Southern Tricks for Perfect Crispy Fried Chicken

Fried chicken is one of those dishes that is simple in design, but can easily fall apart in execution. It’s one of the top comfort foods, but also tends to rattle most cooks. It is deceptively simple– tender juicy inside, flavorful crispy crust. Two elements. What can go wrong?

All kinds of things. Soggy, greasy crust, under or overcooked chicken, bland flavor, dried out texture– the list seems daunting. The fantasy of a beautiful mahogany brown piece of crispy Southern goodness flies out the window after a couple of failures, and a trip to the drive through for a bucket of that white-suited guy’s stuff seems the best most of us can get.

Except there are ways to address each of these problems when you have a little culinary magic at your disposal. Here’s how to make the magic happen.

Ingredients

• 2 beaten egg
• 1 cup milk
• 2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 4 teaspoons garlic salt
• 2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 cup all-purpose flour

Directions

Beat the egg and milk together in a bowl.
Combine the flour with the garlic salt, pepper, poultry seasoning and paprika in a big plastic bag.
Put the chicken in the bag, seal it and shake to coat it.
Dip the flour-coated chicken in the egg mixture and again in the flour mixture.
Heat the oil in a skillet to 365 degrees F. Brown the chicken on all sides in the hot oil.
Turn the heat down to medium low and give the chicken another half an hour or until it is cooked through.
Drain it on paper towels and serve.