San Fran Fried Chicken

The taste of freedom and cardamom fried chicken lingers after a weekend in San Francisco, so I’m in the kitchen dredging drumsticks.

My husband had a short work engagement in the city and I tagged along. We clunked plastic cups of Bloody Marys together as we climbed to 30,000 feet and the kids settled in for a sleepover at Grammy’s. The apartment we rented was more “engineer flop house” than “romantic retreat”, but it was quiet and clean and you never know when a Playstation or ergonomic desk chair might come in handy. We toured the city in a haphazard, unplanned way which you can only do as free agents. We meandered through fisherman’s wharf, took in views from coit tower and visited the haunting Sutro baths. We also ate fantastic food.

On the recommendation of friends we had made reservations at Foreign Cinema. The outside terrace is canopied by strings of lights and bordered by a large white wall where old movies are projected after dark. The images of Gigi flickered behind us while we enjoyed flights of wine, oysters and cardamom-scented fried chicken. We had one (or two) nightcaps, talked and laughed, then slept until nine the next morning. It was like stealing a slice of time from a decade ago.

A couple weeks later I invited the extended family over for a Friday of fried chicken and wine to bring a little of San Francisco north. It was perfectly crisp and moist with hints of fragrant cardamom. Not so romantic, but delicious all the same.

Cardamom fried chicken

*A little research revealed some tips for excellent fried chicken every time:
1. Soaking overnight in buttermilk results in reliably moist chicken
2. Adding cornstarch keeps your crust crisp without being rock hard
3. Peanut oil has a high smoking point and best flavour for frying
4. When you drop cold chicken into hot oil, the oil cools around the chicken so keep it moving every few minutes so it is constantly exposed to hot oil.

Ingredients:

1 fryer chicken cut into 10 pieces
Peanut oil for frying

Marinade:
500 ml buttermilk
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp curry powder

Dredging flour:
3 cups flour
¼ cup cornstarch
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp curry powder

Combine ingredients for marinade and cover chicken to refrigerate overnight. Take out of fridge 30-45 minutes before frying. Combine all ingredients for the dredging flour and set aside. Prepare a sheet pan with rack on top.

Fill a cast iron pan or pot with enough oil that it comes up at least half way on chicken pieces. Using a thermometer, heat the oil to 350 degrees on medium high heat.

Working with a few pieces at a time, dredge the chicken in the flour mixture, pressing it on. Place them in the oil and flip every few minutes for about 14 minutes (slightly less for wings, slightly more for large breast or thigh pieces). Keep an eye on the thermometer and keep the oil between 300 – 325 while the chicken is cooking and bring it back up to 350 before adding your next pieces.

Place finished chicken on rack to cool and rest. It doesn’t need to be served hot so don’t worry about going in batches.