Fried Chicken & Waffles
The Restaurant
The Episode
Fried Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 whole fryer chicken, cut into 8 or 10 pieces
- Salt and pepper
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- Flour, for dredging
- 2 to 3 sleeves of saltine crackers, crushed by hand for coarse crumbs
- Peanut oil, for frying
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Season the chicken pieces well with salt and pepper. In a bowl, combine the buttermilk and eggs until well incorporated. Dust each chicken piece in flour, then dip into the buttermilk-egg mixture. Press the chicken into the saltine crumbs. Set aside before frying.
- Fill a large skillet 1 inch deep with peanut oil. Heat to 350°F (use a candy thermometer to test). The purpose of the oil is to brown the saltines; the chicken will fry and brown too quickly in the oil to cook the chicken all the way through. Fry the chicken pieces until golden brown—this will happen quickly. Remove the chicken from the hot oil and drain. Transfer the chicken to a baking sheet and cook in the oven for 40 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through (to avoid overcooking the smaller chicken pieces while the breasts are cooking, remove the smaller pieces first, leaving the breasts for last).
Buttermilk Waffles
Ingredients
- 2-1/2 cups flour, sifted
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 eggs, separated
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
Directions
- In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks. Add the buttermilk, milk, and melted butter. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the bowl with the eggs and milk. In a small bowl, beat the egg whites until thick and foamy. Gently add them to the batter, and mix to combine. Pour the waffle batter into a hot waffle iron, and cook until golden brown and lightly crisp.
- Top the waffles with butter and serve with hot fried chicken and a bottle of maple syrup on the side.
