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| Flash Fried Chicken (livligahome) |
We eat homemade fried chicken twice a year for the 4th of July and my daughter's birthday. Usually I go for the traditional method and cook the flour coated and salt seasoned chicken in Crisco oil for 30 minutes or so. Not so healthy.
This year I decided to try the "flash fry" method of cooking fried chicken. Rocco Dispirito is the chef that inspired me. He has been on a number of talk shows demonstrating this method of frying. Because you pre-cook the chicken in chicken broth (he recommends the microwave; I recommend stove top cooking and no additional salt in the broth), you don't have to fry the chicken for very long in the oil. In fact, by getting the oil to a high temperature, you only have to fry the chicken for about 2 minutes. A huge difference compared to the 30 plus minutes I have done with the old fashioned method.
What I love is that he has kept important elements for having authentic fried chicken, like basting it in buttermilk and then coating the chicken in a flour mixture that includes salt and pepper. What makes it better is that he uses a combination of whole wheat flour and cornmeal in the recipe in his book (3/4 cup cornmeal and 3/4 cup whole wheat flour). He also uses a flavored salt, Adobo. This is very similar to my classic salt, pepper and paprika I use in my flour mixture.
I think I have finally found the right healthier solution for "eating our fried chicken and having it too"! The outside was crispy, even though these were skinned pieces of chicken, and the inside was moist and flavorful. Not only did it look like fried chicken, it tasted like it too! Wish the clean up was easier...oh well, you can't always have it all!
Calories per serving is 204. A great success and a definite repeat for this family.
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