Good Ole Down Home In Georgia Southern Fried Chicken Recipes

Steps:

• Wash chicken pieces and place in a deep bowl. Cover with buttermilk and hot sauce, and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
• Melt shortening in a cast iron skillet to a depth of about 1 inch.
• Heat to about 370º. (No thermometer needed, really. It'll get hot enough while chicken rests AFTER coating if you have your flame on about medium.) If it starts to smoke, turn it down immediately a bit.
• In a doubled brown paper lunch sack, mix together all of the dry ingredients.
• Remove chicken from bowl.
• Using additional seasoned salt and pepper, lightly coat to season chicken.
• Place chicken in bag, one piece at a time. Shake well until thoroughly coated.
• Dip each piece in the buttermilk and coat with flour once again.
• Shake off excess; place on waxed paper for 15 minutes or until dry.
• Place chicken, skin side down, in hot shortening.
• Do not crowd skillet.
• Brown until golden on bottom (good)(skin) side. When chicken pieces are golden on one side, turn pieces over, cover with tight fitting lid, and reduce heat to a simmer, turning chicken pieces ocaisionally, for 35 to 40 minutes or until juices run clear and chicken is tender. *When lid is placed on, and heat is reduced to a good simmer, the good side of pieces are the top sides. After about 10 minutes, turn back to skin-side down. After another 10 minutes or so, turn back to skin-side up for the last 10-15 minutes.).
• Uncover and cook 5 minutes longer for "crispy on the outside" crust. Remove at once, skipping this step, if a softer outside is preferred. My grandma and great aunts always drained their fried chicken on brown paper grocery bags. This seems to work best for me, too. Paper towels work "ok", too. *If doubling or making alot of chicken, or just wanting to keep it warm til the rest of your side dishes are done and ready to serve, place chicken on brown paper bag-lined cookie sheet in very low oven. GREAT cold, too!
• 4-6 servings.
• To make chicken fingers:.
• Use 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips about a 1/2-3/4 " thick. I skipped the buttermilk and hot sauce part, and dipped them into the flour mixture first, then into 1 egg beaten with about a half of a cup of half and half cream and a little hot sauce. Then back into the flour mixture. Worked out PERFECTLY. I lightly browned them in hot oil on one side, turned them, then put a lid on them. I then only cooked them for 8 minutes. I removed the lid, turned them and cooked them another minute. Drained them on paper towel.YUM!
• *One extra tip: Don't ever turn chicken by piercing with a fork, all the juices will run out and the meat will be dry. Always use tongs and have a sharp spatula handy to get underneath just in case a little bit wants to stick. You don't want to lose that good breading! :).

Steps:

• Place cut up chicken in a large bowl. Season with garlic powder, salt, and black pepper. Toss to coat. Add buttermilk, again tossing to coat. Set aside (you can cover and refrigerate overnight).
• Place lard and bacon grease into a large deep cast-iron skillet or dutch oven (you only need about an inch of melted oil). Set on stovetop over medium-high heat and get oil temperature to 350°F.
• Place flour into a plastic grocery bag. Shake excess buttermilk from a piece of chicken and place into bag of flour. Coat chicken with flour. (A simple method is to hold sides of bag and steadily and gently roll back and forth like cleaning a bowling ball.).
• Dip an edge of the floured piece into the lard; if it sizzles, it's ready. Begin to flour remaining pieces and carefully place them into the pan/dutch oven.
• Repeat until the pan is full or all pieces are used. (A whole chicken generally requires two batches and you may need to add just a small amount more of lard for second batch). Cover pot with lid and simmer for 5-7 minutes.
• Turn chicken over, cover and simmer again for 5-7 minutes. Remove lid and continue cooking until cooked through, or internal temperature of chicken reaches 175°F.
• Transfer cooked pieces to a plate lined with paper towels or a baking rack with a towel underneath to catch the drippings. If desired, immediately give a light sprinkling of salt.

Steps:

• Boil the water and add in the sugar and 1 1/2 cup of salt, stirring the mixture until it has dissolved to create a brine.
• Remove from the heat and combine the brine with some ice in a large, food-safe container.
• Place the chicken in the brine, cover, and refrigerate for at least 10 hours and for no longer than 12 hours.
• When ready to cook, fill a large skillet half-way with canola oil and heat to 325 degrees F.
• Fill a brown paper bag with the flour and the 1 teaspoon of salt, fold the top closed and shake the bag to combine the ingredients.
• Fill a large bowl with the buttermilk. Remove the chicken from the brine and pat the pieces dry.
• One by one, dip the chicken pieces into the buttermilk, lift them to drain the excess, then place them in the grocery bag with the flour mixture.
• Fold the bag closed and then shake it to thoroughly coat the chicken with the flour mixture (about 30 seconds).
• Shake the excess flour from the chicken pieces and fry them in the skillet, adjusting the heat of the oil as necessary to maintain it at 325 degrees, turning each over once, until they are done.
• Done should be 155 degrees on the interior for white meat and 165 degrees on the interior for dark meat.