5 Questions on frying Chicken breasts.

Is the oil temperature limited to 350 or 375.
How do I Dry Brine chicken?
Is there a rule of thumb for how much seasoning is used?
Do I use more seasoning in the marinade than in the flour mixture?
During the fry process, do some seasonings burn if they are mixed in with the flour?

Harry
  • Posted by: Harry
  • March 4, 2016
  • 2518 views
  • 2 Comments

2 Comments

702551 March 4, 2016
Hi,

You'd be better off reading J. Kenji Lopez-Alt's article at Serious Eats:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/07/the-food-lab-best-southern-fried-chicken.html

then coming back here (or the comments section at the Serious Eats website) for any clarification. Kenji is quite thorough in his testing and his methodology is usually very solid as one might expect from an MIT-trained scientist.
 
702551 March 4, 2016
Note that Kenji does a couple things in his articles that most recipe writers do not:

1.) Kenji says what didn't work. This is helpful because if some adventurous cook thinks he/she can veer from the procedure, Kenji may have already covered the outcome. Also, it may explain why a reader's own preparation isn't as good as the one Kenji claims to have mastered: because the reader is doing one of the things that doesn't work as well.

Saying what doesn't work and fessing up to your errors is as helpful as saying what does work. Part of Julia Child's genius was to not let kitchen mistakes get edited out of the final broadcast show.

2. Kenji is fascinated in the "why" of cooking. He isn't just interested in putting something tasty on the table, he wants to know why one way is better than other ways, the physics and chemistry behind the reactions that happen in a mixing bowl, in the oven, on the stovetop, etc.
 
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