Paisano: Southern Pan-Fried Chicken

Mummo, my mother's mother and the only grandmother I ever knew, made the best fried chicken in the world. The last time I saw Mummo was 30 years ago in her basement apartment in my uncle's house in Birmingham, Alabama. I had recently transferred to Tuscaloosa to manage a Pier 1 and she invited me up for lunch. She asked what I wanted her to fix and I said fried chicken. She did and it was as wonderful as I remembered.

My mother's fried chicken was good, but uneven in execution and I have searched long and hard for a match for her mother's chicken. I came close on occasion, but could never replicate the results. In fact, I still can't for a whole chicken. But I have mastered frying chicken breasts or thighs.

First, I should note that in my world chicken should be pan-fried. The best that can be said of deep-fried chicken is that sometimes it's edible. With pan-fried chicken the crust is a key element, but the chicken comes first and the wonderfully crackling crust when fresh from the pan morphs into an equally delicious, albeit slightly soggy element, on a picnic the next day. The key in both versions is restraint - not too much crust.

Another key is cooking the same pieces. Legs, thighs, breasts, and wings all cook at different rates. Getting each piece of a whole chicken to the same degree of doneness for the same meal is an exercise in magic - doable as Mummo proved, but magic. So I choose pieces rather than whole chickens. In this case I chose breasts.

I should note, smaller pieces work better than big ones. The breasts you see pictured were almost a pound each and it's hard to not over-cook the crust while getting the meat done. Six to eight ounce breasts or five to six ounce thighs work best.

Southern Pan-Fried Chicken
Serves 6.

3 lb bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts or thighs
oil for frying
Marinade:
1 qt. cultured buttermilk
1 tbsp hot paprika
2 tbsp salt
Coating:
1 c all-purpose flour
1 tbsp hot paprika
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

Thoroughly mix marinade ingredients in a zippered plastic bag, add chicken, and refrigerate 12 - 24 hours, turning occasionally to ensure coverage.

Thoroughly mix coating ingredients in a zippered plastic bag. Remove two pieces of chicken from marinade, shake off excess marinade, then dredge in coating. Set chicken aside on a piece of foil and repeat for remaining chicken. Allow to rest for 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 200F.

Heat 1/2-inch oil in a large, straight-sided, lidded skillet over medium high heat. Once oil is hot, re-dredge 2 or 3 pieces of chicken in coating, shake off excess, and add to skillet (skin-side down if cooking breasts or thighs). Cook for four minutes or until a light golden brown.

Turn chicken over, reduce temperature to low, cover, and cook 15 - 20 minutes. (Ideally, cook until an instant-read thermometer registers 150F for breasts or 155F for thighs.)

Remove cover, increase heat to medium-high, and turn over again. Cook another 5 minutes until coating is crisp and mahogany brown. Drain on a plate on paper towels and place in oven to keep warm. Repeat for remaining chicken.

Note: Although cast iron is widely lauded as the skillet of choice for pan-fried chicken, I find stainless steel or aluminum work better. Cast iron is slow to heat and slow to cool and you really want a quicker response when you turn the burner down and up.

In an alternate life, the Paisano is Kevin Weeks: a Gather food correspondent, personal chef, cooking teacher, and writer in Knoxville, Tennessee who spends too many hours on his feet, cooking. "Paisano" the column focuses on peasant dishes from around the world, Paisano the character is fictional. To read more of Kevin's writings or connect to him click here.His blog,Seriously Good, is read by 100,000 cooks a month and in addition he writes a weekly column for  Spot-Onand is the Guide for Cooking for Two at About.com.