Spicy Fried Chicken

Every now and then, I’ll notice a book on the shelf that I haven’t used for a long time. Last week, my Dean and Deluca Cookbook seemed to be giving me puppy dog eyes and wondering why I hadn’t opened it in so long. This was one of the very first cookbooks I acquired before a collection even began to form. I remember seeing David Rosengarten on the Today show promoting this book back in 1996, and I got the book shortly thereafter. I learned how to make risotto from this book. I clearly recall a very hot summer night when we were living in a tiny apartment, and I had decided to attempt risotto. Why I thought it would be a good idea to stand over a steaming pot of rice and broth while it was about 100 degrees outside I have no idea, but it turned out very well and I’ve made all sorts of risottos several times since then. There’s so much great information in this book, and the origins of the food presented span the globe. I sat down with it last week and flipped through the entire book again. I made a few mental notes of things I’ll try soon, but the first thing I had to make was spicy fried chicken.

This recipe was intended as a multi-culti, their wording, dish due to the chicken being marinated in buttermilk with garlic, ginger, lemon, and chiles. I chose to focus on a more southwestern kind of approach and left out the ginger. To speed up the initial steps, I bought chicken pieces instead of a whole chicken. I intended to buy some breasts and wings, but for some reason, Central Market only had wing drumettes. So, I marinated some breasts and the drumettes in the buttermilk mixture for about six hours in the refrigerator. I stirred and re-arranged the pieces twice during that time. Then, the chicken was removed from the marinade, tossed in seasoned flour, and left to rest while the oil heated to 350 degrees. Frying is a messy venture, so I recommend frying a lot of chicken while you’re at it. Leftovers re-heat nicely in the oven, and the more you have in the end the more the mess will seem worth it. It takes about 20 minutes total in the oil to cook chicken, and it came out golden and crispy.

I can’t even remember the last time I fried chicken, so this was a rare treat in our house. The crunch of the hot, freshly fried coating was almost as satisfying as the flavor. The meat was very tender and the lemon and garlic accented it nicely. The jalapeno flavor was more subtle, and we would have preferred it even spicier. We decided we should have left some pieces of jalapeno on the chicken before flouring it, so we’ll go that route next time. Although, there’s also a cornmeal-molasses fried chicken recipe in the book, and that may have to come first.

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