Another point to consider: What kind of chicken to buy? Organic or grain-fed, kosher or whatever's on sale? I, for one, will always go for the kosher bird. If I'm going to go thru the considerable effort to make fried chicken, which I do, I find the kosher ones--due to the salting process--are the best. I know it's not supposed to be necessary with a pre-salted bird, but I still brine the kosher chickens as well. I've tried every type of cooking fat imaginable, but I love peanut oil the best, with a combo of clarified butter and lard coming in a close second. Of course both methods are a pain in their own right: the former because it's expensive and the latter because you've gotta find good quality lard and clarify a whole mess of butter. But like I say, if you're going to make it at home, make the best fried chicken you can. Your friends and family will thank you (and beg you for more).

Reply

Watch it if you buy lard instead of rendering your own -a lot of them put hydrogenated fat in there. That said, lard makes the greatest fried chicken! i do add more that just salt and pepper though, the spices varying by my mood and what's on hand.

Reply

I posted my recipe for fried chicken, but I wanted to add a thought. I wouldn't use lard for anything in food. Possibly for axle grease, but that's about all. The very thought of lard in food makes me gag! Does it take a rocket scientist to know that lard equats to clogged arteries, heart attacks, strokes and death!

Reply

I usually purchase a particular brand of frying chicken. Red Bird, here in Colorado. They are smaller frying chickens and when cut up fit in my electric skillet, snugly, but they fit. I cut my own chickens up, Why pay for the cut up chicken, doing it yourself doesn't take rocket science! I use Crisco oil for frying. I dredge the chicken pieces in seasoned flour. (garlic salt, onion salt, paprika, oregano, freshly ground pepper, sage, marjoram) Then after beating 2 eggs with about 1/2 to 3/4 cup whole milk, I dip the pieces in the milk/egg mixture and again, thoroughly dredge the pieces in the flour. While doing this, I pre-heat the oil in the skillet to 350 degrees. About 3/4 of an inch of oil is usually plenty. I place the pieces in the hot oil, carefully, skin side down and fry until light brown, turn each piece over carefully and again fry til light brown. then, lowering the heat to 225 degrees and covering tightly, closing the vent, I allow it to cook for 45 to 55 minutes. About 15 minutes before time is up, I pre heat my oven to 350 degrees. When time in the skillet is over, I place the chicken pieces carefully on a cookie sheet and place in the oven. 20 or so minutes later, serve. it will be crispy, cooked through (I hate poorly cooked chicken, it's slimy and disgusting) and delicious. You can use the oil in the skillet for gravy, if you know how, but that's an entirely different recipe.

Reply

And what would be the fat content of this chicken cooked in lard and bacon grease. My atreries are clogging reading that recipe. Hopefully this is a once a year thing, orh these people are going to have serious weight and health issues.

Reply

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. Concern over hydrgenated fat in lard??? Lard is pure animal fat - what could be worse, all by itself?

Reply

Lard is saturated fat. They have ample studies proving hydrogenated is worse than saturated for your heart. Add hydrogenated to saturated and you have one tasty heart attack. So, why wouldn't you make sure you're only indulging in one evil? But hey, knock yourself out, fry your food in some nice GMO soybean oil or nice chemically derived canola.

Reply

I grew up the beautiful South in Mobile, Alabama on the banks of Mobile Bay in the 1930's. Chicken was always thoroughly cleaned, dredged in flour with salt and pepper added and cooked in hot oil until done. Couldn't be beat. It was wonderful, it was great, it was delicious and I still do it the same way today.

Reply

I use pancake mix instead of flour, Adds just that something extra that gets raves very time,

Reply

I have just brined the chicken and fried it in peanut oil. I was surprised how good it was. No thick breading on it and it was still tasty. I think it might have been fairly healthy also.

Reply

Lard is what my mamma used to fry chicken - as did her mother and grandmother before her. They all lived well into their nineties!!! The issue here is not what we use to fry the chicken, it's the amount of times we eat fried foods. Fried chicken was a special treat once or twice a month on Sundays, still is. No one is overweight, or has heart disease. In this country we love to blame the food we eat rather than the bad habits we have when eating it. Everything in moderation and include variety of foods with your fried food, Greeens, beans and lots of water. This countries insistance on BIG meals is what is killing us and making us an obese nation. Now that I'm in the mood for some fried chicken I need to get to the grocery store.

Reply

I make fried chicken once a month...I have too...they would lynch me if I didn't!!! I do want to try this recipe, but I don't think I could get away with using lard...I do make my chicken in peanut oil though...it adds tremendous flavor!

Reply

Just once in my life I would LOVE to make EXCELLENT, mouthwatering fried chicken. I will try the wedding fried chicken first and others until I finally get it RIGHT! Thank you

Reply

I have tried frying chicken using all types of cooking oils.
For me peanut oil works best but Crisco will do.
I find soaking my chicken in a buttermilk-Soy Sauce pickling solution and refrigerating it for at least 24 hours works very well to add flavor to the meat and in turn help to desolve and neutralize any remaining blood which remains near the bones within the thighs and legs of the bird. I dredge my chicken in all purpose flour with black pepper and lawreys seasoning salt then submit it to a egg-buttermilk bath and drege it back into the flour before frying the chicken in a pressure cooker for eight - ten minutes

Reply

I use lard here and there and the "healthy fats" the rest of the time. All things in moderation works for us very well. Nobody feels denied and who could pass up at perfectly fried piece of chicken? However, if it is just not your thing, save the lecture, say No Thank You and move on.

Reply

I was 12 tears old before I knew not everyone ate fried chicken for Sun dinner...every Sunday. start with the best chicken you can buy, keep the oil at a consistant temp (don't hurry it) and you'll be pleased. Have tried
both the brine and buttermilk methods and both good.
Old Iowa farm girl...good luck!!

Reply

I soak chicken parts in buttermilk in bags overnight, peanut oil and (1) stick of butter each batch in lg. iron skillet w/ lid 1st. 15 min. med/low heat.
Drain and roll in self rising flour, 1st. 15 min. w/ lid on, turn ,lid off, 10min.,
turn 5min. done , drain on rack . Add 1 stick butter for next batch, lid on,Etc.
Make ahead put in oven low temp to keep warm( 150deg.)

Reply

If your brave enough to add 1/2 of a medium size bottle of hot sauce to your soaking chicken about 2 hours prior to frying, you will experience the best fried chicken you have ever tasted. The frying process depletes the heat from the hot sauce, leaving you with the most flavorful chicken you have ever tasted. When word gets out that I am making fried chicken the house fills up with hungry excited guests..

Reply

Amen, Mama....I agree
save the lecture about the fat content., In moderation it's not going to cause even a remotely noticeable problem ! For those so highly concerned with the cooking procedure I wonder why they even bother to read the recipe in the first place. LOL they react as though their not even going to make it through the meal without suffering a fatal heat attack! I love fried chicken and other southern dishes, I am 49, weigh 128 pounds and my cholesterol was 109. Proof that it doesn't kill you to enjoy it on occassion.

Reply

I am born and bred in Kentucky. My mother always had a can of bacon grease on the stove (in the refrigerator in the summer) and used it for frying chicken or anything else -- pork chops, chicken-fried steak, fish, etc,etc. It sometimes was augmented with lard but in the past there were no fancy "oils" that I ever heard of, used for cooking. "Salad oil" was used to make salad dressing.
BUT many years later, I was at a family hunting and fishing lodge in Quebec, Canada, where I had the BEST peanut butter cookies I'd ever eaten. I asked the Indian cook for her recipe -- and the secret ingredient was bacon grease instead of crisco or butter or other fat!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reply