After the inspiration of Charles Raymond’s Buttermilk Cereal Chicken I investigated some recipe options and made up my own version, which turned out well and proved to be a hit at our NYE lunch picnic in Sydney’s beautiful Centennial Park.
Served with Japanese Coleslaw from our local Charcoal Charlie’s chicken shop and my newly created Tequila Black Bean Salsa Saladand crusty soft rolls from Taste Providore in Woollahra, who sell some of the best bread in the Eastern Suburbs. A fabulous combination! Way better than KFC if I say so myself, but staying on the treats list rather than becoming a staple.
The brining of the chicken in the buttermilk tenderises and marinates the chicken and then acts as a brilliant “glue” for the spice crust.
Adding Panko breadcrumbs into the flour mixture makes the crust more crispy and “craggy” making for a delicious outer layer.
By putting the fried chicken in the oven, dried the crust and allows excess oil to leech off. Or so I found. Obviously you need to play around to ensure the first batch and last batch ge5 around the same time in the oven.
Prep time including “brining”: 6-8 hours. Cooking time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
- Buttermilk “Brine”
- 300ml carton of buttermilk
- 14 “mini” chicken drumsticks (the drumettes of chicken wings” or small chicken thigh cutlets, skin on
- 1 teaspoon good quality paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1 teaspoon chicken spice (I use Robertson’s South African spice mix)
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
Spice Crust:
- 2 cups self raising flour
- 3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground oregano powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 cups vegetable oil for frying
- Wok or deep frying pan
1. Place chicken in large bowl, then add all the spices and mix well. Then cover with buttermilk and mix well again. Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator to marinate for at least 6 hours.
2. Put Spice Crust ingredients into a large bowl and mix well. Pre-heat oven to 225 degrees Celsius.
3. Heat oil until shimmering. I used a wok as it creates a well for semi-deep frying without having to use as much oil.
4. Drop a few dollops of the buttermilk brining mixture into the flour mixture. This will create some clumps of flour and bread crumbs to create more “cragginess” on the chicken coating.
5. Add 3-4 chicken drumsticks to the spice crust mixture and coat thickly. This will be easy as the buttermilk coating on the chicken acts like a glue for the flour breadcrumb crust mixture
6. Put battered chicken into oil and fry on each side side for 3-4 minutes, lowering heat a little to enable chicken to cook through and the crust to go golden brown rather than burn.
7. Place first batch of fried chicken on baking paper lined oven tray and put into oven whilst you batter and fry the rest. Repeat steps 5-7 for rest of the chicken., frying the last batch slightly longer as the6 won’t have as much time in the oven.
8. Remove chicken from oven 3-4 minutes after the last batch is fried. You can remove first tow batches earlier if you like so they don’t get overcooked
9. Serve immediately with salads or wrap in foil to transport to picnic after allowing to cool slightly so crust doesn’t become soggy.