[johneli]

No matter what I've tried, when I deep fry chicken (or anything else for that matter) more batter and dredge end up in the bottom of my deep fryer than on the food. I use peanut oil, have the temp up to 360, and the food (chicken mainly) at room temperature and dry before I dip it into liquid (egg, buttermilk etc). When finished the (chicken) is about 1/3 covered in a nice crispy coating, but the rest of the coating resides at the bottom of the fryer. What am I doing wrong? Should I be double dipping? What SHOULD I be using as the dipping liquid? (I prefer buttermilk but have not had much luck with it. Thank you all very much for reading this. john.

[RAS1187]

Try a 3-step breading process

Toss the chicken into seasoned flour, liquid (in this case buttermilk) and then back into the flour. Make sure that all surface area of the chicken gets coated.

Deep fry your chicken in small batches, too much at a time will lower the temperature of the oil drastically and could cause the flour to either seperate from the chicken or create a "gummy" coating.

[deltadoc]

1. If you're using a residential 120 VAC deep fryer, chances are it isn't really getting hot enough to do anything. A crappy Rival deep fryer that I bought new, by using a candy thermometer, wasn't getting any hotter than 210 F when set at 350 F. And setting it at 375, waiting 20 minutes for the green light to come on to "tell me its at temperature", a quick look at the candy thermometer showed the actual temperature was 235F.

So I experienced exactly what you're describing. Some crispiness of the deep fried whatever, and most of the coating burning on the bottom of the oil container.

2. So I got out a big heavy (really heavy) pot, and poured in the oil, and brought it up to 350 per the candy thermometer and then went through a series of learning experiences, how to manage the gas valve control on my gas cooktop to keep the temp hovering around 350.

3. For french fries, I did 'em first at 350. Let them cool (and drain) to room temperature, and then re-heated the oil to 375. Best fries I ever had.

PS: Rival was certainly gracious about replacing the defective deep fryer. There were only two hitches: a) the cost of transportation was mine and cost more than the unit new at Home Depot, b) on the internet I found about 27 pages of people complaining about their Rival deep fryers and they all weren't coming up to temperature.


doc

[johneli]

Thank you both for your comments. I too think it's a breading technique/ cooking temperature problem. That's why I brought the chicken to room temp before imersing into 360 degree oil (as per candy thermometer). I was frying wings and only cooked 5 at a time and the oil never stopped rolling over, so I figured it stayed hot. (I should have checked the oil temp throughout the process.) Thanks again.

[Chad Aaland]

That sounds fine, but you have to be careful with chicken and it's exposure to the un-conditioned world. Out of everything we prepare in the kitchen, chicken is in the top 3 of the most succeptible to contamination and illness. How did you get it to room temperature?

[johneli]

I would really appreciate a solution to my problem rather than a slap on the wrist about safety procedures. I take all necessary precautions (thank you), and do not underestimate chicken's susceptibility to contamination. But, thank you for your concern.