BUTTERMILK FRIED CHICKEN WITH CREAM SAUCE

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BUTTERMILK FRIED CHICKEN WITH CREAM SAUCE

 

From Fried Chicken by Damon Lee Fowler

 

 

Preparation: 2 1/2 hours // Serves 6

 

Bathing chicken in buttermilk is an old Southern trick that harkens

back to the early French and English practice of marinating chicken

in a tenderizing acid. It accomplishes several things at once. Not

only does it tenderize the bird, it enhances the flavor and reacts

with the flour coating to make an exceptionally crispy breading. This

is an ideal chicken for picnics or family gatherings where you will

be serving everything cold, because the outer skin stays crisp long

after the bird cools to room temperature. Unless it is served at a

picnic, this chicken is usually accompanied (depending on where you

are in the South and at which meal you are eating it) with Cream

Gravy made from the drippings.

 

 

Serves 4

 

 

1 frying chicken, weighing no more than 3 pounds, cut up for frying

 

 

11 2 cups buttermilk or plain all-natural yogurt, stirred until

creamy

 

 

3 cups all-purpose flour ~ 1 tablespoon salt

 

 

1 tablespoon freshly milled black pepper ~ 1/2 teaspoon cayenne

pepper (optional)

 

 

lard or peanut or vegetable oil, for trying ~ Cream Gravy (see recipe

below)

 

1) Wash the chicken and pat dry Put the chicken pieces in a large

nonreactive glass or stainless steel bowl. Pour the buttermilk or

yogurt over the chicken and turn the pieces until all are coated and

submerged in the liquid. Let marinate for 1 hour, refrigerated.

 

2) Combine the flour, salt, pepper, and cayenne, if using, in a paper

or large ziplock plastic bag. Close the top and shake until the

seasoning is well distributed.

 

3) If you plan to serve the chicken hot, preheat the oven to 150°F

(or Warm setting). Fit a wire cooling rack on a cookie sheet and set

aside. Fill a 14-inch diameter, deep cast-iron skillet with enough

lard or oil to come halfway up the sides. Over medium-high heat,

bring the fat to 375°F (hot but not smoking).

 

4) Beginning with the dark meat, lift the chicken out of the

marinade, allowing the excess to flow back into the bowl and drop

them into the bag with the seasoned flour Close the top and shake

until the chicken is well coated. Lift them out of the flour, shake

off the excess, and slip them into the pan. Repeat until all the

pieces are coated and in the pan. Fry until the outside is well

sealed and beginning to brown, turning the chicken once, 3 to 4

minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and continue frying, maintaining

the fat temperature at 325°F, until the chicken is just cooked

through and golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes for the thighs and

drumsticks, 15 to 20 minutes for the breast meat and wings, turning

it halfway.

 

5) Remove the pieces as they are done, drain them well, and transfer

to the wire rack. If you want to serve it hot, keep the finished

chicken in the warm oven.

 

6) Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the fat and make Cream Gravy

(see below). Pass the gravy separately, along with any of the

accompaniments mentioned above.

 

NOTE: Many Southern cooks season the buttermilk marinade with salt,

pepper, and a few dashes of hot sauce. You can also vary the

seasonings in the flour, adding a tablespoon of dried herbs of your

choice, and spices such as paprika, cayenne, or curry powder to

taste. You may opt to sprinkle the seasonings over the chicken after

you take it out of the marinade, but before coating it with flour,

which assures a more even seasoning.

 

 

CREAM GRAVY (aka PAN GRAVY)

 

Though called " cream gravy, " this doesn't actually have any cream

in it, but the original gravy that accompanied the earliest of the

Southern fried chicken recipes was just cream lightly reduced in the

pan in which the chicken had been fried. For families who could not

afford prodigal amounts of cream, flour-thickened milk became the

norm, but the old name stuck. Though this gravy is too often

indifferently prepared and comes to the table thick and lumpy and

wholly unappetizing, it can be a very good sauce so long as the cook

uses care and doesn't allow the proportion of flour to milk to get

out of hand.

 

 

makes 2 cups

 

 

2 tablespoons pan drippings from frying a chicken,

left in the skillet along with the solid cooking residue

 

 

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour ~ 2 cups whole milk, at room

temperature

 

 

salt and freshly milled black pepper

 

1) Place the skillet in which you fried the chicken and left 2

tablespoons pan drippings over medium heat. Sprinkle the flour over

the fat and blend it into the fat with a wooden spoon or whisk until

it is smooth. Whisking or stirring constantly, slowly pour in the

milk. Continue stirring, scraping loose the cooking residue that may

be stuck to the skillet, until the gravy begins to boil and thicken.

Season the gravy with a pinch or so of salt and a few liberal

grindings of black pepper.

 

2) Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until

the gravy is as thick as you like it and the flour has lost its raw,

pasty taste, 5 to 8 minutes longer. Serve hot.