Off and on I have  been trying to perfect fried chicken.

I am getting there but fried chicken is not as easy as it looks.

To start off I am cutting my chickens and seasoning overnight and the second night I soak it in butter milk.  

My spice mix is

1/2 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
3 tablespoons garlic powder
3 tablespoons onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne
3 tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon dill

I hit the chicken with this mix and let it sit overnight
then I put the buttermilk for the second night


For the flour I use AP

7 cups
14 teaspoons of spice mix.

Take chicken and dredge it in the flour and fry in peanut oil at about 340.

5 gallon pot with about 2 1/2 gallons of peanut oil.


Start with three chickens cut up

First fry all the thighs and legs 13 minutes

Then I throw in the breast and wings.  take the wings out at 8 min breast 11 min.

chicken is completely done yet juicy but it looks over cooked

Is it the spice in the flour or should I lower my temp to 325.

temp stays within 20 degrees due to oil mass and banjo burner kicking ass to keep up

6 thighs and 6 legs no problem

What precisely is wrong with it?

I follow this recipe but with the chicken parts instead of a whole chicken.  Everyone who has tried it says it is the best and juiciest fried chicken they have ever had.  

http://marcussamuelsson.com/recipe/whole-fried-chicken

What internal temp are you taking it too?  And are you sure that your temp is correct on the oil?

I did not measure the internal temp but the breast were juicy and the thighs were not slimey.

I think it is too brown and it got that way long before I took it out.

I cook chicken like fish but not as long .  It needs to start trying to float and the sound calms down .  if you continue you will cook all the water out.

fish floats its ready.

the chicken was trying to float when I took it out.

I have never tried a whole chicken but that looks interesting.

How fresh is the oil you are frying in? If it has been used a lot, try filtering it.

Oil was new.

Also the chickens were between 2.9 and 3.3 pounds. perfect for barbq or frying.

Starting oil temps should be between 350 and 375. They'll drop into the 320 to 325 range as your chicken cooks. You should also be making sure your chicken has come to room temp (defridge it about thirty minutes before cooking) before putting it in.

Chicken did just come out of a 38 degree refrigerator.

Oil was 340 and went up to 365 and I turned down the burner to allow it to creep down.

I can usually hold the temp fairly close but this time it raced up for some reason.

Thanks for the tip, makes sense on steaks why not chicken.

Its too much paprika.

I was wondering about that but laid it out for the experts.

So in the flour maybe just salt and pepper and cut back in the spice on the chicken too

For shrimp I use plain ap flour with two teaspoon salt and one  teaspoon pepper per cup of flour with one teaspoon of baking powder.

I will try that less the baking powder

If anyone has their favorite fried chicken recipe  I am not set in stone on this one.

I am trying for something between KFC and Popeye's spicy

Thanks to all

The way i see it you are using paprika in ur on chicken seasoning and ur flour seasoning.  It will darken ur chicken.  One thing ive learned recently is me and my family always do little cook offs and my dad came with wings and i was amazed by them.  Turns out he said he doesnt use anything in his flour.  All seasoning is on chicken and then he uses AP flour.  Me and my brother were in total shock.  Gonna try it next time and see how it turns out.  He told me he uses generic non-seasoned meat tenderizer, garlic powder and salt and pepper on chicken.  Then he rolls it in AP flour.  the buttemilk thing ive done and i love what it does for the juiciness and crust of the chicken but can be a bit much sometimes.  I really like the egg and milk wash thickness of batter cuz its a lighter and flakier without being too brittle.

I will say this though, your chicken looks really good and i wouldnt let something as small as color discourage me if the flavor is on point.

Thanks for the info and encouragement.

In my part of Texas all the Catholic church's do BBQ for there picniks and bazaars .

But Shiner, hallettsville, Moravia, and Praha among others do fried chicken. Now they have been doing fried chicken back to when they cooked over wood fires so they know something about chicken.

The church at Praha has probably the best fried chicken I have ever eaten.  I am not catholic but August 15 no matter what day of the week it is, is a holy day and it is their day when everyone comes home and eats goes to mass and no matter it's 105 or just 100 they have fried chicken.  The also have stew just meat, sauerkraut, green beans pickles, buttered potatoes and Czech sweets.

And plenty of ice cold Shiner and Lone Star beer and other lesser beers.

The church at Moravia cooks their chicken in cast iron pots and it appears to be seasoned then rolled in Ap flour milk and flour again.  It is damn good too.

This aug 15 I am going to try to get closer to the kitchen at Praha to see just how they do it.  I think they cook 3000 pounds of chicken .

The quest to the best fried chicken continues.

Your over thinking it!



I would ommit the Dill.

if too dark,oil is too high.



soak overnight in brine or buttermilk

coat and let sit awhile chillen in dry ingredients.

then fry

easy peasy

don't overthink it!

cool on racks...

eta:
paprika can make it slightly darker. But not so much you need to post about it. Check your oil temp...

eta=2:

peanut oil will make it slightly darker.

so

peanut oil+paprika+temp = problem. 

i would say cooking temp or cooking time, if the oil is fresh/ clear

and have you tried soaking the thighs in pickle juice, gives a great brine flavor to them

My guess too.

Next time you fry up a batch, leave out the paprika and cook a test piece.  You can always add it back in for the rest of the batch if it doesn't prove to be the problem.

Thanks for the pickle juice trick.  

BBQ sauce also benefits from pickle juice.

Next try clear light fry oil

Cut back on paprika cut it out of the flour completely

Lower temp

Stop makeing this complicated

lowering temps will make cooking time longer resulting in darker results, as well as more likely to be greasy.

Buttermilk does that to mine. I quit using it because it was always to dark and seemed burned.