Bone-in Basil Fried Chicken and the fixins'

You can see all the shreds of basil in the crust!

We have been having such beautiful fall-like weather that it made me think of picnics and eating outside. I decided for a Family Dinner that I would make classic picnic fare and we would eat outside at the picnic table.There was so much color that Mr. Butterfly thought he would check things out.

I set the table with cheerful colors and put out bowls of tater salad, pasta salad with capers and grainy mustard, sliced tomatoes from the garden, pickled okra, and a small bowl of honey butter for the biscuits.

The giant red bowl is where all the fried chicken would go when it came out of the skillets. The other empty bowls would hold corn on the cob and biscuits. For dessert we were having apple dumplings to round our the “fall feeling meal”.

I cut up a whole chicken (cutting the breasts in halves) and then added a pack of legs, and of thighs. We are big eaters! The chicken got a good salting, and then it was covered with buttermilk mixed with some splashes of Tabasco and 2 Tbsp of fresh chopped basil from the garden. The acids in the buttermilk help to tenderize the meat overnight, and it is the “glue” that holds on the flour coating. I was trying the basil because I thought it would be delicious. I just didn't know if the flavor would hold up to the high heat of frying.

The chicken had an overnight spa in it's buttermilk mask and then it went out on the counter an hour before I began cooking to come up to room temperature. This is my special flour mix that I have come up with over the years, adding and taking away ingredients till I liked it.

Flour mix:

4 cups flour

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

4 tsp salt 

1 and 1/2 tsp black pepper

1 and 1/2 tsp paprika

Measure all into a gallon back and zip and shake well to mix thoroughly. Place chicken in bag one piece at a time, and toss on all sides to coat.

Dredge the chicken pieces in the flour mix and then let sit to air-dry for at least 15 minutes. Have the oil already heating up to 350 degrees. When the oil is ready, dredge the chicken a second time.  You can see the difference between the ones that have only been floured once at the lower right.

This makes a coating that sticks without cracking off. I had been doing this for years, and when my middle son, Seth, began working at a restaurant I was gratified to know that they did the air-drying and double breading also!

The temp of the oil will go down after you add the meat. I put about five pieces in a 12 inch cast iron skillet (my grandma's!), adding smaller cuts of meat to balance the larger ones. Keep your oil up to 325 degrees and cook about 10 minutes, till browned on the bottom. Flip and cook for about another 10.

Have your oven on at 350 degrees and take the chicken from the skillet and place on racks on cookie sheets and tuck in the oven. This keeps them warm and lets them cook all the way through. Continue on with your chicken. I think I did five pans full, while boiling corn on the cob, and baking biscuits. Then it was all hot and ready at the same time!

My biscuit recipe is delicious and easy- it takes moments to make the dough, and 8 minutes to cook! For the biscuit recipe and a link to my video to show you how I make them, go to my post Ms Sam makes biscuits. They are fluffy, flaky, and delicious with honey-butter and fried chicken! You can learn how to make them and laugh at me doing a video at the same time...

The chicken was very crisp, the breading did not fall off, and the meat was very moist and juicy. I didn't taste a notable amount of basil, but moma and Seth said they could discern it. Perhaps if I had added dried basil to my flour mix to boost the flavor when it hit the oil? Ah, well, thoughts for another time.

Hubby and Savvy couldn't come, but everyone was there who could. And for dessert, I made apple dumplings. (I made apple dumplings for Hubby the next day, because they are one of his favs!)

After we ate supper, I carried out a bowl of cored apples, and moma and I peeled them while we talked. I made and rolled my pie crust that morning so all I would have to do is assemble them. Apple dumplings are a tradition when the weather cools, and I have an amazing recipe. I am going to do a post on them and share the recipe, it should appear next week. A hot apple dumpling with a scoop of vanilla ice cream is a little bit of heaven!

There was a cool breeze, good food, and wonderful talk till dark had fallen and it was time to bring everything inside and say our goodbyes. I'm looking forward to using my picnic table lots more as autumn progresses. And I'm getting a hankering for smores...