Fried Chicken

I am a Kentucky boy. That means I understand certain things, like the appeal of fast horses, the beauty of a pick and roll, and fried chicken. Tonight, we had that epitomy of Kentucky cuisine for dinner, with corn and peas (peas that traveled exactly 33 feet - 15 from their vine to my sink, 10 back to the grill, and then 8 to the table). Simple and perfect; here's my recipe.

Despite the understandable cries of blasphemy, we fry chicken tenders rather than "bone-in" pieces. The reason is that we generally prefer white meat and we generally do this on a week night. I will readily concede food is mostly best cooked on the bone and in the right spots, I agree that holds true with chicken. But for this recipe, a pound of well-trimmed tenders is perfect. Those tenders spend the night (or a long afternoon) in a salt-water. When they come out, I pat them dry and they are ready for the coating.

For my "breading", I use 1.5 cups of flour, with the following mixed in: 1 tablespoon of garlic powder, 1 tablespoon of paprika, 1 tablespoon of onion powder, 1 teaspoon of Cayenne Powder and generous amounts of salt and pepper. I also make up a wet coating, which is just 2 cups of buttermilk and 1 tablespoon of "hot chili sauce". We use "Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce". This should be in your referigerator. It keeps, well...forever, and has a rooster on the bottle; beautiful.

The chicken is double breaded: rolled in the flour mixture first, then dipped in the buttermilk, then again in the flour. When all the pieces are done, it needs to chill out thirty minutes or so in the refrigerator to "set up".

I fry it in peanut oil (for the high smoke point). I put about 2 inches of oil in a large pan and add bunches of thyme, rosemary, sage and a head's worth of garlic to the oil. No need to chop it or even remove the stems - just dump it in the oil. Turn the heat on the stove, and when the herbs begin to boil, add the chicken. When it looks perfect, it probably is, so cook it another 2 minutes to be safe (no one likes sushi chicken). There won't be left-overs. God bless Kentucky.