The best fried chicken I've had involves a soak in buttermilk, followed by a dredge in seasoned flour, followed by an egg wash, followed by a healthy coating in a flour/cornmeal batter, then fried in peanut oil. Not low fat, but incredibly tasty and crunchy! The real secret to anything fried being really crunchy is the 3 dip method (flour - egg - flour/whatever).
When I see cornstarch for fried chicken. I think Chinese chicken wings. A method is a large pot of water, with some soy sauce, orange juice, sugar, sake--enough to cover the pieces. Bring to a boil put in the wings; let it return to a simmer; Turn off the heat and wait 20 mins--this should cook all the chicken. Remove and drain on a wire rack for about 30 mins--put in a paper bag with some cornstarch and a touch of salt. Shake and deep fry to crisp up the skin.
It's super easy and makes a flavorful crispy wing. The final fry is more to crisp up the skin and cornstarch than to cook the chicken, so you don't have to fry long and it's a bit easier to fry.
Edna Lewis and Scott and Scott Peacock have one recipe for pan fried chicken that uses flour, cornstarch and potato starch, and another recipe that uses flour and cornstarch. They are both very good, but so is just flour, salt and pepper.
There is a recipe for Japanese fried chicken, which uses cornstarch, in Sheila Lukins' Around the Word Cookbook. Unfortunately, my book is at home and I'm somewhere else at the moment, but if you can get the book you can check out that recipe. Also, if you Google"Japanese fried chicken" you will find recipes that use potato starch or cornstarch.
When I fry legs and thighs, all I do is a light dredge in seasoned flour, fry in the pan with hot oil, skin side down, until golden and crispy. Flip it over, cook for another minute. Then, finish in the oven.
For breasts, I'll take the skin off, pound it lightly with a mallet, and do a flour/eggwash/breadcrumb coating and cook it the same way.
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It's super easy and makes a flavorful crispy wing. The final fry is more to crisp up the skin and cornstarch than to cook the chicken, so you don't have to fry long and it's a bit easier to fry.
For breasts, I'll take the skin off, pound it lightly with a mallet, and do a flour/eggwash/breadcrumb coating and cook it the same way.