Chicken fricassee...or something like it

[AllieBaba]

Okay, I got this cookbook I love and I've been messing with the southern fried chicken recipe.

My mom makes good fried chicken, but she just flours it and then fries it on kinda low heat. The coating doesn't really stick...but it's really good chicken, and she cooks it until it's absolutely tender. Sometimes she'll brown it and then put it in an oven dish, pour a little water in there and bake it covered for an hour or so. So it's almost like a chicken casserole.

So I've been fighting with this stupid recipe. You marinate the chicken pieces in buttermilk overnight, then flour them (with whatever seasons you use) and let them sit a few minutes (I leave them on the flour and turn them a couple of times) so they're relatively dry when you drop them in the oil.

So you fry them. Okay, medium heat or so, I know how to cook fricking chicken so it's not raw....and it turns out beautiful. It looks good, it tastes good, but it's always tough as crap and the coating is definitely on there but is SO crunchy it almost hurts your mouth.

So I tried a variety of things. Frying at a lower heat for a longer time. Frying at a higher heat and then putting in the oven for an hour. Frying it at a lower heat and then baking it. And it was just always tough and the coating got harder and harder.

So finally last night (Easter) I wanted to make it, but I'd had it. So I fry the fricking chicken with the buttermilk and the flour, 3 pieces at a time, put it 2 deep (there were drumsticks and thighs, HUGE) in a roasting pan, and when I was done frying I poured in a cup or so of water and put tin foil over it and cooked it at 350 for about an hour. Pretty much like mom used to.

OMG, it was delicious. It was nothing like "Southern Fried Chicken" because it had cooked essentially in gravy made by the coating and the juices from the chicken and the water, but it was so good it was unreal.

I should have known better than to stray far from Mom's recipes for chicken.

 

[Annie]

Okay, I got this cookbook I love and I've been messing with the southern fried chicken recipe.

My mom makes good fried chicken, but she just flours it and then fries it on kinda low heat. The coating doesn't really stick...but it's really good chicken, and she cooks it until it's absolutely tender. Sometimes she'll brown it and then put it in an oven dish, pour a little water in there and bake it covered for an hour or so. So it's almost like a chicken casserole.

So I've been fighting with this stupid recipe. You marinate the chicken pieces in buttermilk overnight, then flour them (with whatever seasons you use) and let them sit a few minutes (I leave them on the flour and turn them a couple of times) so they're relatively dry when you drop them in the oil.

So you fry them. Okay, medium heat or so, I know how to cook fricking chicken so it's not raw....and it turns out beautiful. It looks good, it tastes good, but it's always tough as crap and the coating is definitely on there but is SO crunchy it almost hurts your mouth.

So I tried a variety of things. Frying at a lower heat for a longer time. Frying at a higher heat and then putting in the oven for an hour. Frying it at a lower heat and then baking it. And it was just always tough and the coating got harder and harder.

So finally last night (Easter) I wanted to make it, but I'd had it. So I fry the fricking chicken with the buttermilk and the flour, 3 pieces at a time, put it 2 deep (there were drumsticks and thighs, HUGE) in a roasting pan, and when I was done frying I poured in a cup or so of water and put tin foil over it and cooked it at 350 for about an hour. Pretty much like mom used to.

OMG, it was delicious. It was nothing like "Southern Fried Chicken" because it had cooked essentially in gravy made by the coating and the juices from the chicken and the water, but it was so good it was unreal.

I should have known better than to stray far from Mom's recipes for chicken.

I'm so confused. Do I ask for the at least approximate recipe or hit you for your mom? How about you post both recipes?

 

[sitarro]

My Mother's Chicken and Meatball Fricassee was always one of my favorites, she's gone now and I may never taste anything that great again but here is the recipe. By the way, my Mother was a real Cajun and had cooked for 75 years. It's basically a thick gumbo. A jar of roux is available in the cajun section of any good grocery store, much easier than making from scratch and just as good. Tony Chachere's Cajun Seasoning should be found in the same area, great all around seasoning.

1/2 cup of roux
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
4 cups of water
1/2 bell pepper
1 whole chicken, cut up and seasoned
2 green onions
parsley
1 large onion

Meatballs

1 lb. ground sirloin
1 egg
1/2 cup of bread crumbs
1 tsp. Tony Chachere's Cajun Seasoning

Mix together and shape into small meatballs. Brown on cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

Saute onions, garlic and bell pepper until tender. Add roux, stir slowly. Add water. Start with a quart (boil for 20 minutes). Add chicken, boil for 45 minutes. Add meatballs and drippings. Simmer for 20 minutes with chopped parsley and green onion. Gravy should be thick. Add water as needed for correct consistency. Serve over rice. Pork & bean and cole slaw work really well with this dish.

Copying this has made me miss my Mother even more.

 

[strollingbones]

i like how you toss how the 1/2 cup of roux

 

[AllieBaba]

Sorry, here are the recipes:

Fried Chicken With Gravy

oil or shortening
1 chicken, about 2 to 2 1/2 pounds, cut up: I seldom use the breasts or cut up my own. I buy bags of hind quarters, and then cut the legs and thighs myself.

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste. More is usually better.

Cream Gravy:

2 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup milk
1 cup water

Use a deep heavy skillet or Dutch oven with oil or hot fat about two inches deep.

Combine flour, salt and pepper in a pie plate or wide bowl. Roll each piece of chicken in flour and place in the hot oil (you can use lard, too. Also if you have some bacon fat, I always put that in). Put the largest pieces in first, in the hottest part of the skillet. When all pieces are in the skillet, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove top and turn chicken pieces when the underside is well browned. Replace top for another 5 minutes, remove and cook in open pan until the bottom side is browned. About 30 to 35 minutes in all will be required for cooking chicken if it is not too large. Try to turn the chicken only the one time.

The fat should be deep enough to cover the pieces when it boils up, but make sure you use a deep skillet, preferably one made for frying chicken, and watch carefully.

To make cream gravy:

Pour off all but about 2 tablespoons of the fat from frying the chicken from the skillet. Add 2 tablespoons butter and 4 tablespoons flour; blend and cook until golden brown, scraping browned bits from bottom of skillet. Gradually stir in 1 cup milk and 1 cup hot water. Stir until smooth and thickened; add salt and black pepper. Pour into a gravy boat and serve with chicken and mashed potatoes.

SOUTHERN FRIED CHICKEN

Buttermilk (I get a quart)
Salt & pepper
Flour (2 cups at least)
Cut up chicken

Put chicken pieces in a bowl, salt and cover with buttermilk. Cover and refrigerate over night or at least 2 hours.

Heat 2-3 inches of oil/lard in heavy skillet. Take pieces of chicken from buttermilk wash and roll in peppered flour to cover. Allow to dry a little...you can put them on a rack, but I generally will just do about 3 pieces, leave them on the flour for about 5 minutes or so, then turn them and put them in the oil after about 10 minutes total. (I do this while the oil is heating for the first few pieces, then just do it as I'm frying for the rest...as I remove a piece from the flour, I replace it, and by the time there's room in the pan, the pieces are usually pretty dry and not dripping).

Fry at medium heat until completely browned and juices run clear. My skillet is a regular 10-inch cast iron; I fry about 3 pieces (more if it's a smaller bird) at a time. They shouldn't touch and should have room in the pan while cooking. Put cooked pieces in the oven at about 200 degrees to keep warm.

Results in a very crunchy, well-adhered crust. This is the "tough" recipe, though. Very tasty, very crunchy. But I like my chicken to fall off the bone.

Serve with gravy (recipe above).

FRICASSEE:

Use either of the recipes above, only put the browned chicken pieces in a roaster (you can crowd these and should, even making it a couple of pieces deep in the pan) in the oven at about 350 degrees. When all the chicken is browned (doesn't have to be completely cooked) and in the pan, add about 1 cup of water to the pan, cover with a lid or foil, and bake for about an hour. Make sure it doesn't dry out. Usually if the chicken isn't done when you put it in, between the water and the juices from the chicken, you don't have to worry about it.

This will result in very moist, fall-off-the-bone chicken. The "sauce" may or may not be lumpy, depending on the type of crust you make with the chicken (the buttermilk crust doesn't dissolve completely in liquid), but it will be very, very good regardless.

 

[editec]

Bath chicken in egg.

Cover in breadcrumbs.

Fry in olive oil until golden brown.

Finish cooking in the over @ 350.

Pretty simple, really.