Final Product
As college students, we are pretty adaptive. When you think about it, we’ve had to shift a lot of our habits that we used to have now that we don't have the luxuries of home. One of those luxuries, is a home-cooked meal.
No matter how much credit we give to the cooking staff at Debot or the Dreyfus center, the food at college always seems to fall short in comparison to a home-cooked meal. Now, we can try to buy our own groceries and make small replications of what our families can make, but that can be a challenge for students on a thrifty budget and very little cooking experience. In general, I’m sure some or most of us can cook at least a few things; and even if you can't make a gourmet meal with tons of ingredients, there are still simple recipes out there to try if you want to mix up your meals for a change.
One recipe that has few ingredients and requires little cooking experience is Fried Chicken. What’s great about this recipe is that it has easy instructions and very few ingredients, things that you can find in just about any grocery store. This recipe is also low budget, ranging from $10-$20 in cost. The tools you need to use for this can be easy to find, and if you don't have them, I’m sure you can borrow them from your hall front desk or a neighbor. This recipe is very simple and a tasty way to mix up your meals when you feel like trying something new.
To begin, here is what you'll need:
- Ingredients
- Chicken
- Drumsticks, thighs, or wings
- Not skinless (or the chicken will not fry as well)
- With bones or without bones (doesn’t matter)
- Spices
- Onion powder
- Garlic powder
- Chili powder
- All Purpose Seasoning
- Other seasonings you’d like to add
- Vegetable Oil
- Flour
- Supplies
- Paper towels
- Pot (Medium size preferred)
- Tongs
- Container to toss chicken with seasonings, could be a:
- Brown paper bag
- Plastic bag
- Tupperware container
- A plate for final product
-The Process
Getting the oil ready and then cleaning the chicken is the first step in preparing this meal. You’ll want to heat the oil first because that will give you enough time to let it reach a sufficient cooking temperature while you’re getting the chicken ready. After you’ve set up your oil, you can set it aside until you’re ready to use it.
To prepare your oil:
6. Fill your pan about 3/4ths of the way full with vegetable oil. Place the pot on an appropriate size burner (better to use the large burner rather than the small one) and turn on to medium heat to let the oil get hot.
7. After about 5 minutes (maybe a little more or less) you will need to test the oil by getting your fingers wet and then flicking the water into the oil. If it sizzles and makes popping noises, it is then hot enough to start frying the chicken. If it doesn’t make any noise, don’t turn up the heat, simply allow more time and test again in a few minutes.
*IMPORTANT: don’t stick your fingers in the oil to check if it is hot or not.
Prepared Oil
While the oil is heating up, you can prepare your chicken.
To prepare your chicken:
1. Wash the chicken thoroughly in cool water to avoid cross contamination, then set it on a clean surface and pat it dry with a paper towel. When patting the chicken dry, note that it does not need to be completely dried, just remove excess water in order to season the chicken correctly (in other words, the chicken needs to be a little dam to allow seasonings to stick to it).
Rinsed Chicken
2.Next you can sprinkle some of your seasonings onto the chicken directly to add additional flavor (this step is not required). Note that when choosing seasonings for this recipe, it’s recommend that you choose ones that complement the palette of this meal (coincide with a chicken flavor).
Seasoned Chicken
3. Add seasonings of choice and flour into brown paper bag. You can add however much seasoning that you would like. There are no specifics to how much seasoning you need, all preference.
*Also make sure that your side dishes compliment the seasonings that you use in your chicken
4. Place the chicken into the container with seasoning, and shake the container gently to thoroughly coat the chicken. The flour adds the element of crispiness to the chicken after it has been fried. You can place one to two pieces of chicken into the bag of flour at a time. As you shake, your main goal is to coat the chicken evenly, over coating the chicken won't hurt as long as the whole thing is covered. Once you have evenly coated the chicken, you can remove it from the bag by either using a tong or fork to pull it out.
Spice Options
8. Using your tongs pick up the chicken (one piece at a time) and place carefully into the oil. Depending on how big your pot is you can put between 3 and 4 pieces of chicken in the oil at a time. Make sure you don’t put too many pieces in at one otherwise the pieces may not cook all the way through and you run the risk of overflowing the pan. Make sure each piece of chicken is completely covered by the oil.
Before shot of Chicken in Oil
9. Leave the chicken in the oil to cook until the chicken is either floating on top of the oil, the oil stops sizzling, or the chicken is golden brown. You will want to “stir” or rotate the chicken with either your tongs or a fork once in a while to ensure that the chicken is cooking evenly in the oil. If you think the chicken is done or want to test it, you can pull a piece out of the oil with the tongs and separate with a fork or knife. If you see any pink, that means that the chicken isn't done yet and it needs to be placed back into the oil.
After shot of Chicken in Oil
*Be careful when placing the chicken in the oil and removing it, hot oil has a tendency to “pop” and that can lead to small burns if you're too close to it.
After you have finished cooking your chicken, set on a plate to cool. Make sure to turn off all burners and carefully set oil on a cool surface (or side of the stove-top that wasn’t turned on). At this point, clean everything and enjoy your meal without dealing with the oil; it takes up to an hour or more for it to completely cool. Once you think it’s cool, test with water and dispose of it by means of a plastic bag or aluminum can. After pouring the oil into one of those, throwing it away is the best option.
*Don’t dump oil down the sink, it will clog the pipes.
Whether you want to cook a fancy meal, or just want to mix it up because you're getting sick of the same old thing, this Fried Chicken recipe offers a simple alternative to the average college student's diet at a very low cost. All you need is some patience, some chicken, and an open mind!
