooked on the old aluminum Wear-Ever pans because of Chambers as WE made the thermowell pots for Chambers during the later years. You will see that stamped on the bottom of most of them.
For those who are curious what at Chicken Bucket looks like, here's an e-Bay item#, although it's just one since there are many listed: 4436353225
It's a "low-tech" pot (which is what I like best) - it's basically just a pot with a heavy-duty lid that won't come off under pressure, and has a steam valve and a few steam holes around the rim of the lid. There's nothing fancy about it. I was kind of scared at first when I used it since I have heard many horror stories of pressure cookers exploding - I even made the dog leave the kitchen, just in case <smile> - but turns out I didn't have to worry.
Todd, that's cool that you've heard of them. I got the little 4-qt one that's just the right size for just me and the hubby now that the "kids" are out of the nest (yeah!!) :-)
<font color="#FFFFFF" size="1">[ January 30, 2006 05:01 PM: Message edited by: RobbiQuest ]</font>
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Tura - thanks for sharing. I too like the old aluminum pots, mostly because they bring back such fond memories of cooking with my grandmothers. I had not seen the chicken fryer - what a cool item.
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Robbiquest,
I think I'll try to get one of the chicken fryers. The kids love fried chicken. I have the chambers fryer basket that fits into the large twell pot(I will send you a pic soon.)and haven't tried it yet...just hesitant that I could have the oil overflow and cause a fire. I haven't been able to find any chambers recipes or instructions for the fryer basket. I just have an advertisement for one.
Treatmaker
