Do What You Can Chicken Fried Chicken

If there's one thing we can all agree upon, I'm sure it would be how difficult it is to come up with a new way to make chicken.  There's a reason why the phrase "it tastes like chicken" is synonymous, with maybe, it's just plain.  A good chicken has its own express flavor.  But more often than not, it's just a non-distinct taste.  Nothing that stands out.  This is most often the reason we all love chicken.  Well, met again with a whole chicken, I reviewed our options with my gals.  Anything with gravy was the only answer they came up with.  I took a mental inventory of my kitchen and realized I had a pint of buttermilk.  Why, I cannot remember.


Earlier in the afternoon, I cut up the chicken into smaller pieces and put them into the buttermilk along with kosher salt and white sugar.  When ready to fry, I removed the chicken from the buttermilk and dipped them in flour mixed with garlic salt.  Without my deep fryer here, I used a shallow frying pan filled 1/3 of the way with canola oil.  I fried the chicken until golden, about 7 minutes and placed the pieces in the oven at 425f to finish cooking.  About another 10-15 minutes.  Easier and time-saving given what I had to work with.  
I had wanted to serve the chicken with David Chang's Octo Vinaigrette, but then realized I did not have a few of the key ingredients.  So, instead, I made a basic soy, vinegar, garlic and ginger dipping sauce from my own repertoire. 
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 tbsp minced garlic
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp white vinegar
1.5 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vegetable oil
Very much similar to the octo, I actually had a revelation that hey, I've basically been making something exactly the same most of my adult life.  Just slightly different.  


Was this a new way to cook chicken.. obviously not.  Was it a good way to cook chicken?  Yes!  Fried chicken somehow brings out the quintessential chicken.  Crispy skin, juicy and tender and chicken-y.  Do what you can with what you have.  It doesn't have to be fancy to be good!