Last night I had thawed chicken thighs and legs and had 3 recipe options for them. I decided on Chicken and Rice and pulled the skin off all the pieces. Then I looked at the recipe, (I almost ALWAYS do this with Chicken and Rice) realized I didn't have the 2 1/2 hours of baking time it required and went with option 2. Fried Chicken. But wait- I had just pulled off all the skin! I quickly did a google search for help and came up with a COMMENT on a food blog about how she (the commentator) makes her fried chicken skinless all the time. So, the following recipe is a total adaptation from the Smitten Kitchen food blog http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/01/fried-chicken/ and a video I watched yesterday from America's Test Kitchen. I love those people. So here it is- my version of all these people's versions of fried chicken. Without skin. Which will save you (according to reputable sources) at least 4 grams of fat per 4 oz serving. One might say "you're eating fried chicken, why worry about a little fat?" Well, that skin is some of the worst kind, plus it's just yucky. Even Stephen loved it, and he would put chicken skin on every food if he could.
Skinless Fried Chicken
Adapted from several sources, but mostly Cook’s Illustrated
Start by heating about 2 to 2 ½ cups peanut or corn oil
in a cast-iron skillet or heavy, stainless steel pan with straight sides or
other dutch oven. Heat it on medium to
medium low- until it reaches 375 degrees.
Too hot and it will burn. Too
cool and it will soak up too much oil.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. (you're going to finish the chicken in the oven)
Ingredients:
1 (3 1/2 to 4-pound) chicken, cut into 8-10 pieces
(breasts cut in half) (if you want to make a mess for a crowd, just increase portions). Pull the skin off the pieces- using a paper towel for aide in gripping can be useful.
Brine
1 ½ cups buttermilk
1Tb + 2 tsp kosher salt
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp paprika
1 ½ cups buttermilk
1Tb + 2 tsp kosher salt
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp paprika
¼ tsp
cayenne pepper
dash or 2 of
Tabasco sauce
Mix brine ingredients in a large bowl- whisk to dissolve salt. Place the chicken pieces in brining solution and refrigerate for two to three hours. Remove and place on rack to air-dry.
Batter
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ cups buttermilk
Coating
3-4 cups flour
3-4 cups flour
3 tsp black
pepper
1 tsp table
salt (not kosher)
1 tsp garlic
powder
1 tsp
paprika
dash cayenne
pepper (to taste)
Mix batter ingredients and place in a large bowl. Place
coating in large pan to coat chicken.
Coat chicken with flour, then place in batter. Drain
excess batter off chicken and place in flour again and cover. Use tongs for transfers.
(Here is where the tip from the reader who does hers skinless comes in. After dunking in flour, batter, flour- let
chicken rest on wax paper for 30 minutes before frying). Handle all chicken with care so you don't scrape any coating off!
Place five to six pieces of chicken in the skillet and
cook 3-5 minutes on each side to brown. Allow the oil to return to 375 degrees F
before frying the next batch.
Remove the chicken from the oil and place each piece on a
metal baking rack set on a sheet pan, place in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes
until breasts register 160 degrees and thighs and legs register 175 degrees.
Let rest for 5 minutes- ENJOY!!
