In preparation for American Independence Day, we asked chef Jason Black to share with us his recipe for the ultimate Yankee comfort food: fried buttermilk chicken. The recipe comes straight from chef Black’s recently published cookbook, Cow Pig Chicken, and even he says that including such a recipe was obligatory for a book that has a whole chapter on poultry. The dish requires a few advance preparations, but the result is a deeply flavoursome bird with a golden-brown crunchy crust.

“This, like some of the other recipes in the book, requires a little planning, but the results are worth the effort,” writes Black. “Deep fryers, in some instances, are where chickens go to heaven and, despite the wailing-and-gnashing-of-teeth of the health conscious, there are very few on the planet who would disagree with the fact that chicken cooked this way is delicious.”

The Obligatory Deep-Fried Buttermilk Chicken Dish
Serves 4

For the brine
1 litre cold water
50g kosher salt
200g carrots, chopped
200g leeks, chopped
100g celery, chopped
5 fresh garlic cloves, chopped
10 thyme stalks
1 tsp black peppercorns
4 bay leaves

For the first marinade
4 chicken thighs, cut around the bone
4 chicken drumsticks, cut around the bone
4 chicken wings, tips removed
500ml vegetable brine (see above)

For the Cajun spice
5 tsp paprika
5 tsp Kosher salt
2 tsp white pepper
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp bay leaves
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp ground black pepper

For the yoghurt marinade
250g plain yoghurt
3 tsp Cajun spice
½ lemon, juiced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp crushed garlic

For the recipe proper
The pre-marinated chicken pieces
8 tsp Cajun spice
500ml buttermilk
1 cup self-raising flour
¼ cup tempura flour
½ cup panko breadcrumbs
Oil, for deep-frying

Method

1. For the brine: Mix all of the ingredients and soak the chicken pieces, covered, in the fridge for 24 hours.

2. For the Cajun spice: Put all of the ingredients into a spice blender and blitz to a powder. Store.

3. For the yoghurt marinade: Mix the yoghurt, Cajun spice, crushed garlic, lemon juice and olive oil in a glass bowl (or similar). Remove the chicken pieces from the brine, pat dry and then put into the yoghurt marinade, ensuring the chicken is well coated. Cover and keep in the fridge for a minimum of eight hours.

4. For the recipe proper: Pre-heat an oven to 180C. The next step may seem a little complicated, and may look like a right pain in the proverbial, but it isn’t really. Get three mixing bowls. In the first bowl, mix 3 tsp of Cajun spice and the self-raising flour. Divide this in half, putting half into the second mixing bowl. Reserve this bowl (this we will call our ‘dredging flour’).

In the other half, add 1tsp of the Cajun spice, the tempura flour and the panko. This is our ‘coating flour’. In the third bowl, add the buttermilk with the remaining Cajun spice. You will also need some trays. This is a messy business, so you have to work clever.

First, remove the chicken from the yoghurt marinade and pat dry. Having a tray ready, dip each piece of the dried chicken into the ‘dredging flour’ and pop onto another tray. Once this is done you can discard the dredging flour. Get another tray. You are going to now dip the dredged chicken into the buttermilk, then dip into the ‘coating flour’. Put each well-coated piece onto your new tray.

Heat your oil in a deep pot. Deep-fry the chicken, a few pieces at a time, removing when crispy and putting onto yet another clean roasting tray. When done, pop the roasting tray into the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the juices run clear. I find this gives a crispy chicken without being too greasy and it cooks through. 

Jason Black’s cookbook Cow Pig Chicken is available on bookstands now. A portion of the book’s profits will go towards local charity FoodLink.