chicken fried chicken southern style

November 18, 2012 11:23 AM

Please give me your best chicken fried chicken recipes!

When I lived in Texas, I fell in love with the amazing concept of chicken fried chicken. Not just fried chicken (which I don't particularly care for) but chicken made like chicken fried steak. What is your favorite recipe?

I'd like to make it for Thanksgiving instead of turkey, serving around 6 people, so simpler/less time consuming recipes are preferred, though I'd happily take the extra time if the recipe is amazing.

Thank you!

posted by dysh to food & drink (11 answers total)

Chicken fried steak is thin steak, breaded & fried. I suspect the gravy is what makes you love it. I'd brown some sausage, and pour out the fat. I'd use the pan drippings from the sausage and chicken(little bits of browned breading) and flour, to make a roux(be patient, let it get just golden), and whisk in warm milk. Pepper, salt as needed, garlic if you like. Follow with a brisk walk; your arteries will thank you.

Sausage gravy on turkey stuffing... might be really good.
posted by theora55 at 12:11 PM on November 18, 2012

May I recommend Chicken Schnitzel? These turn out so crispy and delicious on the outside and ridiculously moist on the inside. You can use the brown from the frying pan and some butter to make a quick cream gravy to go with it.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 12:49 PM on November 18, 2012 [3 favorites]

This is honestly something you can just play by ear once you've made it once or twice, so I don't have a specific recipe I follow. But this recipe for CFS looks basically like what I do, and the only difference if you're making CFC is to use a chicken cutlet instead of the cube steak.

There's only two things that are at all tricky or time-consuming here, and even those are pretty straightforward. One is flattening the meat out: either butterfly it if you're good with a knife, or pound it flat like this. The other is making the roux for the cream gravy, and honestly that's just attention to detail: cook it on pretty low heat — this is one of those times when the temperature setting actually matters — and whisk it nonstop (no, for real, don't go anywhere) between adding the flour and stirring in the milk. For this you can get away with a really light roux, so you only need a couple minutes of whisking.

That recipe's got cream gravy rather than sausage gravy, which is how I've usually seen it done around Austin, though it might be different other places. Be generous with the salt and really generous with the black pepper when you're making it.
posted by nebulawindphone at 1:10 PM on November 18, 2012

Also wait hang on this is for Thanksgiving? If you can get turkey cutlets, there's no reason you couldn't do the same thing with those. Just a thought....
posted by nebulawindphone at 1:14 PM on November 18, 2012

nebulawindphone, that sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. But in terms of the gravy, do I just use the leftover chicken drippings from the pan for the roux, same as I would with steak?
posted by dysh at 1:36 PM on November 18, 2012

Yes, you use the fat left in the pan to make the roux. It's not technically "drippings," since neither cube steak nor chicken breast has enough fat to actually contribute. It's just the cooking oil, plus all the browned-up goodness left over from the frying process.

You might want to have a probe thermometer on hand to make sure you don't undercook/overcook the chicken. Or you can just sacrifice one of the pieces and cut it open to check doneness.
posted by ronofthedead at 2:00 PM on November 18, 2012

OK I am totally making CFS for Thanksgiving. Nebulawind, can you be REALLY specific about "Heat some canola oil in a heavy skillet." What depth of oil, to what temperature?
posted by DarlingBri at 3:14 PM on November 18, 2012

Although it is a recipe for unbattered fried chicken, there are many helpful hints in this recipe, which is not only the best fried chicken recipe, but the best recipe. Period.
posted by painquale at 6:29 PM on November 18, 2012

Yeah, so I don't actually use a thermometer and I tend to just wing it on temperature. If you get the chicken pounded flat it cooks through really quick, so it's not like real fried chicken where you have to go out of your way to make sure it's done through before the outside burns.

Googling around a bit, The Internet seems to think that like 350 or 375 is the right temp.
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:38 PM on November 18, 2012

I use this recipe from Serious Eats for my chicken-fried chicken. And I'm doing the same thing for Thanksgiving, minus the gravy, but with mac 'n' cheese, mashed potatoes, braised collards, and biscuits.
posted by rocketman at 1:38 PM on November 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Just as an update, I used the recipe nebulawindphone suggested and it turned out perfectly, just exactly what I wanted. Thanks so much!
posted by dysh at 1:45 PM on November 24, 2012