It seems like just about everyone loves fried chicken. Many cultures have their own recipe for the tender, crisp taste sensation that we all want. From the Far East to the United States, this delicious meal tempts almost everyone to take a bite.
One of the latest versions to hit the States is Korean fried chicken. This lightly battered, delicately cooked treat is very different from the chicken you probably had as Sunday dinner. Cooked to perfection and then lightly painted with sauce, Korean chicken is quickly catching on. Most Korean chicken recipes are suited for the small chickens in Korea, not the large American birds. To compensate, either cut up boneless chicken meat into small pieces or just use wings.
Chinese and Japanese chicken are similar, only the spices are different. Both use boneless chicken. Chinese may use five-spice powder to impart its unique flavor, while Japanese may rely on ginger and sake. These crunchy yet tender nuggets may be served as is or with a sauce. Orange chicken, lemon chicken, and almond chicken all use a breaded fried chicken as the base to the recipe.
Fried chicken in India is made by rubbing spices like turmeric, fennel and mustard seeds, black pepper and udad dal into the chicken and letting it marinate. Then each piece is dipped in egg white, rolled in breadcrumbs, and fried in hot oil until crisp and golden.
As you can see, many people around the world prefer their chicken fried! By merely changing the spices or the marinade, or deboning the chicken, you can come up with a variety of recipes to try.
If you want to try an exotic recipe from South America, try adding limejuice, garlic, hot sauce, and flouring your chicken in corn meal. If you like Italian, add some oregano, garlic, dry mustard, chili powder, onion powder, and crushed red pepper to your flour. Be sure and cook the chicken in olive oil to get that traditional Mediterranean taste.
You can also try varying your cooking method to get a different result. Oven frying is lower in fat than deep-frying. You can still get tasty chicken with a crunch in the oven. If you use skinless chicken, be sure to marinate it beforehand in buttermilk to help maintain the juiciness. Add a coating of seasoned flour and you will get a nice crunchy coating that helps seal in the goodness. You will end up with a delicious low fat chicken dish that holds up well cold for a picnic as well as being wonderful right out of the oven.
The old fashioned, tried and true method using oil in a cast iron skillet still produces an excellent chicken. The simplest breading of flour, salt, and pepper can become a gourmet meal. Cast iron heats evenly, providing a wonderful crisp crust while keeping the chicken juicy. It also cooks the meat thoroughly. Generations of cooks used this method before deep-frying became popular.
