The KingDude’s Fried “Big Crunch” Chicken

The Recipe

This is an olde fashioned Southern Fried chicken recipe I have modified for spice and bigger flavor. Some people who made the original version of this liked the über thin batter and the light crispy crunch it produced.

To adjust for this I subtracted a small amount of water from the batter. I prefer a little heavier coating and thus also increased the amount of spices. The result is an exceptional fried chicken that Colonel Sanders and Al Copeland themselves would be proud of!

Tip From The King: Buying organic, smaller chicken pieces is going to lower your cooking time, be better for you and produce a much crunchier final dish. The bigger the piece, especially a thigh, the longer the cooking time.

From God’s Bounty You Will Need

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup cornstarch

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons white pepper

2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

1 Tablespoon mustard powder

1 Tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste

1 1/2 cups cold water (thicker crust)

1 3/4 cups cold water regular crust

3 quarts (12 cups) peanut or shortening, for frying

For The Brine

1 quart (4 cups) cold water

1/4 cup kosher salt

1/4 cup black peppercorns

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup Crystal hot sauce

2 – 4 lbs bone-in chicken thighs and drumsticks or breasts cut cross ways in half. This batter will coat about 4 lbs. of raw chicken. For a simple family meal of 4 bone-in thighs and 4 legs you cut the recipe by 1/2.

Bring the water to a low boil add the salt and sugar and stir to melt, add the peppercorns and bring back to a boil, boil for a minute or so then cut the fire. When the brine has cooled add the lemon juice and Crystal™ then the chicken parts. Its ok to add more water to cover the meat completely. Brine for AT LEAST 1 hour but overnight is better and it will reduce your cooking time.

Tip From The King: One way to gauge when your chicken is just about properly cooked is to watch for it to begin floating in the oil. This is a good indication the liquid in the chicken has either cooked off or is cooked .

The Fun Part-Frying Your Crunchy Chicken

Place half the chicken pieces in the batter and turn to coat making sure the coating gets under the chicken thigh skins. Remove the chicken from the batter, allowing any excess to drip back into the bowl, and carefully place it in the oil. Fry the chicken and watch the oil temperature, try to keep the oil between 300°F and 325°F. Cook the fried chicken until deep golden brown and the white meat registers 160°F or 175°F for dark meat, 12 to 15 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken pieces your oil temp.

Reserve your cooked chicken pieces on a screen or grate to drain and let stand a minimum of 5 minutes.

TheKingDude

Host of the Mike Church Show on The Veritas Radio Network's CRUSADE Channel & Founder of the Veritas Radio Network. Formerly, of Sirius/XM's Patriot channel 125. The show began in March of 2003 exclusively on Sirius and remains "the longest running radio talk show in satellite radio history".

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