With Fried Chicken Breading, Less Is More

Yesterday was Lee's birthday, so we celebrated* with fried chicken and cathead biscuits.

Let's get the biscuits out of the way first. They were delicious, but horribly misshapen. My wife and her friend lectured me as I worked the dough and formed the biscuits about how I was doing it all wrong. That was because I was doing it all wrong. I need to work on it. On to the chicken.

When I was in Florida a month ago, I went to lunch at Po' Folks, a Southern restaurant, and had the best fried chicken I had ever tasted. Instead of being thick and crunchy, the coating was very thin and crunchy. It made all the difference in the world. Thick coatings have a lot of flavor, but you can only eat so much of it before the ambient grease fills you up or starts making you nauseous.

Last night, I put that lesson into action. In the past, my prep sequence was:

1. Seasoned flour**
2. Egg wash
3. Panko breading

Last night, I did:

1. Buttermilk soak
2. Seasoned flour

The end result was excellent. Everyone enjoyed the meal, even the biscuits.

The crust still came out substantial. You wouldn't have known I was trying to be a minimalist.

So no more Panko breading for me. My only question now is what am I going to do with three boxes of Panko bread crumbs in my pantry?

* - I celebrated. My wife and our friends came along for the food. :-)

** - After having done this for a while, I now shotgun my seasoned flour. It's heavy on the paprika and then has whatever spices I feel like adding in varying amounts. Last night was, in no particular order, garlic, cayenne, salt, pepper, oregano, thyme. I think.