Season the Chicken Even More, Coward
Apart from slicing the onions properly, little has been written about foods such as fried chicken. The reasons for this are obvious – this is a homemade, soothing protein source that you can consume before putting it in the oven and use it for the entire week thereafter. A good fried chicken is easy enough to make, but a mediocre one is a snap.
My personal philosophy with regard to food and cooking is that there is no one right way to do something, but there are many great ways to cook and eat a lot of things, and the “right” one is the one that makes you the happiest. No other dish epitomizes this like fried chicken. You can dry the pickle, wet pickle, soak or tie it up and you will (most likely) end up with a pretty adorable bird.
But there is one universal truth about chicken cooking – it needs to be seasoned quite aggressively. Chicken – especially the white meat portions – is a bit bland on its own, and not enough to season the outside of the poultry. In fact, there are at least three entry points for a fragrance: outside the skin, under the skin, and inside the cavity.
If you have time, treat this thing with dry pickle, wet pickle, or pickle and let it sit on the bird for 24 hours. If you are driving on a dry road, be sure to sprinkle the salt and sugar mixture on the inside of the bird’s cavity as well as outside. If you’re going to get bogged down, it’s very simple, as all you have to do is flip and season. (For the dry brine ingredients, I follow an aggressive simple scheme of 1 teaspoon of kosher salt per pound of poultry and 1 teaspoon of sugar per four pounds, but you can add other dried herbs and seasonings if you like.)
Liquid pickles and marinades such as buttermilk or feta brine have the advantage that they can flow and fill the inside of the chicken cavity, but if you prefer poultry marinated with thick strained yogurt , be sure to pre-salt it. chicken inside and out, and let it rest for half an hour before spreading sour dairy products on it. Try to let these babies work wonders for as long as possible – a night is good, but a full 24 hours is better.
Once this is done, pay attention to the skin, not just the outside. If you’ve used buttermilk, labneh, or feta brine, this is less important, as this bird will be infused with a spicy milky sweet flavor, and a simple sprinkle of salt over the skin is all you need. But if you’ve opted for a dry brine, it is very helpful to stick a little oil between the skin and the meat. Regular salted oil is good, but complex oil is even better , especially when you consider that the skin protects aromatic herbs and onions from burning – it’s a built-in aroma shield! You can also put whole herb leaves in there, which looks nice and adds flavor, although the complex oil will distribute everything more evenly.
If you’re not flirtatious, it will be interesting to use the cavity as another entry point for the scent. Arboreal herbs and succulent lemons cut in half are the best choices. If you’re spatchcocking, you can place some herbs and citrus slices under the bird, on top of a wire rack, or (better yet) a vegetable bed that will taste like the chicken above and the vegetables below. Give the appearance another sprinkle of salt if you haven’t already (chicken skin can almost never be too salty) and broil until your breast is 155 ℉ and your thighs are 165. Let the bird rest 10 minutes, chop and enjoy yourself.