Cut up a whole chicken. Take the back bone out, you can save this to make chicken stock. Cut the chicken into 8 or 10 pieces. If the breast is large, cut each into two pieces. Get a large bowl or container with a lid. Add 1/2 cup table salt and 8 cups water. Mix well. Add washed chicken pieces to the brine. Cover and leave aside for one hour in the fridge or on your counter if your house is cool. Don’t go longer than one hour or the meat will be too salty.
45 minutes later, get the dry ingredients and wet batter ready. To a wide container, add all purpose flour, tsp coarse salt, ground pepper, garlic powder, dried oregano and paprika. Whisk that together. To another bowl, crack an egg, add 1/4 tsp salt and pepper. Whisk that and add all purpose flour, then half of the water. Make a smooth batter adding more water as necessary. When you fry the second or third batch of chicken, add a little more water if this batter gets too thick.
To fry the chicken, use a cast iron pan or a deep fryer. Heat up oil to deep fry the chicken. While the oil is heating, coat the chicken. Take each piece out of the brine, let the excess water drip off and put it in the seasoned flour. Coat it well and put it in the wet batter. Coat well and put it back in the seasoned flour. Really pat on the flour. Set the pieces aside on a plate for a few minutes to make sure the coating stays on. My pan will fit 4 to 5 pieces so that’s how many I coat while the oil heats up. I coat the rest while the first batch of chicken is frying.
Test the oil by putting a drop of the wet batter in or use a thermometer. The oil temperature should be about 350 degrees Fahrenheit/180 degrees celsius. Gently drop each piece of chicken in the oil away from you. Halfway through cooking, turn each piece over. Drain the chicken on a rack or paper towels.
**If you like crunchy fried chicken with a lot of crust, this is the recipe to try. The meat is juicy and a little salty. This chicken even tastes good cold and the crust will still be crunchy.
** If your oil is too hot, the chicken will brown too quickly on the outside and not be cooked enough on the inside. The oil temperature will drop once you put the chicken pieces in but that’s fine. Cooking around 325 degrees Fahrenheit will give you a golden color on the outside and properly cook the chicken inside.
**Wings will take about 10 minutes. Legs - 14 minutes. Thighs and breasts, 15 to 20 minutes. Cooking time of course depends on the size of your pieces. It is always better to cook a few minutes extra than undercook and have to refry chicken. With this recipe, you don’t have to worry that the chicken will dry out because of the brining step. The internal temperature of the chicken should be about 175 degrees fahrenheit or 80 degrees celsius. Generally, chicken is fully cooked at 165 degrees. However, fried chicken tastes better at 175 because the meat will come off the bone easier which is what you want in a good fried chicken.
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