Picnic Fried Chicken
- Level: Intermediate
- Yield: 8 pieces
-
- Nutritional Analysis
- Per Serving
- Serving Size
- 1 of 8 servings
- Calories
- 935
- Total Fat
- 67
- Saturated Fat
- 27
- Carbohydrates
- 47
- Dietary Fiber
- 2
- Sugar
- 15
- Protein
- 35
- Cholesterol
- 198
- Sodium
- 759
- Total: 3 hr 10 min (includes brining time)
- Active: 1 hr 10 min
Ingredients
Honey Giardiniera Butter:
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup honey
Kosher salt
1/2 cup Chicago-style giardiniera, drained well and chopped (reserve drained brine for chicken)
Chicken:
1/4 cup giardiniera brine reserved from Honey Giardiniera Butter
1/4 cup dill pickle brine from a jar of dill pickles
1 fryer chicken, cut into pieces (thighs, breasts, legs and wings)
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Canola oil, for frying
Directions
- For the honey giardiniera butter: Add the butter, honey and salt to taste to a bowl and mix until smooth. Stir in the giardiniera until well blended. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- For the chicken: Add the chicken thighs, reserved giardiniera brine and pickle brine to a plastic zip-top bag and refrigerate overnight or for at least 2 hours.
- When ready to fry the chicken, fill a Dutch oven halfway full with oil and heat to 350°F.
- Set up a dredging station: Pour the buttermilk into a large bowl and in a separate large bowl, stir together the flour, cornstarch, paprika, salt, pepper and cayenne until well combined. Use your tongs to drizzle some of the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture.
- Remove 1 or 2 pieces of the chicken from the brine at a time and submerge in the buttermilk. Add 1 piece of the buttermilk-soaked chicken at a time into the flour mixture and turn to completely coat the chicken. Transfer to a plate and repeat until all the remaining chicken is well coated.
- Add the chicken to the hot oil in batches, 2 or 3 pieces at a time, and cook until brown and crispy, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer the cooked chicken to a wire rack on a baking sheet to drain. Serve immediately with the giardiniera butter or let cool and store on a wire-rack on a sheet pan, lightly covered, in the fridge overnight. Serve at the picnic at room temp. Served with softened honey giardiniera butter.