Do most people prefer deep-fried chicken? I prefer pan-fried chicken (with cream gravy) but it can be hard to find done well.

Since both techniques essentially fry the chicken in some sort of fat, do they really taste that different? Could it be due to the fat used? I must investigate...

I think they taste different, and of course pan fried doesn't form the same kind of crust as deep fried. I pan fry chicken in a mix of butter and oil, after soaking in buttermilk and coating with flour, S&P, garlic powder, thyme, and a little sage.

Fried chicken tasting? I am so there.

The cooking method is quite different, Alton Brown does a great job at describing why in the "Fry Hard II" episode of "Good Eats". For me, pan fried chicken with cream gravy is never surpassed by deep fried chicken.

Cool. Time to go to my Tivo archives and watch this episode.

not pan-fried - but damn good eats a redskins tailgate.

I agree, I love pan fried and it is more difficult to find. My mother-in-law makes wonderful pan-fried chicken, but she usually does her's in an electic skillet. Not sure why she prefers this method.

I scored the mother of all pan-fried-chicken pans at work the other day. Cast iron-- 22" across and about 4 or 5 inches deep. I plan on frying up a few birds as soon as possible. I just need to work on seasoning the pan. Not on topic, but I could make a monstrous paella with this baby too.

The problem with a 22" cast iron skillet is getting the sucker hot. It will take a while to preheat the oil.

So you didn't pan fry your tailgate? Braised?

The problem I have with a pan that size is LIFTING that sucka.

My dad also makes great fried chicken (or used to make, back when he still cooked fried food) and only uses an electric skillet. It's the only thing that he uses the electric skillet for.

Pan fried is definitely the way to go. I learned to cook it using bacon grease and a cast iron skillet. Yum. However, can't get into the cream gravy thing. After the chicken is cooked, pour off a little of the grease, add flour and make a pretty dark roux and then add water until it is the correct thickness. Great with mashed potatoes.

Alot of people like electric skillets because they are big and you can get it done in one batch and because it has a thermostat which makes it easy to keep the temperature constant.

Yeah, I remember him explaining that pan-frying allows the steam and moisture to escape easier than deep-frying. This prevents the coating goodness from all coming off with the first bite

Both of my grandmothers had black belts in fried chicken, but the only recipe I've got comes via my dad, pan fried version.

I distinctly remember him showing me how you listen to the chicken, as the moisture cooks off it makes a certain sound and when it's all cooked off it sounds different, and then you put the lid on to make sure it cooks all the way to the bone.

I just called him to ask him about it and he doesn't remember telling me this. I told him he can't remember for beans! But, FWIW, that's what he told me back when he showed me how to cook it like his mama did. Now he uses a thermometer.

Of course, his mama kept chickens and killed them herself, but that's another story.

She always pulled the skin off before she dipped it in milk and then in seasoned flour, and you have to let it sit on a rack and dry, and repeat the flouring if moisture shows through so it gets a hard flour crust. We used to do that on the kitchen counter but now in the fridge for health reasons. Similarly, she used lard but we use peanut oil now.

Deep fried chicken's great, with a rice dressing on the side. (Cajun "rice dressing" would be a meal in itself. Beef, pork and veal, trinity, scallions, roux, stock, and rice. We even throw shrimp in it when we have them. You get it with chicken livers instead at the plate lunch places, aka dirty rice. The Popeye's version does not compare.)

Don't get me wrong. I love pan fried chicken and really mean to check out Crisfield's!

But the Prudhomme Family Cookbook's recipe for deep fried chicken is something else! Seasonings really nail it.

Does this mean that I'm not cooking this Sunday?

I don't have the Prudhomme Family Cookbook but you're bringing back some good memories.

How about the late lamented Austin Leslie's recipe? Or Leah Chase? Both world famous.

I used to have Austin Leslie's recipe torn out of a newspaper, probably the Times Picayune, don't have it anymore, his cookbook is still available, though. I know that he used canned milk mixed with Tabasco to dip the chicken. Never had Leah's.

Never put shrimp in my rice dressing, either, but it sounds good. Do you use it as the only meat in the dressing? How does it differ from jambalaya (no tomato?)

Never tried the fried chicken recipes you mentioned. Wish I had!

There's no tomato in the rice dressing I know about. There's roux, which I don't believe goes in jambalaya, at least in my experience. And the shrimp are added along with the other meats (well, toward the end). I have also had this with oysters added toward the end instead of shrimp, but I prefer the shrimp with this dish.