Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Brown Sugar Kitchen

I really don't like frying chicken at home. Frying anything, actually, is kind of annoying; it's messy, it requires a lot of attention to keep the oil the right temperature, when you're done you have a bunch of oil to deal with, and with chicken especially it can be hard to tell if the meat is done when the crust is brown. This recipe circumvents that part, though, by just browning up the chicken in the oil and then finishing it in the oven! A buttermilk soak helps keep the meat juicy, and the spice mixture gives it a flavor twist that makes it a bit different than your run of the mill fast food fried chicken.

You can find the full recipe here: https://www.oprah.com/own-tanyaskitchentable/buttermilk-fried-chicken-recipe_1

Captions

[00:00]: [Music]
[00:04]: hello and welcome to cooking the books
[00:06]: with heather today
[00:07]: we're going to be making buttermilk
[00:09]: fried chicken out of
[00:10]: tonya holland's brown sugar kitchen
[00:13]: cookbook
[00:14]: um now look fried chicken i've made it
[00:17]: once on my
[00:19]: on my channel way back at the beginning
[00:21]: from pool's diner
[00:22]: um but while it is one of my family's
[00:27]: favorite things to eat in general um
[00:29]: when i told my children
[00:31]: last night that that's what i'm gonna be
[00:32]: making for today they were not excited
[00:34]: in fact they're like
[00:35]: ah is it gonna be fancy
[00:39]: well i don't think this is fancy fried
[00:42]: chicken this is a very
[00:44]: basic fried chicken recipe there's no
[00:47]: extra sauces or anything that you put on
[00:49]: top of it you just
[00:51]: make the fried chicken it does have
[00:55]: a lot of herbs and spices not eleven we
[00:58]: counted
[00:59]: i think 10 if you include salt and
[01:01]: pepper um
[01:02]: but i think it will be
[01:06]: just a standard fried chicken recipe but
[01:09]: it will i'm sure it will taste great all
[01:10]: these herbs and spices that you marinate
[01:13]: it with
[01:13]: buttermilk it's gonna be great
[01:16]: so we're gonna have this for dinner
[01:17]: tonight and it has to
[01:20]: uh sit in the refrigerator in the
[01:22]: buttermilk for like
[01:23]: eight hours up to overnight um
[01:27]: you end up almost 24 hours if you do it
[01:29]: the night before so this is the morning
[01:31]: before we're gonna eat it's about 9 20
[01:34]: so
[01:34]: a little bit after 5 o'clock we'll
[01:36]: finish this up but let's get started
[01:38]: first we have to make a spice blend
[01:41]: and there's a lot like i said a lot i
[01:44]: think it's ten
[01:45]: so i'm gonna start with we have
[01:48]: some just fresh minced parsley
[01:53]: and i didn't measure it i just minced
[01:55]: what i had so i'm going to
[01:57]: measure it before i put it in here
[02:02]: there we go okay so we have parsley in
[02:05]: here
[02:05]: i've got some dried tarragon which
[02:09]: i had to buy because we don't use very
[02:11]: much
[02:13]: some onion powder
[02:19]: sweet paprika just regular paprika not
[02:21]: spicy
[02:22]: not smoked um
[02:25]: oh kosher salt so let me measure
[02:35]: this
[02:39]: go um
[02:44]: so we have garlic powder
[02:48]: i'm being very careful because i have
[02:50]: missed things recently so be very
[02:52]: careful to read this
[02:53]: um we have some cayenne
[02:56]: powder and pepper
[02:59]: uh we need some black pepper so this
[03:03]: recipe calls for an awful lot of black
[03:05]: pepper so i just ground some in my spice
[03:08]: grinder
[03:11]: so it would be easy and the rest of that
[03:14]: should be used
[03:15]: later um some oregano
[03:20]: and some thyme so that is
[03:24]: a lot of spices i'm just going to mix
[03:25]: this up you probably won't hear this
[03:27]: part or see this part because
[03:29]: metal on metal drives my husband okay
[03:32]: so now we need our chicken
[03:37]: i just ordered a whole chicken cut up
[03:40]: um it's supposed to be a chicken cut up
[03:42]: in eight pieces i hope that's what i
[03:44]: have in here
[03:47]: yes so we're just adding this to the
[03:59]: bowl
[04:01]: why are my thighs such very different
[04:04]: sizes
[04:08]: whatever
[04:11]: oh look they also include the backbone
[04:14]: and everything all the pieces
[04:18]: let me decide if i want to make some
[04:20]: stock out of that later
[04:26]: okay so now i just need to toss this to
[04:29]: coat it with my herb mixture
[04:32]: i don't know i'm not sure why you would
[04:34]: do it this way instead of
[04:38]: putting the mixing the herb mixture into
[04:41]: the
[04:42]: buttermilk first versus
[04:45]: doing it this way i don't know but this
[04:48]: is what she says to do so this is what
[04:50]: i'm going to do
[04:51]: i'm going to wash my hands because i
[04:52]: don't need to do anything else with this
[04:54]: at this point after i um
[04:57]: add the buttermilk i just pour the
[04:59]: buttermilk over and we'll be done so i'm
[05:00]: going to wash my hands first
[05:02]: all right so the last step at this point
[05:04]: is just to pour
[05:05]: the buttermilk over and she doesn't say
[05:08]: to
[05:09]: mix it up after you do so or to mix it
[05:12]: up
[05:13]: during the um
[05:16]: during the waiting time so
[05:21]: we're just gonna pour it over
[05:26]: and we're gonna cover this with plastic
[05:27]: wrap and put it in the refrigerator
[05:29]: to sit for like i said eight hours to
[05:32]: overnight
[05:33]: we'll go for about eight hours so we're
[05:34]: back about five thirty
[05:38]: my chicken has been in the refrigerator
[05:39]: for nine hours-ish at this point
[05:42]: and we're ready to eat dinner i have um
[05:46]: some my sides sort of sitting on the
[05:48]: stove ready to go
[05:50]: so i have a baking pan with a wire rack
[05:53]: uh
[05:54]: in the oven and the oven is set to 350.
[05:58]: um i have my cast iron skillet 12 inch
[06:01]: cast iron skillet with
[06:03]: about three quarters of an inch of oil
[06:06]: in it
[06:06]: that we're heating up on medium heat to
[06:09]: about 350
[06:10]: again um so
[06:14]: it's not there yet but we're coming up a
[06:16]: little bit i might turn it up
[06:17]: just a tad i have my chicken over here
[06:21]: i'm gonna go ahead and take the plastic
[06:23]: off of that
[06:31]: full disclosure uh i did
[06:34]: go in about an hour a couple hours after
[06:38]: uh i put it in the refrigerator just to
[06:40]: see
[06:41]: if the buttermilk was sort of getting
[06:43]: down in between
[06:44]: all the pieces and it didn't seem to be
[06:46]: so i sort of
[06:48]: stirred it up a little bit just to make
[06:49]: sure it all had some contact with the
[06:52]: buttermilk
[06:54]: and now we're going to make our dredge i
[06:55]: have my all-purpose flour
[06:58]: already measured out in the bowl
[07:01]: and we're just going to add to this
[07:05]: some salt kosher salt
[07:09]: and black pepper
[07:12]: that i ground earlier so we'll have a
[07:15]: little bit more of that that we can do
[07:16]: something with
[07:17]: and i'm just going to mix that up into
[07:18]: my flower there we go
[07:24]: so i'm using my um thermapen
[07:28]: infrared just to check the temperature
[07:31]: we're still not quite a 350 but i'm
[07:33]: going
[07:33]: to go ahead and dredge at least one
[07:36]: piece
[07:37]: we're going to fry these like two to
[07:39]: three pieces
[07:40]: at a time we do not want to overcrowd
[07:44]: the pan
[07:45]: and we're not trying to cook these
[07:48]: completely
[07:50]: in the pan we're going to once they're
[07:52]: brown enough
[07:54]: we're going to move them to the oven to
[07:56]: finish
[07:57]: uh cooking for about 20 minutes she says
[08:01]: i'm gonna do my larger pieces first i'm
[08:03]: gonna do the breast and the thighs
[08:05]: uh first and get those in there so
[08:07]: they'll have a little bit longer than
[08:09]: the wings and the legs which are sort of
[08:10]: smaller pieces and generally take a
[08:12]: little bit less time to cook
[08:14]: um so that's my game plan here
[08:18]: so as soon as my oil comes up
[08:19]: temperature i'm going to start
[08:21]: frying and i'm going to start with my
[08:23]: breasts i believe
[08:25]: okay so what we need to do
[08:29]: to get it ready is to
[08:33]: um basically let any
[08:37]: extra uh bits of buttermilk sort of
[08:40]: fall off and there doesn't seem to be
[08:42]: like a ton
[08:44]: and then put it into our flour mixture
[08:46]: i'm going to use my hands
[08:48]: at this point
[08:51]: and just make sure it gets fully covered
[08:54]: by the seasoned flour mixture
[08:58]: my oil is finally at 350 so i'm gonna go
[09:00]: ahead and
[09:02]: get one of these in here and get the
[09:04]: other one ready and go and put it in
[09:07]: just slowly drop it in there
[09:11]: get this one dredged
[09:27]: she does say to turn these occasionally
[09:30]: so it's not just a
[09:32]: one turn and done kind of deal so i'm
[09:35]: gonna do that
[09:37]: when i think that we've got a good coat
[09:39]: on one side
[09:45]: and we're just going for crisp and
[09:47]: browned before we move these to the oven
[09:52]: now my chicken was a little bit bigger
[09:55]: than the one so she says basically a
[09:58]: three and a half three to four pound
[09:60]: chicken mine was closer to five but
[10:05]: that's what i got so it might take a
[10:08]: little bit longer but it should be fine
[10:10]: this is the thing with frying is trying
[10:12]: to keep your oil
[10:16]: the right temperature without getting it
[10:18]: too hot
[10:19]: um so we're letting it get too cold so
[10:22]: you put the cold food in
[10:23]: and then the temperature goes down and
[10:25]: then you turn the heat up and it might
[10:26]: get up too hot
[10:28]: so it's a little it's a little difficult
[10:29]: so that's if you don't fry often that's
[10:32]: a
[10:32]: thing you have to learn to deal with i
[10:35]: guess
[10:36]: and i don't fry all that often honestly
[10:44]: if your oil is too cold the food absorbs
[10:47]: more of the oil
[10:48]: if your oil is too hot it'll brown
[10:50]: before it cooks
[10:52]: it's a whole mess so at this point i'm
[10:55]: just sort of letting the
[10:56]: edges of my breasts that aren't the
[11:00]: thick edges that aren't in the oil very
[11:03]: much
[11:04]: uh get brown and as soon as that happens
[11:06]: i'm gonna put them in the oven but i'm
[11:08]: gonna go ahead and put
[11:09]: uh one of my thighs in because there's
[11:13]: room
[11:15]: you definitely want to shake off the
[11:16]: extra flour
[11:23]: so i'm going to move the breasts into
[11:25]: the oven now which is very hot and i
[11:27]: have to reach over
[11:28]: the hot stuff and all that to do
[11:32]: the way the producer says is right
[11:49]: so i'm just going to keep dredging and
[11:51]: frying
[11:52]: in small batches until we're done and
[11:55]: then it's going to be about 20 minutes
[11:57]: after that that we can eat
[11:59]: so
[12:02]: the wings in my opinion are kind of the
[12:03]: hardest to get
[12:05]: cooked right when you don't deep fry
[12:07]: them just because
[12:09]: of their shape it's hard to get them
[12:10]: into the oil but these seem to be doing
[12:12]: okay
[12:13]: in my opinion um
[12:16]: but i'll be turning those relatively
[12:19]: often i think
[12:20]: just to make sure they get cooked
[12:24]: well these are pretty much done
[12:28]: as soon as i transfer these into the
[12:30]: oven i'm going to set a timer for 15
[12:32]: minutes at which point i'm going to
[12:33]: check the internal temperature
[12:36]: particularly of the breasts that i
[12:37]: cooked first because they were very
[12:39]: large
[12:39]: and the large thigh and probably one of
[12:41]: these last pieces just to make sure that
[12:43]: they are all
[12:44]: at 165 or above because that's
[12:48]: the safe cooking temperature for um
[12:52]: chicken and and then we'll be ready to
[12:55]: eat and i'll show you what it looks like
[13:05]: on this episode of cooking the books
[13:06]: with heather you watched me make
[13:08]: buttermilk fried chicken from tonya
[13:10]: holland's
[13:11]: brown sugar kitchen cookbook
[13:15]: and i have to say this is probably my
[13:17]: favorite method for making fried chicken
[13:19]: at home the method itself i
[13:23]: i do love that you don't have to worry
[13:26]: about
[13:28]: frying it until the chicken is
[13:30]: completely done you
[13:31]: just fry it until it looks nice and
[13:34]: crispy and brown on the outside and then
[13:36]: you
[13:37]: put it in the oven until it's done so
[13:39]: that is very helpful because it's really
[13:41]: easy to
[13:42]: undercook fried chicken or overcooked
[13:45]: the outside while you're trying to get
[13:47]: the inside cook so
[13:49]: that's really that's a really good
[13:51]: method it's really not that difficult
[13:54]: um making the spice mix super easy just
[13:57]: mix together some
[13:58]: some pre-ground spices or dried spices
[14:01]: a little bit of fresh parsley um
[14:05]: i i kind of wonder if it would be
[14:09]: easier or better if you mix the spices
[14:13]: into the buttermilk instead of trying to
[14:15]: coat the chicken with them
[14:17]: i do know that um the way
[14:21]: that she tells you to do this and that's
[14:23]: so you you coat the chicken with the
[14:25]: spices
[14:26]: and then you pour the buttermilk over
[14:28]: top and she doesn't tell you to mix it
[14:29]: up or anything like that
[14:30]: and um i know that one of our pieces of
[14:34]: chicken got sort of
[14:35]: extra spices on it and was extra spicy
[14:40]: because there is some cayenne pepper in
[14:43]: it and somehow one of the pieces was
[14:45]: just
[14:45]: really spicy luckily my husband got that
[14:48]: piece and he likes spice
[14:50]: the kids did not have a problem with the
[14:52]: spice level so
[14:54]: it was okay but if they had gotten that
[14:56]: piece i'm sure they wouldn't have loved
[14:57]: it
[14:58]: they did like the chicken but i do think
[15:01]: that
[15:03]: being mixing the chicken up with the
[15:06]: buttermilk was probably a good idea and
[15:10]: i did
[15:10]: after a little while after a couple
[15:12]: hours probably i went in just to see if
[15:15]: the buttermilk was
[15:16]: soaking in between the pieces of chicken
[15:18]: or if i still had some
[15:19]: uncoated pieces of chicken in the bottom
[15:21]: and i did have uncoated pieces so
[15:25]: um i don't know next time i do this
[15:28]: if i do this again i'm not
[15:31]: big on frying chicken at home or frying
[15:34]: anything at home i do it very
[15:36]: occasionally and when i do it i
[15:37]: kind of do all the fried things at once
[15:40]: just so
[15:41]: i can use the oil use it up
[15:44]: and get done with it but and and you can
[15:47]: buy fried chicken
[15:50]: around where i am you can buy very good
[15:52]: fried chicken
[15:53]: relatively inexpensively pretty much
[15:57]: anytime you want it
[15:59]: but it was really good the method was
[16:02]: good so if you want to make
[16:04]: fried chicken at home this is this is a
[16:06]: great sort of starter recipe
[16:08]: the buttermilk soak helps the chicken
[16:11]: stay nice and moist
[16:13]: and be a little bit more tender and the
[16:15]: spices are a good
[16:17]: um a good flavoring and then
[16:20]: the frying method is is probably one of
[16:23]: the best ones for
[16:24]: particularly a a new uh
[16:28]: person who hasn't fried chicken before
[16:30]: because then
[16:31]: like i said you don't have to worry
[16:32]: about the chicken being done
[16:34]: um but my kids didn't didn't love it
[16:37]: didn't
[16:37]: well they liked it they did not prefer
[16:40]: it to
[16:41]: uh the stuff we can buy uh nearby so
[16:45]: they're not gonna be asking for this one
[16:46]: again but if i decided i wanted to you
[16:49]: know impress some people and make fried
[16:50]: chicken i think this is
[16:52]: probably the recipe i would use because
[16:55]: it's
[16:55]: it's a pretty standard buttermilk fried
[16:58]: chicken with a little twist
[16:59]: with some extra herbs so
[17:02]: if you enjoyed watching me make this
[17:04]: please give me a thumbs up
[17:06]: hit the subscribe button share it with
[17:08]: your friends
[17:09]: let me know what you think of uh fried
[17:12]: chicken what your favorite one is down
[17:14]: in the comments below
[17:15]: thanks for watching come back and watch
[17:18]: me make something else next week