If you go to Thailand, to the southern part of India, Korea, Greece and the southern part of the United States, you may find there is a dish common to all of these cultures, even though the recipes are different: fried chicken. It might not be a healthy choice, but who doesn’t like to indulge, once in a while, in something so delicious?
There are so many factors to choose from when it comes to preparing, cooking, and serving fried chicken. Stick to the classic chicken wing, or get creative and fry up breasts, drumsticks and thighs. If you are looking for ways to prepare fried chicken for your family, do some research on the types of recipes available from around the world.
Let’s start with American South fried chicken. This classic dish is prepared by soaking wing, breast, thigh, and leg cuts in buttermilk, then coating them in flour mixed with cayenne, black pepper, and other spices. Finally, the chicken is fried with vegetable oil, traditionally in a cast iron skillet. Home cooks and Southern chefs alike attribute the crispy, crackly breading to the buttermilk bath.
Next, there’s the famous Dakgangjeong. This is the name given to Korean fried chicken. The world has fallen in love with this type of fried chicken. These marinated wings are coated in cornflour, twice-fried until crisp and golden, and then coated in a sticky, sweet, spicy, tangy and completely addictive sauce that will have you licking the plate, not just your fingers. And, these delicious glazed morsels are also topped with chopped peanuts.
Last suggestion for this blog, even though there are many more to look at, the deep-fried chicken, or gai tod, is something of an obsession in Thailand. Sold from street carts, the chicken pieces – often wings or small drumsticks – are marinated in a mixture of spices and aromatics, and then dredged in rice flour, which lends an extra crispness, before being fried. After being fried, the gai tod is wok-tossed in a sauce of nahm prik pao, or Thai chilli paste.
Head to our recipe section to get one of these recipes.