If you love fried chicken but would sooner wait for
a road trip to Mississippi than get frying yourself, what you need is a recipe
that won’t fail you, comes together swiftly, and is more than worth what little
trouble it asks of you.
Here, you’ll brine the chicken, which is extra
insurance for keeping the meat flavorful and moist, and it will take you 15
minutes to go from chicken in grocery bag to chicken brining in the
fridge.
How? Namely, how do four cloves of garlic and a
whole sliced onion go into a pot over medium-high heat with 1
teaspoon of oil and quickly sweat into a soft puddle, without browning
(or burning)?
The answer: a lot of salt. It instantly goes to
work on the onions, drawing out their moisture, which pools in the bottom of the
pot and helps it all quickly cook down in its own juices. Then you toss in
rosemary branches and finish it off with water and lemon. Boil, ice bath, throw
your chicken in it. The next day (or even just a few hours later), you’ll pull
your chicken out of the brine, which will smell confusingly delicious, and
you’ll start dredging and frying.
The seasoned flour and buttermilk crust is one of
those shaggy, crunchy affairs that you’d normally want to steal off other
people’s drumsticks and leave them the meat lingering on the bone. But remember
that brine: As intoxicating as it smelled before cooking, it will smell—and
taste—even more richly of rosemary and lemon, the salt having drawn it into the
flesh.
The meat is so juicy, the crust so proudly crusty,
you can fry it ahead and leave it in the oven until company arrives. (Have you
ever tried to deep-fry chicken while guests are standing around drinking? They
ask an awful lot of questions.) Best keep them away till the big
reveal.
Serves 6 to 8
BRINE
1 small onion, thinly
sliced
4 cloves garlic, smashed with the
flat side of a knife
1 teaspoon vegetable
oil
3 tablespoons kosher
salt
5 to 6 branches rosemary, each 4
to 5 inches (10 to 13cm) long
4½ cups (1L) water
1 lemon, halved
8 chicken legs, drumsticks
and thighs separated
8 chicken wings, wing tips
removed
3 cups (420g) all-purpose
flour
3 tablespoons freshly ground black
pepper
2 tablespoons sweet
paprika
2 tablespoons fine sea
salt
2 teaspoons cayenne
pepper
2 tablespoons baking
powder
2 cups (475ml)
buttermilk
Neutral, high-heat oil for
deep-frying (such as canola)
Rosemary spigs (to deep fry) and
lemon zest, for garnish
1 To make the brine, in a
saucepan over medium-high heat, sauté the onion and garlic in the oil until
translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the kosher salt after the onion and garlic have
cooked for 30 seconds or so. Add the rosemary and cook to heat it, 30 seconds or
so. Add the water and lemon, squeezing the juice into the water and removing any
seeds. Bring the water to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the salt. Remove from
the heat and allow the brine to cool. Refrigerate until chilled. To speed this
process up, chill over an ice bath, stirring.
2 Place all the chicken pieces in a large, sturdy
plastic bag. Set the bag in a large bowl for support. Pour the cooled brine and
aromatics into the bag. Seal the bag so that you remove as much
air as possible and the chicken is submerged in the brine. Refrigerate for at
least 8 hours, and up to 24 hours, agitating the bag occasionally to
redistribute the brine and the chicken.
3 Remove the chicken from the brine, rinse under cold
water, pat dry, and set on a rack or on paper towels. The chicken can be
refrigerated for up to 3 days before you cook it, or it can be cooked
immediately. Ideally, it should be refrigerated, uncovered, for a day to dry out
the skin, but Ruhlman says he usually can’t wait to start
cooking.
4 Combine the flour, black pepper, paprika, sea salt,
cayenne, and baking powder in a bowl. Whisk to distribute the ingredients.
Divide this mixture between two bowls. Pour the buttermilk into a third bowl.
Set a rack on a baking sheet.
5 Dredge the chicken in the seasoned flour, shake off
the excess, and set the dusted pieces on the rack. Dip the pieces in the
buttermilk, then dredge them aggressively in the second bowl of seasoned flour
and return them to the rack.
6 Heat the oil in a large, high-sided pot (Ruhlman
recommends filling it no more than one-third full with oil) for deep-frying to
350°F (180°C). Add as many chicken pieces as you can without crowding the pan.
Cook the chicken, turning the pieces occasionally, until they are golden brown
and cooked through, 12 to 15 minutes depending on their size. Remove to a clean
rack and allow them to rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Fry the rosemary
sprigs. When ready to serve, garnish with lemon zest and fried rosemary
sprigs.
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