Mema's fried chicken

A few years ago I was shown this recipe by Mema (Joan's paternal grandmother).  It was one of those classic, "no add more, add more ... more still, yeah that tastes almost right" type cooking lessons.  The only real variation is that I coat the chicken bits in a bowl, as opposed to shaking them in a paper bag.

Items you'll need:

One (or more) 11"x16"x3" (large) electric skillet with lid (or at least a 3" deep skillet)
One clean sink
One large stainless bowl (or previously mentioned sink, for chicken prepping)
One large stainless bowl (batter mixing and chicken coating)
One large plate (battered chicken transfer)
Two pair tongs (tong A and tong B)
One large spatula or flat edged device for shortening retrieval
One pair kitchen shears
One large platter
One paper towel roll or drying rack

Ingredients:

All purpose flour: 6 cups
Salt, fine grain: (salt A) 1/4 cup plus (salt B) 3-6 tablespoons
Ground black pepper, fine grain: (pepper A) 1/4 cup plus (pepper B) 3-6 tablespoons
Chicken: legs, thighs: bone in skin on.  Usually two "family packs" of each: approximately 20 total thighs and 28-32 legs 
Salt, coarse grain: 3/4 cup
Vegetable shortening: two 3 lb containers

To make:


Prep the chicken:

• Add chicken to sink.  Obviously if you have more chicken than sink, do this step in stages.  Effectively you are looking for excessive skin or feathers that made it through processing.  Remove by hand or with shears as necessary.
• Rinse the piece of bird and place it in a large stainless bowl.
• Repeat until all chicken parts prepped.
• Add 3/4 cup of salt, coarse grain over the chicken.
• Toss until all the parts have some salt on them.
• Wash your hands.

Mix the batter:

• Mix the flour, pepper A and salt A together in a large stainless bowl.  
• Add salt B and pepper B to taste one teaspoon at a time, it should taste a bit peppery, then salty as opposed to flour-y first.

Heat the skillet:

• Turn the skillet on and set to the highest heat setting.
• Add approximately 3/4 of the 3 lb container of shortening.  There should be approximately 1/3" or 1 cm of heated shortening in the skillet after it comes to temperature.

 Toss the chicken in the batter:

• Using tong A coat three to four pieces of chicken at a time in the large bowl of batter: gently roll and toss batter over a chicken part using tong A.
• Once chicken is lightly coated with batter, place onto the transfer plate.
• I typically have 3-4 thighs and 6 legs in one skillet batch.  You only want to batter as much chicken as you will be frying in a batch.

Get to frying:

• Gently place each piece into skillet, using tong A.
• There should be minimal space between the pieces, no large gaps.
• Cover the skillet.
• Place tong A onto transfer plate and set near battering area.
• Find tong B.
• After ten or so minutes, using tong B flip one of the pieces over.  
• Is it golden in color, maybe even starting to look light brown?  Great, flip to the other side.  Repeat for other parts in the skillet.
• Is it not golden at all, still looking like not much has happened?  Great, put it back down on the side it started on.
• Cover the skillet.
• Wait five or so minutes.
• Check again, starting to get something yellow, heading toward golden maybe even light brown?  Great, flip over and repeat for other parts.
• Cover the skillet.
• After another ten minutes or so, using tong B check the color on the side just facing down.  Is it golden in color, approaching some deeper brown and caramel near the contact area of the skillet?  Great, the skin should be nearing brown throughout with a deep caramel color on the contact areas.  

Skin crispiness is up for debate.  Some like a really crispy skin with a deep brown color, some like slightly less than that, etc.  You can adjust timing to your preference as you practice.

Resting the fried bird:

• Once you have reached your desired level of caramelization, using tong B lift the chicken, let drain for a moment over the skillet, and place onto the paper towel covered platter (or drying rack) to rest.
• Continue to remove the parts as they finish.
• Wait until all pieces of a batch are done before adding more chicken to the skillet!

Carrying on:

• Once you have a batch resting, check the shortening level.  Is it reduced by more than half?
• Yes. Add a few scoops until the depth is closer to where you began. Then carry on.
• No. Carry on.
• Using tong A batter another batch of chicken and place onto the transfer plate.
• Add chicken to skillet with tong A, set tong A onto the transfer plate and set aside.
• Cover the skillet.
• Wait ten minutes, then using tong B, check for color.
• Carry on until you are out of chicken parts or anything else you want to fry as you have a hot skillet and oil (mmmm okra).

Here is where house rules apply: according to legend, very few people got to have any chicken in Mema's house until all of the chicken was complete and rested.  Naturally though, a cook or three had to taste along the way to ensure quality control.

A few final thoughts: I typically keep the batter mixture in a container in the freezer for use the next time.  Your call on this step, otherwise I do not save the fat for further use.  Some make gravy :).