Name: Batter-Fried Chicken
Total time: 1 h 45 min
Cuisine: US & Canada
Ingredients: 1/4 cup table salt for brining; 1/4 cup sugar for brining; 4 pounds bone-in chicken pieces (split breasts cut in half crosswise, drumsticks, and/or thighs), trimmed; 1 cup all-purpose flour; 1 cup cornstarch; 5 teaspoons pepper; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 1 teaspoon paprika; 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper; 1 teaspoon table salt; 3 quarts peanut or vegetable oil for frying

Why This Recipe Works

As far as technique went for our Batter-Fried Chicken recipe, deep frying easily beat out shallow frying. With shallow frying, the batter always burned on the bottom. To ensure a crisp crust, we replaced the milk in our initial batter with plain old water. It turned out that when wet batter hit the hot frying oil, the moisture in the batter vaporized, leaving behind the solids that adhered to the chicken. With milk, the sugars in the milk solids were browning too fast and producing a soft crust, which is just flat-out wrong for fried chicken. Using equal parts cornstarch and flour in the batter ensured a crisp crust on the chicken. And baking powder added lift and lightness without doughiness. We flavored our batter with black pepper, paprika, and cayenne for simple but unambiguous flavor.

Before You Begin

Do not use kosher chicken for this recipe, and don't let the chicken soak in the brine for longer than 1 hour or it will be too salty. Use a Dutch oven that holds 6 quarts or more for this recipe.

Instructions

for the brine

Dissolve ¼ cup salt and ¼ cup sugar in 1 quart cold water in large bowl. Add chicken and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 hour.

for the batter

Meanwhile, whisk 1¾ cups cold water, flour, cornstarch, pepper, baking powder, paprika, salt, and cayenne in large bowl until smooth. Refrigerate batter while chicken brines.

Set wire rack in rimmed baking sheet. Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat to 350 degrees. Remove chicken from brine and pat dry with paper towels. Rewhisk batter. Transfer half of chicken to batter. Working with 1 piece at a time, remove chicken from batter (allowing excess to drip back into bowl) and transfer to oil. Fry chicken, adjusting burner as necessary to maintain oil temperature between 300 and 325 degrees, until deep golden brown and breasts register 160 degrees and drumsticks/thighs register 175 degrees, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer chicken to prepared rack to drain. Return oil to 350 degrees and repeat with remaining chicken. Serve.