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Make fried chicken for a bunkhouse or your house

Photo by JADEN HAIR

There's no need for fancy spices or techniques with this buttermilk fried chicken recipe.

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By JADEN HAIR

Tribune correspondent

Published: November 6, 2009

Updated: 11/09/2009 12:28 pm

I know there are certain foods that I really shouldn't mess with, one of them being fried chicken. So I haven't.

Until recently.

I made real buttermilk fried chicken without tinkering, or going gourmet or ethnic with funky ingredients such as panko, garam masala, five spice or corn flakes. Just fried chicken straight up. And it's all thanks to my good friend Ree of www.ThePioneerWoman.com, who just published her first cookbook, "The Pioneer Woman Cookbook: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl."

If you haven't heard of Ree, take a quick peek at her Web site. This one-time vegetarian city girl fell in love with a cowboy she calls the Marlboro Man. They live in "nowhereland" Oklahoma on a working cattle ranch with their four little ranch hands. Instead of skyscrapers and Gucci shoes, it's dusty cowboy boots and a long, long drive to the grocery store for Ree.

I could go on and on about Ree, including our late-night cheap wine-and-ice cream binge in San Francisco. But I'll stop there so you can discover her for yourself. All you need to know is that I promised Ree I wouldn't put an ethnic spin on her fried chicken and she promised me she wouldn't try to go country with my Chinese Broccoli and Beef.

I'm proud to say that despite all the temptations of my spice drawer, I kept true to my word.

Find more of Jaden Hair's culinary adventures at www.steamykitchen.com.

BUTTERMILK FRIED CHICKEN

(Recipe from "The Pioneer Woman Cookbook: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl" by Ree Drummond)

I learned a few secrets from Ree. The first is the buttermilk bath overnight (no, not you, the chicken). Second, mixing the flour with a bit of the buttermilk makes the breading a little shaggy, which is perfect for maximum crispiness volume. Lastly, baking the chicken after frying ensures that the chicken is cooked through without burning the skin.

2 cut-up fryer chickens

1 quart plus 1/4 cup buttermilk

5 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons seasoned salt (like Lawry's)

2 teaspoons black pepper

2 teaspoons dried thyme

2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 cup milk

Canola or vegetable oil for frying

In a large bowl (or 2 freezer bags) add the chicken with 1 quart buttermilk. Refrigerate overnight. When ready to fry, remove chicken from bowl and let sit on counter for 30 minutes to take chill off.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together the flour, seasoned salt, pepper, thyme, paprika and cayenne in a very large bowl. In a small bowl combine the 1/4 cup buttermilk and the 1/4 cup regular milk. Pour the milk mixture into the flour and use a fork to mix until there are little lumps throughout.

Heat 1 1/2 inches of oil in a deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium high heat to 365 degrees. Working in batches, thoroughly coat each buttermilk-soaked chicken piece with the breading, pressing to adhere the breading. Add the chicken to the oil 3 or 4 pieces at a time. Cover pan and fry 5 to 7 minutes, checking to make sure the chicken isn't getting too brown. Turn, cover and cook additional 3 to 5 minutes. Monitor temperature of oil to make sure chicken doesn't burn. Keep in mind chicken will finish cooking in oven.

Place chicken on baking sheet and continue frying rest of chicken.

When done, bake the chicken for 10 to 15 minutes, until chicken is cooked through.

Serves 6 to 8 hungry ranch hands. Halve recipe for normal city folk.

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