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Ontario, Canada
I am a wife, mother and grandma who enjoys the many aspects of homemaking. A variety of interests and hobbies combined with travel keep me active. They reflect the importance of family, friends, home and good food.
Cook ingredients that you are used to cooking by other techniques, such as fish, chicken, or hamburgers. In other words be comfortable with the ingredients you are using.
--Bobby Flay

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  • [March 19, 2020] - Effective Mar 17, this blog will no longer accept advertising. The reason is very simple. If I like a product, I will promote it without compensation. If I don't like a product, I will have no problem saying so.
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

Buttermilk Fried Chicken with Ranch Potatoes

Whenever we get together with the kids good food is always a guarantee! That's just what foodies do! The kids made a finger licking good fried chicken for dinner our last trip there. You just can't go wrong with fried chicken! I think everyone has their own way to fry chicken whether it be on the stovetop or in a deep fryer. Quite often fried chicken is coated as well so the possibilities are endless!

The choice to coat or not largely depends on the cut of chicken you are frying. I have deep fried chicken wings without a coating with excellent results. At the same time a thin, seasoned flour coating also gives excellent results. There are reasons for choosing stovetop frying over deep frying. While you can get flaky, crusty results by stovetop frying I think you get better results deep frying. The oil of choice should be light flavoured so as to let the flavour of the chicken shine through. Peanut oil gives gorgeous results but if you are concerned over peanut allergies use canola, soybean, sunflower or corn oil. If you are re-using the cooking oil filter it for storage. Make sure to heat your oil to the proper temperature for deep frying chicken of 185ºC to 190ºC (365ºF to 375ºF). Most modern deep fryers will have a setting for the proper temperature for frying chicken but it doesn't hurt to use a manual thermometer to make sure.

fried chickenButtermilk Fried Chicken

The coating on the buttermilk fried chicken is golden brown and crispy with just the right amount of flavour. You will need to adjust the flavouring as desired. The accompanying potatoes were rich and creamy. They had a lovely flavour that was a bit different yet went well with the fried chicken. It was an excellent, tasty meal!

Neither of the following recipes have actual carved in stone measurements. The measurements are only a guideline. In general figure 1 medium to large potato and 2 to 3 pieces of chicken per adult. Tweak as desired.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

2 c flour
2 c buttermilk
Montreal Chicken seasoning*
chicken seasoning*

Place the flour and seasoning in a bowl, mix well. Pour the buttermilk into another bowl. Pat the chicken dry. Dip the chicken into the buttermilk then into the flour mixtures. Deep fry at 185ºC to 190ºC (365ºF to 375ºF) until chicken is crispy and golden brown. Drain then serve.

*Substitute either with your favourite chicken herb/spice blend.

Ranch Potatoes

1 medium to large potato per person
chili powder
diced butter (about 1 tbsp total)
ranch dressing (about 3/4 c)
shredded cheddar cheese (about 1 cup)

Peel and cut the potatoes into bite sized pieces. Place in a greased baking pan. Sprinkle a little chili powder over the potatoes. Add 4 - 6 pieces of diced butter on top. Bake at 180ºC (350ºF) for one hour. Remove from oven. Pour the ranch dressing over the potatoes. Top with shredded cheese. Bake at the same temperature for 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly. If desired you can turn the oven off and simply let the cheese melt with the residual heat in the oven.


3 food lovers commented:

Jen said...

I can't find a search engine for your blog. I'm looking for a rhubarb jam recipe suitable for canning that does not involve any other fruit. Just rhubarb.

Can you point me in the right direction?

Garden Gnome said...

Hi Limette, there are a lot of rhubarb jam recipes here.

I looked through them but didn't see a canning recipe with just rhubarb and sugar. The closest had orange added likely for the acid much like other jams. There is a rhubarb jelly that might work for you. If you are using regular pectin (eg. Certo) follow one of those as the amount of sugar is necessary for the pectin to jell.

What I would suggest is to use Pomona's Universal pectin that does not rely on sugar to jell. If using Pomona's use 1/2 to 3/4 tsp per cup of fruit, 1 tbsp lemon juice per c fruit, 1/4 - 1/2 c sugar per c of fruit and 1 tsp calcium water per c of fruit. That way you can make the jam using just rhubarb.

Pomona's pectin can be bought online from their site. It does not have an expiry date and per batch of jam is considerably cheaper to use than regular pectin. I think the results are nicer too, more of a gourmet style jam. Unlike regular pectin you can also use honey or other sweeteners rather than sugar.

HTH

Jen said...

Thanks for the info!