My guide to breading and deep frying anything.

[occupied]

The art of making anything a delicious fatty golden brown is not that hard, in fact it is almost too easy, the key is in preparation.

The choice of breading type depends on the food being cooked, there are three types I use. Chicken and other meats use self rising four, seafood and vegetables get corn flour I add rice flour to either to make it extra crispy. I do not use corn meal as I find it too coarse.

Start with the realization that it is going to be a mess, if you occupy yourself with cleaning it takes your attention away from a potentially dangerous amount of hot oil.

Ok, so take your food and put it in a large bowl, add a couple of beaten eggs and enough buttermilk to get it all wet and set it aside.

In another large bowl put plenty of the flour of your choice, salt, black pepper, and a spice mix that is variously called "soul seasoning" or "creole seasoning".

Dump HALF of the flour mix into the food/egg/buttermilk mixture and gently mix to form a batter evenly coating the food. Individually take pieces out of the batter and put it into the remaining dry flour, coat it completely and put it on a plate for a while to absorb the liquid from the batter.

If you must clean up do it now because it is time to heat the oil. I use a 2/1 mixture of corn oil and solid vegetable shortening. IMPORTANT! I use a deep sauce pan on the back burner with the handle turned away from me, I also watch it all the time that the heat is on I cannot overstress the importance of these safety tips. Slowly heat the oil on medium high, do not allow it to get too hot, if it starts to smoke even a little turn off the heat and allow it to cool some. When you are ready turn up the heat to high and use tongs to gently place the food into the oil to avoid splashing. when the bubbling subsides some turn the heat back down to medium high and cook until the food looks ALMOST done, gently remove it from the oil and put it on a plate covered with paper towels, it will continue to cook after it is removed from the oil so it is imperative that the food be allowed to sit for at least 5 minutes before serving. Do not forget to turn off the burner.

Enjoy.

 

[Sunshine]

If you coat chicken in an egg and buttermilk mixture, and then coat it with self rising flour you get a really flaky crust on the chicken. But if you use self rising flour you don't use as much salt on the meat because there is salt in the flour. This is an especially good way to bread chicken livers for deep frying.

 

[Mr. H.]

I've been banned from the kitchen as I never occupy myself with cleaning.

Thanks for the tips.

I do have a small deep-fryer but the temp only goes up to 350 and I think 375 is a better frying temp.

 

[Jos]

Breaded Fried cheese should be frozen before cooking

 

[strollingbones]

i dont agree with your methods....i use the dry, wet, dry and fry....

if you want to make fried candy bars just use a funnel cake batter....be sure and feeze the bars for a few days

 

[Ringel05]

My guide to breading and deep frying anything.

Let someone else do it........

 

[Mad Scientist]

If you wanna' get fat (or just stay that way) this is the way to do it!

 

[koshergrl]

i dont agree with your methods....i use the dry, wet, dry and fry....

if you want to make fried candy bars just use a funnel cake batter....be sure and feeze the bars for a few days

I do too..

For meats I dredge with flour and salt and pepper, then into egg wash, then back into dry....either seasoned flour, or bread or cracker crumbs.

I have found that with meat, if you let it rest a little between each different stage (not the wet stage) you get a crunchier, more adhesive coating that doesn't slip off when frying.

I have found that marinating chicken in buttermilk really does lend itself to wonderful looking and tasting fried chicken...but it's so crunchy that for me, it's almost like titanium. It looks and tastes great...but ultimately I prefer the less aesthetically pleasing plain old simple fried chicken...just dredged with flour and then pan fried for a long time on medium heat. It's not particularly pretty, but it tastes delicious.

I've dinked around with a lot of different breadings and methods over the years, and have finally decided that for almost everything, simple is better..

Chicken fried steak (or weiner schnitzel..or pork cutlets) w/white gravy:

Meat
Eggs & H20
flour salt pepper and whatever seasonings you like

Take cube steak, cubed veal or cubed pork pieces and thoroughly coat them with seasoned flour. Set aside for up to a half hour. But any amount of time is good.

Beat a few eggs with about a tablespoon of water in a wide, shallow dish. I sometimes use a plate. If this is difficult for you, you're going to have problems later.

Dip each piece of flour-coated meat in the egg mixture, then in another dish of seasoned flour.

I like to let the meat actually sit in the flour at this point, or I put it on another plate and let it sit, to give all 3 layers a chance to bond.

When you've coated all the meat, dump your egg mixture if you have any left. Keep the flour, you can use it for the gravy. Heat a skillet and add enough oil to cook all the meat; I usually use 1/4-1/2 inch in a 10 inch cast iron skillet. HEAT THE SKILLET BEFORE ADDING OIL, always...if your skillet isn't well seasoned then you want to get it good and hot, season it by using your (metal) spatula to work oil into the surface, THEN add more oil...hopefully this will keep your meat from sticking. But honestly, if you don't have a decently seasoned skillet, you don't fry enough and probably your food is going to stick. You might be better off with a no-stick pan. I get extremely frustrated with people who don't have well seasoned iron skillets at their fingertips, it's a personal thing.

Anyway, once the oil and the pan are good and hot and you have a little smoke going (NOT a 5 alarm fire, please...and not just a tiny whisp across the top) then add the meat piece by piece. Don't crowd them, you might need to do a couple of panfuls. If it gets too hot, turn the heat down and move your pan from the heat until the heat is reasonable, then return it...frying this way isn't something you can do from the living room. When the meat is good and brown then turn it. I usually use a fork so I don't splash grease all over the place, but if your meat is sticking, you'll want to lift it from the bottom of the pan with a spatula (and maybe let it fry a few seconds again) and then see if you can turn it without killing yourself. If it's sticking, you probably aren't able to maintain a properly seasoned skillet, which means you probably can't turn frying meat without killing yourself. It's been nice knowing you.

Of course you need to cook this stuff long enough that it's done. That might mean turning the heat down and letting it cook at a lower heat for a while. If you don't have the sense to adjust the heat to allow it to cook through without burning it, you need to practice with vast amounts of meat and hours and hours over a hot stove until you get it right.

When you're done with the first batch, remove it to a warm plate or cookie sheet (ovens work great for this). Survey the pan..if you have huge amounts of stuff in there, you probably want to dip as much as you easily can out so it won't turn black and burn during the next batch.

Add oil if your oil is too low. Let it heat up a little, if you've had to add enough to bring the heat down too far to sizzle.

Add the next batch. Repeat.

At the end, pour off grease if you need to (you might not) until you just have a few tablespoons. Add seasoned flour (you can use your coating flour) until you make a roux and cook that a few seconds. Then add milk, and probably salt and pepper. Quite a bit of pepper. Go easier on the salt until you taste it, but it will need it or it will taste a lot like it's close cousin, GLUE and the family retard, PASTE. If the meat turned out really salty (and if you oversalted the flour this is possible) then hold back on the salt, you will need fairly un-salty gravy to balance it out.

Let that simmer for a bit until it looks like something you can spoon over or under your meat. For God's sake stir it as it's simmering, or you'll get a lovely protein coating on your pan that resembles nothing so much as white teflon, and ruin your gravy. And when it's done and tastes right, pour it into a non-metal container, otherwise it will turn a nasty color and dry out in your pan, and you don't want that.

 

[California Girl]

Don't eat fried foods.

 

[Big Black Dog]

What would you recommend for deep fried chicken lips?

 

[Douger]

Panko and peanut oil.Nada mas.

 

[koshergrl]

Panko is great...I use panko for seafood...and also for cubed meats... Usually don't need anything else. it's relatively new on my radar so I always forget it!

 

[Mr. H.]

What would you recommend for deep fried chicken lips?

Hydrogenated Palm oil. Nothing else will do.
Unless of course it's beef tallow.