Fried Chicken is one food I've never been able to perfect. In all honesty, I don't even come close to making good fried chicken. Everyone loves fried chicken and I keep looking for a way to make well-seasoned, fully cooked, crispy fried chicken, but I have come to the conclusion I am not intended to make fried chicken.
On an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on Food Network last week I heard a chef say that he poached his chicken in a cooking liquid for three hours before dipping it in buttermilk, then seasoned flour, and deep frying it. I thought, "That's it!" So . . . Sunday, I poured four cups of chicken stock into a 12-quart stock pot and added carrots, onion, and celery tops. I let it come to a rolling boil and then added my whole cut up frying chicken to the stock. I covered that pot and left it at a very slow simmer for three hours. I removed the chicken from the stock and refrigerated it until cool.
I dipped it in buttermilk and then a mixture of 1 1/2 cups of flour and 1 Tbsp of Beer Can Chicken seasoning. I deep fried it to a light golden brown and served it.
It tasted great! BUT . . . It fell apart. The chicken was entirely too tender and just fell off the bones. In some of the pieces, the bones became downright dangerous!
And, as usual, out of every bad experience comes a good one. I drained my cooking stock to remove the solids and used it a couple of night later to cook Orzo. I had four cups of the tastiest stock. I brought it to a boil and added one package (12 oz) Orzo. Let it cook to absorb all liquid over medium-low heat. Slice six green onions into 1/4" slices and add to cooked Orzo after it is removed from the heat. Stir to mix through.
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