Spicy Extra Crispy Southern Fried Chicken & Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey

All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2013

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Ok, well, I haven’t eaten chicken since the late eighties & I have never made fried chicken. I did make a cauliflower version – my Spicy Southern Fried Cauliflower and Delta Dipping Sauce with Smashed Baked Potatoes and White Gravy and Buffalo Mac & Cheese. I loved it!

But my chicken-loving boyfriend, Miles, was in town this week & I had promised him for months that I would make him fried chicken on this trip. So – we went to the amazing Super King and bought 2.5 pounds of chicken for under $4. I got two breasts & two drumsticks. After breading & frying, one of those breasts weighed in at 14 ounces! That is nearly a pound of fried chicken in just one piece. The drumsticks weighed about 8 ounces after breading & frying. That amount of chicken could feed 4-6 people. Crazy.

Anyway, I was somewhat intimidated to make this dish, primarily because Miles is a very picky eater & because I couldn’t try it myself to test its worthiness but – a promise is a promise – so I did it. And I think it was a huge success! It came out golden on the outside, moist on the inside & was very crispy. I was dying to eat it myself but I had my fried cauliflower & Delta dipping sauce with which to console myself and console myself I did.

I included a bottle of Miles’ new favorite sipping whiskey in some photos because the bottle is pretty & because it really was what Miles washed his chicken down with. That & a Bud Light.

Miles’ contribution to the meal can be seen in the frame with the whiskey – little bowls of the spiciest, pan-fried red potatoes. They were little bowls because both of us kept sneaking bits out of the pan every time we went near it & pretty much devoured the lot before the chicken was ready to serve.

The Delta dipping sauce is really a spicy Thousand Island dressing but it is delicious & I strongly suggest you try it – even on a salad. That way – you can maximize the fat intake of a single meal. 🙂 Fuck it.

Spicy Extra Crispy Southern Fried Chicken

3 lbs chicken

4 eggs

1/3 cup water

1 cup Frank’s Hot Sauce (or other hot sauce)

4 cups flour

2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp each of S&P

2 tsp chipotle chili powder (or smoked or regular paprika)

2 tsp garlic powder

Lots of vegetable oil for frying

1 gallon zip lock baggy (not necessary but it makes life easier)

1 quart buttermilk

1 tsp each – salt, pepper & garlic powder

DIRECTIONS

Put the chicken pieces in a container & cover with buttermilk. Marinate them like that in the fridge for a few hours.

Blend the eggs, hot sauce & water in a deep bowl.

Blend the flour, cayenne, S&P, chili powder & 2 tsp garlic powder in a Ziplock bag or a deep bowl.

When ready to cook the chicken, remove it from the buttermilk & sprinkle with S&P and garlic powder.

Heat a lot of oil (I used enough that I could completely submerge a breast & drumstick – and cooked the chicken in two shifts) over medium heat. MEDIUM HEAT. If you have a kitchen thermometer – the oil should be 350 degrees. I do not have one. If you do not have one either – simply put the end of a wooden spoon or chopstick in the oil to test it. When it reaches 350, little bubbles will creep up the wood.

Put the chicken in the flour mixture & completely coat it. Then, dunk it in the egg mixture & coat it again & then back into the flour mix. The crust should be fairy thick. Then fry those bitches up!

My pieces took 20-25 minutes to cook but that was because they were Flintstone-style gigantic hunks of chicken. Normal pieces should cook in 14-18 minutes. If the chicken seems to be browning faster than the inside is cooking – lower the heat. Drain on paper towels.