Ad Hoc Fried Chicken Recipe – 1st Attempt

Fried Chicken, Broccoli & Mashed Potatoes

After a long silence, I’ve decided it’s time to get my thoughts out. While it seems my blog is “all over the place” the focus is on my many passions: food, fashion, fitness, technology, gadgets,  marketing…and of course makeup. You’ll see some stories about my adventures on the weekends, posts about the conferences I’ve been to, recipes my boyfriend and I attempt, the places we eat and our desire to get to a healthier lifestyle. The recipe below is not adapted to be a healthier version of fried chicken, it’s fried chicken made to be as yummy as we could make it.

Over the long weekend, my boyfriend was craving fried chicken from the Ad Hoc restaurant in Yountville, California. Instead of making the long drive and spending a ton of money, we looked for a recipe and found one from Food and Wine, then adapted it.

We bought 8 lbs of thighs and drumsticks, then doubled the brine recipe since we had more chicken than the original. The original proportions for the brine recipe is below, you can adjust it based on the amount of chicken you are frying. For extra yumminess, you should let the chicken sit in the brine at least 8 – 12 hours, overnight if possible. For the record, when I say “we” I mean, my boyfriend made the brine, then battered the chicken and his sister fried the chicken. All I did was zest the lemon and squeeze it into the pot and we call this teamwork. Love him! 🙂  While I’m far from being a domestic goddess, I did make red velvet cupcakes for dessert (pictures and recipe to come). I’m also great at taking food photos and documenting every step of the recipe, see below. For more food pics, you can follow me on Foodspotting.

The Verdict 
After dinner, we decided it was a good first attempt. The skin was crispy and both the skin and meat was flavorful. We also put it in the oven for about 10 – 15 minutes to make sure the inside of the chicken was cooked without burning the skin. I brought it to work and one of my friends LOVED it! My next mission is to find another recipe so we can perfect this at home. If you make this recipe, let me know how it came out and if you made any modifications in the comments. Enjoy!

Cost: $40.05 versus $52 per person at Ad Hoc

Technology:
Started this post by copying the Food and Wine recipe into Evernote on the iPhone.  Then added checkboxes to the note so when we make the recipe again, so it will be easy for me to check off what we have and what is on our shopping list. I continued to add pictures from within the note on the iPhone. Finally, I made edits on my PC and finished the post from my Mac.

Cheryl’s note Ad Hoc Fried Chicken Recipe feel free to copy this into your own Evernote notebooks.

Step 1:  Lemon Brine

Lemon Brine 
[ ]  1 gallon cold water
[ ]  1 cup plus 2 tsp kosher salt
[ ]  1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons honey
[ ]  12 bay leaves
[ ]  1 head of garlic, smashed but not peeled
[ ]  2 tablespoons black peppercorns
[ ]  3 large rosemary sprigs
[ ]  1 small bunch of thyme
[ ]  1 small bunch of parsley
[ ]  Finely grated zest & juice of 2 lemons
[ ]  Two 3-pound chickens (we bought 8 lbs of thighs and drumsticks or 3 picnic paks instead)

Batter
[ ]  3 cups all-purpose flour
[ ]  2 tablespoons garlic powder
[ ]  2 tablespoons onion powder
[ ]  2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
[ ]  2 cups buttermilk
[ ]  Vegetable oil, for frying (we used peanut oil)
[ ]  Rosemary and thyme sprigs, for garnish

Spices for the brine and the batter

1. In a very large pot, combine 1 quart of the water with 1 cup of the salt and the honey, bay leaves, garlic, peppercorns, rosemary, thyme and parsley. Add the lemon zest and juice and the lemon halves and bring to a simmer over moderate heat, stirring until the salt is dissolved. Let cool completely, then stir in the remaining 3 quarts of cold water. Add the chickens, being sure they’re completely submerged, and refrigerate overnight.
2. Drain the chicken and pat dry. Scrape off any herbs or peppercorns stuck to the skin and cut each bird into 8 pieces, keeping the breast meat on the bone. Since we bought thighs an drumsticks, we didn’t have to chop the bird into pieces. 
3. In a large bowl, combine the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne and the remaining 2 teaspoons of salt. Put the buttermilk in a large, shallow bowl. Working with a few pieces at a time, dip the chicken in the buttermilk, then dredge in the flour mixture, pressing so it adheres all over. Transfer the chicken to a baking sheet lined with wax paper. 
4. In a very large, deep skillet, heat 1 inch of vegetable oil to 330°. Fry the chicken in 2 or 3 batches over moderate heat, turning once, until golden and crunchy and an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of each piece registers 160°, about 20 minutes. Transfer the chicken to paper towels to drain, and keep warm in a low oven while you fry the remaining chicken pieces. Transfer the fried chicken to a platter, garnish with the herb sprigs and serve hot or at room temperature.

Step 2:  Pat the chicken dry

Step 3a: Dredge the chicken in buttermilk

Step 4: Fry in 330 degrees

Ad Hoc Fried Chicken – 1st Attempt