Fried chicken is in my humble opinion the best way to eat chicken. I know, I know, chicken is one of the leanest proteins we can consume, but everyday healthy eating habits aside, in reality given the option between chicken and salmon, beef, lamb, shrimp, etc, I will almost never pick the chicken. Yes some spicy, slow cooked chicken is great in our tacos and who can resist a comforting, sauce drenched piece of General Tso’s, but let’s be real, does any other chicken dish elicit the same mouth watering, guilty yet pleasurable response that a good piece of fried chicken does? Didn’t think so. In fact, an unofficial litmus test I always used as a kid to determine whether or not a certain food was universally tasty was whether or not my parents liked it. A Vietnamese palette is culturally very critical and very acute; every meal is accompanied with a breakdown of its relative saltiness, tanginess, sweetness and overall texture. That being said, fried chicken was one of the few things that passed this test and consequentially one of the few American staples in our household. (If you’re curious what other non-Asian meals made the Bui’s list, pizza, Big Macs and Jamaican beef patties were the other things all four of us thoroughly enjoyed together.)
I am very blessed to have parents who are both great cooks and love to eat, but their desire to always make things themselves was often the bane of my dinner. When you’re a kid, all you want to do is be and eat like everyone else and absolutely no substitution would do. It’s not just about having mac n’ cheese; it’s about specifically having Kraft Easy Mac and finally understanding why those kids wearing sunglasses on TV were always singing about the blues. But to my surprise and delight, my mom always knew how to make the BEST fried chicken. “Even better than KFC!” I’d exclaim, which from an 8 year old is the highest culinary compliment one can receive. Her key to amazing fried chicken is basically boiled down to 3 easy steps:
1. Her secret starts with an overnight soak in heavily seasoned buttermilk. Take the shotgun approach with the spices – the more the merrier. Garlic powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, salt and a TON of ground black pepper will ALWAYS make an appearance in my fried chicken. The saltier and more flavorful the meat, the less likely you’ll end up with a boring pile of chewy, plain white meat.
2. After your chicken has soaked overnight, or at the very least 6-8 hours, the second secret to amazing fried chicken is the double dredge. The double dredge is essentially dipping the chicken in liquid, then in a coating, then back in liquid, then back in coating to maximize the crispiness of the exterior. There are lots of different liquids you can alternate between – buttermilk, whisked eggs, mustard, flour, cornmeal and panko to name a few – but I like to stick to alternating between the flavorful buttermilk the chicken was soaking in overnight an some seasoned flour.
3. Once you have fried your chicken in either a deep fryer or a large pot of frying oil, a common misstep is to drain your fried chicken on a paper towel. DO NOT DO THIS. The paper towel not only starts to steam the crunchy outside of the chicken, but the longer you leave it on the paper towel, even more oil will become absorbed and make your chicken soggy. Instead, immediately after removing the chicken from hot oil, place it on a cooling rack over a baking sheet; it does the trick of draining excess oil without making your perfectly crispy chicken soggy. The next time you’re at any fried chicken joint, you’ll notice they all use metal racks! (Warning, copious amounts of fried chicken porn ahead!)
And that’s basically it! The classic recipe is great on its own but I like to dress it up differently every time I make it. This time, I whipped up some more Sriracha Lime Mayo to make my version of Southern fried chicken sandwiches. I especially love that my biscuits are way smaller than the chicken – more of the best part!
