A Rare Treat

Something I have never made from scratch is fried chicken.  First of all, it involves deep fat frying, and I seldom do that.  It’s obviously not the most healthy way to cook, so I do try to avoid it, but make exceptions for egg rolls and the rare fish-n-chips.   The second reason I never make fried chicken is that I worry that the outside will get nicely brown and crispy while the inside will not be cooked enough.  Broasting is the best way to deep fat fry, because it’s done under pressure, and the chicken cooks evenly every time.

But I was looking for something different to do with some chicken leg quarters I’d picked up, and I decided I needed to find something in one of my cookbooks.  I turned to Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Family Style and found her recipe for Oven Fried Chicken.   This was different from any oven fried chicken I’d seen before.  It began with the step of actual deep fat frying, but only for a few minutes.  The chicken then finishes in the oven, ensuring a finished interior, and a crispy outside.   How could this go wrong?  The chicken begins with a buttermilk bath, and that would be my only deviation from the recipe.  Ina suggests an overnight soak, I gave my chicken a few hours instead.

The chicken was fried in batches and then popped into the oven to finish.  While that baked up I  cooked up some vegetables to go with, and in no time we were sitting down to a dinner of crispy fried chicken.  It was fantastic! The flavor was perfect for fried chicken- and because it had baked in the oven it wasn’t overly greasy.  The coating was extra crispy and Andy and I both agreed that this fried chicken was better than any we can get around here.  While it likely won’t make a regular occurrence, as an every once in a while treat, this chicken was incredible and is definitely a repeater.  I’m also thinking that since this chicken was so easy to get together, this could be a prefect candidate for an upcoming Sunday Company Dinner.

Oven Fried Chicken 

Recipe By     :Ina Garten

  2  chickens (3 pounds each) — cut in 8 serving pieces

  1  quart  buttermilk

  2  cups  all-purpose flour

  1  tablespoon  kosher salt

  1 tablespoon  freshly ground black pepper

  Vegetable oil or vegetable shortening

Place the chicken pieces in a large bowl and pour the buttermilk over them. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the flour, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Take the chicken out of the buttermilk and coat each piece thoroughly with the flour mixture. Pour the oil into a large heavy-bottomed stockpot to a depth of 1-inch and heat to 360 degrees F on a thermometer.

Working in batches, carefully place several pieces of chicken in the oil and fry for about 3 minutes on each side until the coating is a light golden brown (it will continue to brown in the oven). Don’t crowd the pieces. Remove the chicken from the oil and place each piece on a metal baking rack set on a sheet pan. Allow the oil to return to 360 degrees F before frying the next batch. When all the chicken is fried, bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is no longer pink inside. Serve hot.