Naughty but Very Nice –
Cleaned Up Twice Fried Chicken with Sriracha Honey
Michael Symon is one of my favorite chefs. Every Symon recipe I’ve tried has fantastic flavor, and when I watch him on television, his joy is infectious. So, today I’m sharing one of his recipes from Symon’s Suppers, Twice Fried Chicken with Sriracha Honey. This is an indulgent supper, under the heading, “Naughty but Very Nice.” I clean the recipe up a bit by buying organic free range chicken and lard from Heritage Farm. So, I highly suggest you buy your organic, free range chicken and lard from a local farm, farmer’s market, coop, or organic grocery store.
Organic vs. Battery Raised Chicken
There seems to be a lot of controversy about whether eating organic chicken is better for you, and this article has been reposted by several news organizations over time: http://www.health.com/health/article/0,,20480417,00.html. It seems to indicate buying organic is a stylistic, more than a health, choice. Quite frankly, I don’t agree.
When I was a child, we bought meat from the butcher, who bought it from a local farmer. The farmer let his chickens roam his farm and forage for their food. Now, this type of animal husbandry is called, “free range.” Then, it was just the way things were, and I can still remember the tasty chicken dishes my Mom made.
As I got older, chain grocery stores popped up, replacing the Mom and Pop specialty food stores. Chain stores certainly were more convenient and had more variety of goods, but the food didn’t taste as wild as the food I ate when I was younger. In fact, chicken got kind of tasteless and required more heavily seasoned sauces. When I moved down south and smelled the “chicken houses” as I drove closer to where battery chickens were raised and saw hundreds of chickens stuffed in little cages in transport trucks, I knew why chain store chicken was different than what the farmer raised. And, quite frankly once you see a chicken house and how chickens are transported, you’ll never want to support that system again.
Now that we can get organic, free range, cruelty free chicken at the local farmer’s market, chicken dishes taste like they did when I was a young child. The meat has a bit of a wild flavor, and it doesn’t require so much seasoning. So, I’ll keep buying organic, free range, cruelty free chicken.
The Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons seafood seasoning, such as Old Bay or Tony Chachere's
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds, toasted and cracked
- 1 teaspoon chipolte powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- Kosher or sea salt
- One 4-to 5-pound organic, free range chicken, cut into pieces
- 3 tablespoons Bee Wild Gallberry honey
- 3 tablespoons Sriracha (Hot Pepper Sauce)
- Lard, for frying
- 1 1/2 cups instant flour, such as Wondra (I've used a pre-mixed gluten free flour with great results.)
Instructions
- Make a dry rub by mixing the spices, including a good pinch of kosher or sea salt.
- Coat the chicken pieces with the spices. You easily can do this by putting the dry spice rub into a large, sealable plastic bag with the chicken, sealing the bag, and shaking the bag.
- Refrigerate the chicken in the plastic bag overnight.
- Combine and honey and the sriracha. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
- In a large cast iron pot with a lid (We recommend porcelain covered cast iron pots.), melt enough lard to come up 4 inches on the side of the pot. Heat the lard to 325 degrees F.
- Mix flour and some salt in a bowl for dredging.
- Dredge the chicken in the flour.
- Starting with a few pieces of dark meat, and never overcrowding the pot, fry the chicken, with the lid on the pot, until its 80% cooked (8-10 minutes).
- Remove the chicken to a wire wrack or a tray lined with paper towels.
- Heat the oil to 365 degrees F.
- Fry the chicken in small batches a second time for 2-3 minutes per side.
- Let the chicken drip a moment on paper towels.
- When you serve the chicken, drizzle with the Sriracha Honey Glaze.
