‹ The Fried Chicken 100 › Make it at home

The Fried Chicken 100 · make it at home

Buttermilk Southern fried chicken

Overnight brine, 1 hr to fry · 4 to 6 (one 1.6 kg / 3 1/2 lb chicken)

The one most of the chart is built on: chicken soaked overnight in seasoned buttermilk, dredged in peppery flour with a few spoonfuls of the buttermilk worked in for craggy bits, and fried low and slow so it's cooked to the bone with a crust that cracks.

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The real one

You need

• 1 chicken, about 1.6 kg (3 1/2 lb), cut into 10 pieces (2 drumsticks, 2 thighs, 2 wings, each breast halved across), or 1.6 kg bone-in thighs and drumsticks
• For the brine: 500 ml (2 cups) buttermilk, 1 tbsp fine salt, 1 tbsp hot sauce (Crystal or Louisiana), 1 tsp black pepper, 2 garlic cloves, grated
• For the dredge: 300 g (2 1/4 cups) plain flour, 60 g (1/2 cup) cornstarch, 1 tbsp fine salt, 1 tbsp black pepper, 2 tsp paprika, 2 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, 1/2 tsp cayenne, 1 tsp baking powder
• About 2 liters (2 quarts) peanut oil or lard, for frying
• Flaky salt and honey or hot sauce, to serve

How to make it

1. Brine (8 to 24 hr): Whisk the buttermilk with the salt, hot sauce, pepper and garlic in a bowl or zip bag. Add the chicken, turn to coat, and refrigerate overnight. Take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before frying so it isn't ice cold.
2. Dredge (10 min): Whisk the flour, cornstarch, seasonings and baking powder in a wide dish. Drizzle in 3 tbsp of the brine and rub it through with your fingers until you have little pea-sized clumps: they become the craggy crust. Lift each piece from the buttermilk, let it drip for a few seconds, and press it firmly into the flour on all sides. Set on a rack 10 minutes so the coating hydrates and sticks.
3. Heat (10 min): Pour oil into a heavy cast-iron or Dutch oven to 4 cm (1 1/2 in) deep, no more than halfway up the pot, and heat to 175°C (350°F). Set a rack over a sheet pan and heat the oven to 95°C (200°F) to keep batches warm.
4. Fry (12 to 15 min a batch): Lower in 4 or 5 pieces skin side down, dark meat first; the oil will drop to about 150°C (300°F). Keep it at 150 to 160°C (300 to 325°F). Fry 6 to 7 minutes, turn with tongs, and fry 5 to 7 minutes more until deep golden brown. Thighs and drumsticks are done at 80°C (175°F) at the bone, breasts at 68°C (155°F); wings take about 8 minutes in all.
5. Rest (5 min): Drain on the rack, not paper, and sprinkle with flaky salt while it's hot. Rest 5 minutes before eating so the juices settle; serve with honey or hot sauce on the side.

Tips

• A thermometer matters more than the recipe: too hot and the crust burns before the bone cooks, too cool and it goes greasy.
• For gluten free, use a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend and keep the cornstarch: it fries up just as crisp.

Chef Amazing's own home version, in our words; not any restaurant's recipe.