Bon Appétit fried chicken Archives

Skillet-Fried Chicken recipe by Bon Appétit Test Kitchen, Bon Appétit magazine, February 2012.

The Best Thing I Ate This Month
Skillet Fried Chicken, the Bon Appétit recipe that never lets me down

There are fancier things to cook this time of year. Dishes with pedigrees. Garnishes that require tweezers. Sauces that simmer for hours only to reduce into a glossy whisper you can barely taste.

And then there is fried chicken.

Not just any fried chicken, but the skillet fried chicken from Bon Appétit, a recipe I have been cooking for more than a decade. It has been with me so long it no longer reads like instructions on a page. It feels more like muscle memory. Like tying your shoes. Like calling someone you love without thinking twice.

Every year, I make it for my annual Southern Dinner with friends, a loose, comfort heavy spread that leans Southern in spirit but fully Canadian in execution. The table is gloriously crowded, bottles, bowls, and elbows fighting for space like nobody bothered with a seating chart. This chicken is the centrepiece. Not the mac and cheese. Not the dessert. Not whatever sad green vegetable I toss in to look like an adult. The chicken. (more…)

Job cuts at work are imminent. My employees have to write a report which in affect will determine if they keep their jobs. It’s a terrible, terrible time. And to top it all off, I’m not allowed to help them write said report. I decided to assist them in another way. I made lunch for them the entire week.

First up for day 1: Fried chicken and coleslaw. I’m a southern boy at heart and I’ve tried dozens of fried chicken recipes over the years. Leah Chase is the gold standard. But this Bon Appétit recipe that I used to feed my employees is smack yo momma good. It’s pretty simple. Cut up a whole chicken, cover the pieces with a dry rub of spices, leave it in the fridge overnight. Dip the chicken pieces in buttermilk, then in flour, then fry it all up in peanut oil for ten minutes. Perfect fried chicken guaranteed.

Bon Appétit’s Perfect Fried Chicken

The coleslaw was pretty interesting. I spotted this recipe while watching an episode of Bobby Flay’s BBQ Addiction. I got a puzzled look from the Loblaws produce guy when I inquired about the location of the jicima. Luckily a cool dude at my neighbourhood Farm Boy knew exactly what I was talking about and led me to the stack of jicimas near the potatoes pile. Appropriate, since jicima tastes like a cross between a potato and an apple. Regardless, it was the key ingredient to this impressive coleslaw. Thanks Farm Boy Montreal Road!