Southern Spiced Fried Chicken

So Charisse came back from Arkansas last week and saved us all from Eric's Kraft Mac and Cheese from a box recipe (we should all praise the food gods for that). In fact, foodies@home almost came to an end when she walked in the door and announced "I am so full, I am never ever ever eating anything ever again". Thankfully that was a short lived sentiment and it was right back to business this weekend. One slight change in her was a strong desire to show off her newfound southern roots. Those roots are newfound because she is a 3rd or 4th generation Californian. Go figure. We talked a little bit about what southern inspired dishes we should try first and decided on (cue the banjos) Fried Chicken. According to Charisse the Arkansas family all agreed that cooking doesn't get any more Arkansas than sticking some battered chicken in a deep fryer, and we were happy to try our hand at it! 
We fried up some good old fashioned chicken breasts that we happened to have in the freezer, the boneless and skinless kind but this definitely could have been done with a dark cut, or a bone in skin on breast. We also did a single pass through on the egg wash and dredge, but a second time through would have added a lot of crunchiness to each bite. Even without the second pass the chicken was perfectly tender and very flavorful. One of the big benefits to deep frying is how moist the chicken comes out, as the hot oil basically cauterizes the outside and traps all the moisture in the meat. Its a dish that makes even your most well behaved friends go "MMmmmmmom nom nom nom. Is there more?!" Not that we have any well behaved friends mind you, so we really wouldn't know what those say. 

Southern Spiced Fried Chicken
What You Will Need

Various pieces of chicken depending on what you like
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups flour
3 eggs
1/4 cup red hot sauce
Fry oil (enough to cover the chicken half way)

Season chicken with pepper, salt and garlic powder and set aside

In a large dutch oven or deep frying pan, heat oil to 350*

In a large bowl, place flour and in another bowl beat 3 eggs with the hot sauce. Coat the chicken in the egg wash and dredge the chicken in the flour making sure it is well coated. If you like a really thick batter, re-dip in the egg and re-dredge in the flour until you get a nice thick coating. Once the chicken is coated, fry for about 4-5 minutes on each side and until the batter gets to be a nice golden brown. Drain on a paper towel and serve hot. 


Do not leave the oil unattended. We have a friend who just last week had a grease fire in his kitchen because he was distracted by his oh so adorable little girl doing something adorable in the other room and left the oil on (everyone was okay and the damage was minimal, but it could have been a lot worse).