Oh, for the love of Yosemite Sam, how do you keep fried chicken from sticking to the pan???

M

marilynfl

Moderator
Larry got a craving for fried chicken and our last venture to KFC was so salty that my mouth hurt. So I marinated an organic chicken for a day in buttermilk and hot sauce, then dredged it in seasoned flour and fried at 350 in my wok, using corn oil, some Crisco and a bit of butter.

Just when it turned nice and golden brown, every single bloody piece stuck to the bottom of the pan and pulled off the beautiful coating.

&^$$*((*(())*$%%!!!!!**

(**This is Swearing in Poultry Language)

I'm not sure I have the heart to try this again, but any ideas would help.

 
I always thought it was supposed to stick. That's what makes...

...the skin so awesome.

My mom used to put the dredged chicken in an electric fry pan with only a little oil. The skin would adhere to the pan and she wouldn't touch it for about 15 minutes. Then she'd pry it off with a sturdy-but-thin-bladed metal spatula pushed hard onto the surface of the pan and forced under the pieces of chicken.

Chicken had a thick, brown, delicious crust when she was done.

Michael

 
Was the fat good and hot when you added the chicken? That's all I can think of,

except perhaps the wok was not well-seasoned.

I'm with Curious on the cast iron--best for fried anything.

 
Did you pat the chicken dry before dredging it in flour? And once dredged, let it rest to absorb the

moisture before frying?

 
I agree with Joe. I fry in either cast iron or stainless and never have a problem as long as the fat

is at the right temp.

 
Put a piece of chicken in the hot oil THEN. . .

quickly add another then gently break the first one free then add the third then gently break the second one free, etc. Oil has to be hot enough and stay hot enough to seal the coating on the chicken without more gooey stuff oozing out. Most of the recipes I have used, my favorite ones, say to dip the chicken then dredge then let dry for 30 minutes or so, which really cuts down on the sticking, or so it seems to me.

 
Me too orchid. One cannot ignore Mar's passion for cooking and her controlled and

uncontrolled experiments... LOL!

 
Yes! It's the Engineer in her and she knows how to elicit the best

responses from this community. I'm sooo glad she's back.

 
Orchid, you want the oil to be at 360 F before easing your food into it. Keep and eye on it as you

add pieces because the temperature will drop which, if left unmitigated, will result in a greasy piece of chicken. Watch the temperature on your deep-fat thermometer and try to keep the heat consistent.

If you have a large, deep electric fry pan, it would be ideal for this kind of cooking.

By the way, as long as you're pounding the calories, use Crisco, it works really well.

 
I've never used a thermometer, Orchid. When I think it's the right temp I break off

a piece of bread and toss it in to check. If it sizzles nicely I put the chicken in. I have found that putting the pieces on a rack after they're cooked keeps them nice and crisp.

 
...and this is why I love this site. Thank you!! Here's what I learned:

1. I didn't dry off the chicken when it came out of the marinade. I thought it had to be wet to keep the flour dredge on.

2. I didn't let it sit for 30 minutes. I didn't let it sit at all. Dredge and pop into the hot oil.

3. I used a stainless steel electric wok with a light indicator. However, I didn't confirm that its 350 degrees was actually 350 degrees.

4. I do have a cast iron skillet, but I fry so rarely (uh, thereby explaining the need for this post) that I thought the "indicator light" was the safest way to go.

5. I did slip a thin, off-set spatula underneath to loosen it, but the skin/coating fell off anyway.

6. I didn't check the indicator to see if the temperature was dropping as I added more pieces.

7. As reference, I used a combination of Pam Anderson's Perfect Recipe for fried chicken and Gillian Clark's recipe from the General Store in Virginia (she adds butter to the oil mix and hot sauce to the soak. And on TV, she dredged and popped the piece into hot oil. SHE didn't wait 30 minutes!!).

And you saw where that go me.

In contrast, I grew up watching my mom fry with 100% Crisco in an old dutch oven (which was probably cast iron, huh), non-marinated chicken simply cut up and dredged in seasoned flour (salt/pepper only) and no thermometer (like that would last in a house with 8 kids). I'm pretty sure she wasn't timing it. I'm pretty sure she was multi-tasking by cooking dinner, washing clothes and cleaning up the house, way back before multi-tasking was an actual word.

And I have never ONCE made fried chicken as good as hers.

Thank you all. You've given me hope.

 
You have a point about drying off the chicken. I know you made the Spicy

Oven Fried Chicken (recipe in T&T) and it is marinated in a spicy Tabasco buttermilk mixture and then into the dry dredge. But then the pieces go onto a rack for 30 minutes. Is that the secret?

 
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