Best-ever boneless fried chicken
Source of Recipe
"Cooking in Cast Iron:Yesterday's Flavors for Today's Kitchen," (Berkley, $17.95) Copyright © 2002, Chicago Tribune
Recipe Introduction
Mara Reid Rogers, a chef and author of seven cookbooks including her latest release, "Cooking in Cast Iron: makes a case for this heavy skillet. Roger says,emphatically: "There is no substitute for a
cast-iron skillet. "I believe it is the most valuable and versatile tool in the kitchen."
For the uninitiated, Rogers provides a bit of history--Lewis and Clark carried cast-iron cookware on their expedition in 1804--as well as pointers on buying this kind of skillet, seasoning and cleaning it, and cooking in
it.
In keeping with her theme of cast iron as a bit of Americana, many of the dishes have an old-fashioned, comfort-food quality: chicken-fried steak,Yankee pot roast, scalloped potatoes and gingerbread. There is a fair
representation of ethnic dishes for those who like their flavors from around the world.
List of Ingredients
Best-ever boneless fried chicken with Bourbon gravy
Chicken:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons each: paprika, salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (1 1/2 to 1 3/4 pounds total)
1 cup buttermilk
3 to 5 cups vegetable oil
Bourbon gravy:
1 cup canned chicken broth
3 chicken bouillon cubes dissolved in 1 cup boiling water
1/4 cup Bourbon
Salt, freshly ground pepper
Preparation time: 35 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Recipe
Southerners agree that cast iron is the only medium in which to fry chicken,
Mara Reid Rogers writes in "Cooking in Cast Iron." She has adapted the
traditional recipe to suit her tastes for boneless chicken and something
other than white gravy.
1. For chicken, combine the flour, paprika, salt and pepper in a large brown
paper bag. Close bag to seal tightly; shake until well blended. Reserve 2
tablespoons of the flour mixture for the gravy. Add the chicken to the bag;
shake gently until evenly coated.
2. Pour the buttermilk into a large bowl. Gently shake chicken to remove
excess flour; dip each chicken briefly in the buttermilk until well coated,
gently shaking off any excess. One by one, return each chicken breast half
to the flour mixture and gently shake again until evenly coated. Put the
chicken breast halves on top of another, large flattened brown paper bag;
let stand 10 minutes.
3. Heat oven to 200 degrees. Heat a 12- to 14-inch cast-iron skillet over
medium-high heat; pour enough oil to come halfway up the sides of the
skillet. Heat until oil reaches 350 degrees on a deep-fry thermometer. Add
the chicken; cover. Fry 4 minutes. Remove the lid; reduce the heat to
medium-low. Turn chicken. Fry, uncovered, until crisp and golden brown and
the juices run clear when the chicken is pierced with a fork, 8-10 minutes.
Transfer the chicken to paper towel-lined oven-proof pan to drain. Remove
paper towels; discard. Transfer pan to oven to keep the chicken warm.
4. For gravy, pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the oil. Heat over
medium-low heat. Stir in the 2 tablespoons reserved flour mixture until well
blended. Cook, whisking constantly, 2 minutes. Whisk in the chicken broth
and the dissolved bouillon mixture. Raise the heat to high; heat to a boil,
whisking constantly. Whisk in the Bourbon. Cook, whisking constantly, until
thickened, 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve chicken hot with
gravy on the side.
Nutrition information per serving:
365 calories, 48% of calories from fat, 18 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 95 mg
cholesterol, 7 g carbohydrates, 37 g protein, 1,260 mg sodium, 0.3 g fiber
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