Southern Fried Chicken for the Fourth of July

With one juicy mouthful of the pleasantly salted, crispy, subtly spiced chicken, I forget all about my mental, daily calorie tab.  Succulent and crunchy at the same time fried chicken is a winning summer favorite.  Making the chicken creates a mess, but it is well worth it to elicit smiles on my boy’s faces. 

Usually fried chicken is made by soaking the chicken in buttermilk for a few hours to plump up the chicken pieces.  Since my kitchen is kosher I needed to find an alternative so I tried soaking the chicken in unsweetened plain flavored soy milk.  The results were great. 

10 chicken thighs

10 chicken drumsticks

1 quart of plain unsweetened soy milk

3 cups flour

½ cup corn meal

2 tablespoons Sumac

2 tablespoons New Mexico Chili powder

2 tablespoons Curry powder 

1 quart Safflower oil 

If you are using kosher chicken there is no need for salt, if you are using regular chicken add 1-2 teaspoons of salt to the flour mix.

Place the chicken thighs and drumsticks in a shallow baking dish and pour the soy milk over the chicken.  Let the chicken soak for about four hours turning the pieces a couple of times during this time. 

Place the flour, corn meal, and all the spices in a heavy duty plastic bag, like a zip-lock bag.  Shake the bag to distribute the spices in the flour.  Spread a large piece of aluminum foil or paper bags cut flat, on your counter surface.  Placing only three pieces at a time in the plastic bag of flour, hold the bag closed and shake it to coat the chicken with the flour.  Carefully remove each coated piece and place gently on the prepared covered counter top. 

Pour oil into a large pan with 3-4 inch sides at least.  The oil should be about 1 inch deep.  Heat the oil until it is hot but not smoking.  Test the oil with a drumstick.  When you insert the drumstick it should bubble and fry, but not smoke and pop.  When the oil is ready, begin adding the coated pieces of chicken to the pan.  Do not crowd the pan; leave a little room around each piece.  Fry on one side to deep golden and then turn the chicken with a tong.  When the chicken is deep golden on both sides remove the pieces from the oil and place on a plate lined with paper towel to absorb any excess oil.  Be sure to place the pieces only single layer deep.  Add the next group if pieces to the oil.  The chicken pieces take approximately 15-20 minutes to fry.  If the pieces are really large, and you think they are still raw in the center you may place them in a 300º oven to finish baking.  I prefer to use pieces from small chickens so they cook through during frying. 

The pieces will hold in a 200ºoven if you are want to serve them shortly.  Serve fried chicken hot, cold, or room temperature, its all good. 

Just to let you know, if you fry breasts, cut them in half.  In my experience, although your guests may eat three to four pieces each, no one wants to take a huge breast piece!  They will fry better in a smaller size as well.

Related posts:

1. Fourth of July Party Menu
2. Chicken Cutlets
3. Pomegranate Chicken
4. Roast Chicken with Lime and Sumac
5. Desert Chicken

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Tagged as: chicken, dairy free, fourth of July, fried chicken, kosher, recipe, Southern Fried, spice, summer