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Cooking Fried Chicken Tips and Tricks

Cooking fried chicken is easy and if you have never done it before, there is nothing to worry about. If you want to try out a Kentucky Fried Chicken copycat recipe, deep fried chicken recipe or southern fried chicken recipe, read on for some handy fried chicken tips and ideas.

  • If you want to make fried chicken, you can get good results using a fryer, broiler, capon, young chicken, and roaster or game hen.

  • Soaking the chicken overnight in brine or buttermilk makes the meat more tender and juicy.

  • Slice whole chicken breasts in half for more even cooking. They also cook faster like this.

  • Adding celery sticks to the frying oil enhances the color and flavor of the fried chicken.

  • Dry any wet utensils before they touch the hot cooking oil to avoid the hot fat spattering.

  • Use tongs instead of a fork to turn the chicken. A fork might pierce the skin and the chicken will lose juices.

  • If you like your chicken fried, try peanut oil. It gives the chicken a great flavor.

  • Drain fried chicken on a brown paper bag or metal rack. Draining it on paper towels might make it lose crispiness. In addition, covering it will make it lose all crispiness.

The above tips should help to ensure your fried chicken recipes are delicious. If you are using a whole chicken and you have some left over, you can put them in a pot with carrots, parsley, and water to cover. Simmer until the liquid reduces by half, strain and refrigerate. When the mixture is cold, skim off the fat and use it in soups and sauces. You can also freeze it.

This and many more articles are spread through out the site get a list of articles at this link Fried Chicken Articles.


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Side Dishes That Go with Fried Chicken

The words fried chicken are usually enough to make our mouths water but what about the wonderful fried chicken side dishes that turn simple fried chicken into a hearty meal? Favorite fried chicken side dishes vary from person to person but coleslaw, biscuits, green beans, and corn on the cob are all much loved. Some people prefer creamed corn to corn on the cob.

Potato Side Dishes

Potatoes are very popular with fried chicken and you can choose from potato salad, baked potato with sour cream, French fries, potato wedges or mashed potatoes with gravy. You can even make a sweet potato or yam side dish because the sweet flavor is really good with fried chicken recipes. Some people prefer to have a rice side dish instead of a potato side dish with fried chicken. In the south, people often dip fried chicken in honey to make it sweeter.

How to Make Gravy for Mashed Potatoes

Gravy is simple to make. You need to thicken two tablespoons of meat drippings or Minor's Au Jus with a tablespoon or two of flour. Over a medium heat, stir in a cup of water and a cup of milk gradually and season to taste. You can also add onion powder, garlic powder, or herbs if you like.

Side Dishes for a Picnic

Southern fried chicken is great hot or cold. If you plan to eat it cold as part of a picnic, you could also take coleslaw, vegetables with a dip, fruit slices, corn on the cob kept warm in aluminum foil or a bean salad or pasta salad. If you are having a fried chicken picnic, do not forget to take plenty of napkins!

Girl Eating Fried Chicken

Which is the Best Pan for Frying Chicken?

The pan you use to fry chicken impacts how well the chicken cooks and also the flavor. A lot of people use stainless steel skillets because they are cheap, easy to clean and they do the job. The best heat conductor is copper and a copper pan will cook your food quickly but it will cost a lot to buy.

An aluminum pan is good at conducting heat as well as being affordable, resistant to corrosion and lightweight. Cast iron pans are slow to heat but give even heat when they are hot. Multi-ply pans might be made of stainless steel and aluminum or stainless steel and copper. You can also get copper pans with an aluminum lining. The copper is good for conducting the heat and the aluminum is rustproof.

Choosing a Frying Pan or Skillet

If you want to know which is the best pan for frying chicken, the answer is that it depends on the chef. Different people have different preferences. Some people don't mind waiting for a cast iron pan to heat up and other people have a hungry family and want to get their chicken fried as quickly as they can.

You might not be able to afford copper cookware and, if not, you can make excellent fried chicken recipes in stainless steel or aluminum pans too. The most important thing to remember is that you can use pretty much any cookware you have to make a delicious southern fried chicken recipe for the family.

If copper and cast iron are out of your price range, don't worry about it because you can also make a wonderful meal in your existing frying pan because you know how long it takes to heat up and you are used to using it.



Fried Chicken Salad

Fried chicken can be used to top a plate of salad if you are looking for a mouthwatering combination of crispness and softness. Fried chicken is full of flavor and adding it to lettuce, tomatoes and your other favorite salad ingredients, then drizzling a delicious blue cheese or ranch dressing over the top makes a wonderful lunch or a light dinner. Chicken salad is a great meal in the spring or summer and using fried chicken adds another flavor dimension to this classic recipe. You can see from the above photo how appetizing a fried chicken salad looks. Serve this in small portions as a tasty appetizer or larger portions for an exciting entree.

Using Fried Chicken to Make Chicken Salad Recipes

Fried chicken is more versatile than you might think. Not only can you eat it with your fingers, accompanied by all the traditional side dishes like coleslaw and French fries, but you can use it to make chicken salad recipes.

You can make chicken salads with grilled, poached or broiled chicken but using fried chicken gives the salad a different flavor. If you drain your fried chicken on brown paper after frying it, it should not be greasy.

Fried chicken is crispy and that adds a delightful texture to any salad. You can serve fried chicken hot, warm or chilled in your salad recipe, depending on your preferences. Warm crispy chicken and cool soft salad leaves go together really well and this contrast is fantastic.

Warm chicken salad is a favorite dish in many good restaurants and it is easy to make this yourself. If you have a favorite salad recipes you can simply add your fried chicken to it.

Ideas for Fried Chicken Salads

To make a simple fried chicken salad, simply slice your fried chicken and top a plate of lettuce leaves. Drizzle some ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing over the top and serve. You can also add other ingredients to a fried chicken salad, such as cheese, cherry tomatoes or chopped fresh herbs for flavor.

You can sweeten the salad up with chopped pineapple, apple or raisins, add more crunch with bacon bits, nuts or fried onion or add any other salad ingredients you like. Serve the sauce or dressing on the side so people can add it just before they eat. Coating fried chicken in salad dressing can make it soggy so it is best to have it on the side.


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How to Make Southern Fried Chicken

Southern fried chicken is such a well loved dish. Imagine succulent, tender chicken encased in a crispy, perfectly flavored batter. You might prefer mashed potatoes with gravy or French fries alongside your southern fried chicken and perhaps a salad or some hot corn on the cob with butter melting over it. If you are like most people, that image alone might be enough to make your eyes water. So, if you want to know how to make southern fried chicken like a professional chef, you will be pleased to know it is quite easy.

Southern fried chicken can be made with boneless or bone-in chicken and it can be made with skinless chicken or chicken with skin. The chicken pieces are coated in flour and a batter or breadcrumb mixture and then deep fried. It can also be oven fried or pan fried. The coating makes the outside of the chicken crispy.

Learning how to make southern fried chicken is easy. You simply coat the chicken in your preferred coating and fry it until it is golden brown and delicious.

The History of Fried Chicken

Food has been deep fried for hundreds of years, in many different countries. Mexico, Russia and Japan have all used this cooking method for centuries and deep frying was popular in Europe in the medieval era.

Fried chicken was popular as soon as it was introduced in the American south. The slaves on the plantations introduced flavorful seasonings and spices to the original fried chicken recipe, which was quite bland. They were allowed to keep chickens so southern fried chicken became incredibly popular all over the American south in a short space of time. From then its popularity spread worldwide and now more and more people want to learn how to make southern fried chicken because it tastes so good.


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How Long Does Fried Chicken Keep?

It is unlikely that you will have any fried chicken left over if you follow one of our delicious southern fried chicken recipes but how long can you keep deep fried chicken in the fridge if there are leftovers?

Three or four days is the recommended guideline if you want to know how long does fried chicken keep. If you have some fried chicken left over, you should transfer it to a covered container and keep it in the refrigerator. Leftover southern fried chicken is nice eaten cold the following day and you can have it with a salad or add it to your lunch pack.

How to Reheat Fried Chicken

Bake chilled fried chicken for at least twenty minutes at 350 degrees F to reheat it safely. The crispy coating might be slightly less crispy but the chicken should still be juicy and succulent and taste good. Leave it at room temperature for at least half an hour, if you have time, before reheating it. When you put chilled chicken from the refrigerator into a hot oven it can reheat unevenly if you do not do this.

In order to stop your southern fried chicken going soggy, you should make sure the oven is hot before adding the chicken. Also, covering the chicken in foil before you bake it helps to keep it as crisp as possible. If you have a convection oven, it will only take about twelve minutes to reheat the chicken. In addition to that, convection ovens tend to really crisp up leftover chicken when you reheat it.

You can freeze fried chicken for up to four months and reheat it for twenty minutes in a 350 degrees oven or until it is hot through. Put something absorbent underneath because it will leach out the fat it was cooked in. Thawed fried chicken does not taste as good as fresh fried chicken so it is best to make it fresh each time, or chill it for up to four days in the refrigerator, instead of making too much.


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Southern Living

Photo Description:

Southern fried chicken is more than simply a recipe from the south. It is a Southern tradition. As quintessentially Southern as good family values, hearty meals and warm sunshine, this ultimate staple is very close to Southern hearts. As synonymous with the south as boiled peanuts, chicken-fried steak or fried crawfish tails, a fried chicken recipe is both the ultimate indulgence and an easy dinner to prepare. Show your family how much you love them by making one of our delicious fried chicken recipes and pairing it with typically Southern side dishes for a meal to remember. One of the best things about Southern living is the hearty, delicious food, and Southern fried chicken is such a mouthwatering comfort food.