Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Recently at dinner my father instructed me, “tell your website readers that your dad says this is a good one.” Done, dad. This chicken is good—perfectly tender, well flavored, crunchy—just what one wants in fried chicken.

The secret? Buttermilk. Buttermilk is lightly acidic. Soaking the chicken overnight in buttermilk helps tenderize it, and the chicken stays tender when you fry it. It’s important to use a high smoke point oil when frying chicken (or anything else for that matter). We use rice bran oil orcanola oil, all of which have high smoke points. In other words, they can take being heated to the high temperature needed in frying without smoking or burning.

Many recipes call for frying chicken in a cast iron frying pan. Sometimes we use one of our trusty cast iron pans, and sometimes a hard anodized aluminum pan.

Cast iron tends to be quite heavy. It retains heat so well that if you have a problem and have to lower the heat rapidly, you won’t be able to do it.

Anodized aluminum can also take the heat without warping, but will be more responsive for heating and cooling. (I’ve started a kitchen fire with peanut oil in a cast iron skillet—not fun—if it ever happens to you, remove the pan from the heat element, and cover it quickly with a lid.)

Buttermilk Fried Chicken Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 pounds of chicken parts (thighs, drumsticks, wings, breasts), skin-on, bone-in
• 2 cups buttermilk (can also use plain yogurt thinned with a little milk)
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1/4 cup chopped mixed fresh herbs (parsley, thyme, tarragon) or a teaspoon each of the dried herbs.
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon onion salt
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Salt and pepper
• 2 cups canola oil, rice bran oil, grapeseed oil, peanut oil or other high smoke-point oil

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