I’m not looking for anything fancy, but I am looking for tips/ideas.
Southern folk, what makes yours great (I’m way north, so y’all are southern to me
Spices?
Crisco/ oil?
How long?
Deep fried or skillet? Or oven?
Cast iron or stainless?
I want to follow the KISS principle here, but every time, I feel like I’m girding my loins for battle with inconsistent results.
Thanks for any advice.

Alton Brown is a good place to start. I'd say this is a pretty standard southern pan-fried chicken recipe. Everybody tinkers with it depending on if you want it salter or spicier or whatever.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/re...icken-recipe-1939165

Get a deep 10" cast iron skillet and fill it about half full with shortening or oil. Cook it when the grease is at 325. Don't cake on the flour... it just needs a light dusting to crisp up best.

No egg, huh?

I hate to say but Ramsey has a video somewhere of him cooking for his kids. It came out quite good. Hate that guy but the recipe was good.

Mine is very simple. I put salt, pepper and garlic powder on the chicken. Then I dump it into a clean bag with all purpose flour and shake until it is coated. Then into the deep fryer at 375 or so until done (a little bit after it floats).

Simple but good.

A little Corn Starch helps make the coating a bit more crunchy, if that's what you like.

soak the chicken (bone in bits,,,, ) in buttermilk over night,

flour
more buttermilk
flour

cut in a skillet , as in cast iron, with lard,

covered,

cannot remember the times, but the flour will tell you,



grandma's on both sides, recipe, never written down, just done by repetition,,

Thank you, guys! I’m gonna give it another try today.
Are wings, thighs or drumsticks best?

quote:

Originally posted by irreverent:
Thank you, guys! I’m gonna give it another try today.
Are wings, thighs or drumsticks best?

dark meat, bone in. always.

thighs are the best piece of a chicken, imo, but all dark meat is good.

quote:

Originally posted by YellowJacket:
Alton Brown is a good place to start. I'd say this is a pretty standard southern pan-fried chicken recipe. Everybody tinkers with it depending on if you want it salter or spicier or whatever.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/re...icken-recipe-1939165

Get a deep 10" cast iron skillet and fill it about half full with shortening or oil. Cook it when the grease is at 325. Don't cake on the flour... it just needs a light dusting to crisp up best.

That is a good recipe. I wouldn't soak it in buttermilk, but would brine the chicken for 12 to 24 hours. I don't make it at home. Too messy. I fried thousands of chickens as a kid though - I was a cook at a fried chicken joint. Using lard makes it extra-good.

Got this one from Paula Deen:

Whip 2-3 eggs, 1/4 cup of water and enough Texas Pete to make it "orange"

2 cups of flour (more or less depending on how much chicken you are frying)

Salt and pepper into the flour,I put the flour into a bowl, then "cover" the flour with pepper, then salt so I can see how much I put in there. I might drop in some "slap ya mamma" if the spirit moves me. I stir this well with a fork.

12 inch iron skillet with enough lard to get an 3/4 inch deep, heat at medium, or just above.

Coat chicken back and forth in the egg mix and flour (I do it maybe twice) and put into pan, lard should be 1/2 - 3/4 way up the side of the chicken. I usually cover with a glass lid to help keep the heat in and cook it for 6-8 minutes, turning halfway, then uncovered for 4-5 minutes to help the chicken brown a bit better.

quote:

Originally posted by YellowJacket:
thighs are the best piece of a chicken

Gospel.

Just made this last night. Buttermilk marinade and seasoning ingredients are a bit odd. Not bad. (This lady and her story and faith...remarkable.)

My go to brine (from Cooks Illustrated) is buttermilk, salt, sugar, bay leaves, paprika and lots of garlic cloves. Severals hours just right, overnight ends up too overspiced/salty.

Then air dry on rack in fridge 2 hours at least.

And agree that Crisco shortening>oil for frying. Stable temperature key, one of reasons large cast dutch oven works well.

quote:

Originally posted by Herkdriver:
Mine is very simple. I put salt, pepper and garlic powder on the chicken. Then I dump it into a clean bag with all purpose flour and shake until it is coated. Then into the deep fryer at 375 or so until done (a little bit after it floats).

Simple but good.

My mom was from Harlan Kentucky, oldest of 10 kids, and had done her family cooking while growing up. Her fried chicken was as simple as the recipe above and still the best I’ve ever eaten; she preferred Crisco for the oil

My mom pan-fried her chicken, more or less as the above (no garlic, though -- we didn't use garlic in anything). Always great fried chicken. She used Crisco.

flashguy

Momma used lard, and sometimes added a bit of "bacon-drippins" also to the skillet.

Brine your chicken pieces overnight in a mix of brown sugar, and kosher salt, and water.
Remove from brine, and soak it in buttermilk overnight.
After that, dredge it in flour seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Fry it in peanut oil in a cast iron skillet at 375 until it gets a nice scald on it. It won’t be fully cooked through at his point. Take it out of the oil, and place it on a wire rack, put it in the oven at 350 while you cook the rest of the bird. In about 20 mins, it’ll be cooked through."
You’ll thank me later...

LARD, you have to use lard if you want true southern fried chicken, everything else is just fried chicken.
and it will make all the difference.

Legs and thighs are best.
Soak in buttermilk and Frank's Red hot for a few hours. In a ziploc bag on the counter. Don't worry, the heat will kill anything. Flour seasoned with your favorite rub or just S&P. Cast iron skillet with either peanut oil or lard. Only those 2. 375° oil or lard and fry until brown.