i made magical fried chicken last week and it wasn’t over cooked and no one died :)))

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Anyone who cooks often, (or heck even those who never do) will tell you that fried chicken is so challenging. It’s a funny balancing act of not burning the batter, but cooking it slow enough that the actual chicken isn’t raw inside. And you don’t want to be a simp and just throw it in the oven after because the texture changes and isn’t as crispy and the chicken is often then over cooked. IT’S A MESS. lol.

But, I have to tell you that I followed a recipe that’s in Samin Nosrat’s cookbook, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, it’s called Spicy Fried Chicken. It sounds pretty basic, someone should really speak to her editor. I think they would have suggested a new title if they actually tried a piece.

When I tell you it tastes like magic. It seriously tastes like Ariana’s new album, writing love letters to heaven, middle finger and a thumb cause she snapped it kind of magic.

(haha for some context because I know I lost a few of you.)

But, anyway Samin’s recipe has you marinate the chicken in buttermilk and hot sauce the night before. So, the chicken has had nearly 24 hours soak in spicy, buttery, creaminess… yum. Oh, and don’t forget to season. Which means heavily add salt. Salt aids in this case because during this overnight soak, the salt diffuses throughout your chicken. It takes it sweet time seeping in which within itself helps contribute to some of the magic.

Let’s say you skip this step… there is only so much salt you can add to the outside, but the inside will still be bland. Therefore salt the chicken overnight, if you don’t have that kind of time a few hours in advance at room temp will do the trick.

Her tip, “A small amount of salt applied in advance will make a much bigger difference than a larger amount applied just before serving.”

On the technical side size triggers the osmosis, the movement of water in and out of the cell walls, which helps to break down the protein and allows them to keep the water/moisture inside while it cooks.

Basically salt + time = tenderness.

So, yay for that.

Anyway, after I did that I combined 2 eggs, butter milk, and hot sauce in a large bowl.

By the way I used chicken thighs with the skin and bone in. Before, I did the overnight marination, I cleaned it a bit more. I cut some of the excess fat.

Then, I had flour and salt whisked in another bowl. While I dipped the chicken I had my oil at medium heat. Samin says the oil should be 1.5 inches in depth and 360 in degrees, but while you are frying it should drop to 325 degrees.

This a is a double dip kind of recipe. So the chicken is moist from the buttermilk soak. You then dip in flour, shake off excess, dip in egg, shake, and then flour again. You use metal tongs to move it around in the oil and it should take abut 12–16 minutes (9 minutes for smaller pieces) as she mentions. But, I found there are key elements that you need for success. Granted there are many ways to get there …but we want the MAGIC or not at all.

1. You need a thermometer. Yes, you can slice a little and check on the chicken that way. Yes, you can “get a feel” of the oil. But, we do NOT want oil that is too hot, to burn that batter. We also don’t want overcooked chicken from making judgements on “feel”. I love using thermometers simply because it’s accurate and it does it’s job better than we can, so as soon as you have your three check points at 165… it is done. No lower. But, you don’t want it much higher cause that’s just moisture exiting. We don’t want that. But, pay attention to your check points. Never touch the tip of the thermometer to the pan. Lift the chicken out when temping. Check in the thickest area. Check the area near the bone. That will give you the most accurate temperature because those places generally take the longest to cook.
2. Set a timer. I normally like to eyeball things. Trust I know the pride of just, looking, hearing, sensing, the doneness and all that jazz. But, to be frank we’re also human. I’m not just staring at the chicken for 30 minutes. I’m cutting the salad. Heating up the side dishes. Prepping the dessert. Cleaning the counters. Just having a set time to remind you to check on the chicken or to flip it will work wonders for you. I set mine in 5 minute increments. This would help me to stay on track. I would then check the temp and the color.
3. Be attentive. This may sound basic, but it’s important to look for different elements of your chicken. When I would check on the 5 minute marker, if I noticed that it’s nowhere near being done at like a 90 degree temp, but the batter is turning golden brown.. that’s a red flag. So I drop the temperature slightly and in a mini emergency I would put a lid or cover on the pan. The hot steam will help cook the inside longer, but it’s not covered long enough to make the breading soggy because steam=water. Just learning to be intuitive before something happens makes a good cook. But, more importantly, magical fried chicken.

Once you fried you chicken you’re in the home stretch of this recipe. Right now we’ve got a class act. Like a strong opener. But, to be a headliner you have to add the finishing touches. In Samin’s recipe you create this oil spread that goes on top. To be honest, at first I was really skeptical. I was like, “Samin, girl, you’re trying to tell me that after frying chicken in all this oil, we’re about to top it off with some more oil… you trying to serve me clogged artery?” But, actually, no, it’s not that deep. And it’s the magic we all needed. And truth be told if you’re here for a healthy fried chicken recipe, we happily ate up ALL of the L’s of the disappointment that no longer was there.

So the oil… I used 1/4 olive oil. Then you add some cayenne pepper, brown sugar, paprika, cumin, and garlic ( I used garlic powder, cause I guess I didn’t really read this through. It still worked great.) The recipe doesn’t really say how much of each to add. But, I added enough to it was more like a greasy paste consistency and where the oil didn’t really separate. But, mix and match and just taste to see what flavor profile you like. I love things a little bit more spicier so I added a healthy amount of cayenne.

You add this finishing oil as soon as you set your done chicken on a cooling rack. By the time it’s time to serve the chicken, the oil disappeared and turned into a dry rub consistency.

Can I say that this recipe SLAPS. It’s THAT recipe. It’s the recipe that you bring to Thanksgiving. It’s the recipe to impress someone. The recipe to take home to your mama. To SPOIL your lover. It’s really like that. You don’t have to believe me, you just have to try it. Special thanks to Samin for sharing such a gem. I feel like you’ll hear a lot about her from me because 1. I’m a fan. 2. She’s wholesome and amazing. 3. I’ve been experimenting a lot with the recipes from her book. #sorrynotsorry

Random plug, but if you don’t know her she has a great Cooking 101, 4 part series on Netflix. I think it’s something that anyone could really enjoy. I think after that you’d love her too…if not for the fried chicken recipe.

I hope all of you have a wonderful day. Bye!

-Precious

PS: Sorry, no pictures today. I kid you not, we all ate the chicken so fast that there were no Instagram moments. I guess that how you can really tell that this recipe really was magic. It was all inhaled.