notbob wrote:
>
> First, I hafta confess my sins. I've never really fried chicken.
> There, I've said it. Oh, I took a half hearted stab at it back when I
> was a pup. But, it was so pitiful it has intimidated me ever since.
> Add the fact that I've never really been a rabid fried chicken fan,
> and you have life-long calculated indifference.
>
> So anyway, I did the big fried chicken thing this weekend and tonight.
> The whole nine yards. Cut up a whole fryer, marinated in buttermilk,
> fried in my big ol' No. 10 Wagner, yada yada. Actually, I'm pretty
> pleased with how it came out, taste-wise, and that's what really
> counts. Also, it's very moist and tender. BUT!! ...it's just not
> pretty! It's not post-the-pic material. I see other folk's picnic
> chicken and recall how my godmother's killer chicken looked. In
> comparison, mine looks horrible.
>
> Here's pics of the recipe I pretty much followed to the letter.
>
> http://www.elise.com/recipes/archive...ed_chicken.php
>
> As I said, it tastes great. But, mine is not that picture perfect
> chicken you see on the drain rack and serving plate on that website.
> Let's put it this way. If the chicken in the pictures is Beyoncé
> Knowles, my chicken is CCH Pounder. And here is where I want some
> honesty. How does one really cook fried chicken to cook it hot enough
> so it's not greasy, long enough that it's done, yet just enough so it
> looks appealing? Cuz I'm telling you right now, there's no way in
> Hell the recipe on that website produced the chicken in those
> pictures. Cooking chicken in oil @ 350 deg F for 12-15 mins *per
> side* is gonna get you some damn dark chicken. Sure, I know
> commercial cooking pics are mostly bogus, but I've seen real
> in-the-wild fried chicken that's both pretty and good tasting at the
> same time. So! ...what's the skinny? How did you and/or granny
> really do it? 
>
> nb
Don't know if this will be of particular interest to anyone (or notbob),
but one of this evening episodes of "Good Eats" (aka Alton Brown) on
FoodTV is about "buttermilk-battered fried chicken." This particular
episode is scheduled for 10PM CDT on 01 Sept 2006.
Sky, whose current time is about 9:15PM CDT