Reposting an old recipe for a friend to find here later:
Topic: RC: Wine-apple-herb oven-fried chicken/best FC I ever made
Author: Jenise
Date: Tue May 15 09:25:01 2001
About 20 years ago, I made some fried chicken from a recipe in the LA Times Home Magazine supplement. It was wonderful, very crisp and unusually elegant in its wine-apple-herb flavor, but I lost the recipe and never made it again. As best I recall it, in that preparation, the chicken was marinated in wine and actually cooked with apple juice in the pan. Superb results, but one heckuva mess to clean up after the apple juice literally turned to caramel in the bottom of the pan.
Driving past a KFC the other day, I suddenly remembered that chicken and imagined just how to recreate it as an oven version. When I got home, I pulled a bag of chicken wings out of the freezer and went to work.
The result was, as my title promises, the best fried chicken I''ve ever had. The chicken absorbs enough apple juice to approximate the caramelization effect, the corn meal makes a very tasty crust, and the wine and herbs give the chicken a very sophisticated flavor.
The following recipe has a lot of steps, the chicken isn''t hard to make but you must allow yourself enough time to follow all the steps. That it cooks in the oven is a big bonus--no slaving over a hot stove, no stove mess to clean up later!
1. Marinate the chicken for 4-8 hours:
2 dozen chicken wing drummettes
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 cups apple juice
2 tsp dried dill
2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt
2 tablespoons EVOO
2. About an hour and a half before dinner, remove chicken from marinade and coat well with a mixture of:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup corn meal
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
3. Place coated chicken on a wire rack to "dry". This sets the crust and helps it stick to the chicken, not your pan. Leave for about 30-45 minutes.
4. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Put sheet pan in oven to heat up, then add 3 tblsp. corn or olive oil, and set chicken in oven, best/top side down. Place in oven. Leave rack out, you're going to use it again.
5. After 20-25 minutes, chicken should be done on the first side. Check and decide if now's the time to turn. If it is, turn with a spatula to ensure the crust releases--inevitably, some won't. Pulling with tongs will make you sorry. Also, DO NOT TURN CHICKEN MORE THAN ONCE OR YOU'LL TOTALLY FUTZ UP THE CRUST--it WILL stick the second time down. Finish cooking, about ten minutes.
6. When chicken''s done, remove and set on wire rack to rest for five to ten minutes, then serve.
