Image by Sakurako Kitsa via Flickr
There are many people who prefer to cook their chicken without a batter, but there are many more who crave that crispy crunch of battered chicken. You can batter whole pieces, wings, or nuggets or breast strips… they all turn out delicious. People all over the world use batter on their chicken in one form or another. There are almost as many different batter recipes as there are chickens!
Different Types of Batter
Different batters can be made using different flours. Try corn meal, rice flour, wheat flour, or graham flour. Ethnic recipes for chicken often use different flours in the mix. Each area has their own special mixture of herbs and spices that give the chicken a distinctive flavor.
A batter from India may be made of graham flour with cloves, ginger, cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg, red chili powder and curds. It is applied to tender boiled chicken meat, and then fried until crispy. From Asia, you can find a recipe where the chicken is marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, five-spice powder, garlic, and onion before being dredged in a batter made of rice flour, salt, baking powder and water. The result is a translucent coating with a distinctive flavor of Asia.
There are some cooks who will use nothing but beer batter. The yeast in the beer makes a light batter with a tangy accent. Another way to impart a tang to your chicken is to soak it in buttermilk before dusting it lightly with seasoned flour. Let the chicken sit for a few minutes and the mixture will turn to batter right on the chicken.
There are also many ways to get the desired crunch. Some people love crushed cornflakes or seasoned bread crumbs. Others like wet batters that fry up nice and crunchy. Panko breadcrumbs from Japan make a nice, light crispness. If someone wants a light crunch without the crumbs, they can try tempura batter.
For those who like southern fried chicken recipes, there are almost as many of those to choose from as there are people who love fried chicken. Some southern batters are as simple as mixing flour, salt, pepper, and milk. Others are more complicated with herbs and spices added to the mix.
How to Cook Fried Chicken
There is an ongoing debate on whether it is best to deep fry battered chicken, cook it in a cast iron skillet or use a pressure cooker. There are cooks who are devoted to their own preferences, each sure that their method is the very best. The deep-frying camp will try to convince you with the quick cooking time and lack of spatter. The cast iron camp will wax eloquent about even heating and the perfect crisp to the skin. The pressure cooker camp are not truly frying their chicken… they must brown it first, then cook it in the pressure cooker for about 15 minutes to get juicy chicken. You must be cautious with a pressure cooker… do not open it until all the pressure has been removed.
With all these options for batters, you are sure to keep busy in the kitchen for years. Enjoy your battered chicken, no matter which method appeals to you!
About the Author:
If you want to see just how easy it is to make your own delicious fried chicken recipes, have a look at SouthernFriedChickenRecipe.com where you will find a selection of mouthwatering fried chicken recipes including healthy oven fried chicken, tasty pan fried chicken and a useful cooking tips section.
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