Recipe: Buttermilk fried chicken

Hope your summer planning is going well and you've booked in your stay at the farm! We know you want to and the calendar is booking up like hot cakes, especially the weekends when the salt water pool is open.

Whether you make it out this summer for a farm stay or not, please do put this buttermilk fried chicken recipe on your list of Things to Do. It was developed years ago for a party, before my days of becoming a farmer, where I served one-bite sized pieces of this buttermilk fried chicken on top of mini eggo waffles and covered it in honey for a bite that packed flavour. Highly recommend. Anyway, onto the recipe which is what you're here for.

Buttermilk fried chicken, biscuits and salad served al fresco for a few friends on a warm summer's evening

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

• 3 pounds chicken cut into pieces, or chicken thighs

• 2 cups of buttermilk

• 3 eggs

• 3 cups flour

• Sriracha/hot sauce of your liking (optional)

• 2 tablespoons salt

• 1½ teaspoons pepper

• 1½ teaspoons garlic powder

• Oil for frying (avocado oil, olive oil, tallow)

Put the cut chicken pieces or thighs into a large plastic resealable bag with the buttermilk. Marinade in the fridge for 30 minutes to 24 hours.

When you’re ready to fry, add oil to a deep pan, no more than halfway up, and heat to 350 degrees. Turn your oven on to be ready to keep the fried chicken warm at 300 degrees. (Safety moment: put on an apron, keep your kids out of the kitchen… if oil splashes onto your stove, there will be a fire that you need to put out, and we don’t want you to get splashed with oil).

Remove chicken from the buttermilk, discard the buttermilk.

Crack and scramble your eggs in a bowl. If you like things HOT, add the sriracha or a hot sauce of your liking to the eggs and be sure it’s well mixed in.

On a large plate, mix the flour, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Prepare another large plate to be ready for the breaded raw chicken.

Start the process of your breading. Piece by piece, and using a fork, dip each piece of chicken into the egg mixture, then the flour mixture, making sure it’s coated all over at each step, and onto the "ready to fry” plate.

Working in batches, and once your oil has reached 350 degrees, fry your chicken until cooked through, checking to be sure your chicken pieces have reached 165 degrees internally with your meat thermometer.

For bone-in chicken pieces: approximately 13 minutes for dark meat, 10 minutes for white meat.

For boneless chicken pieces: approximately 7 minutes for dark meat, 5 minutes for white meat.

From the hot oil, carefully remove each piece with tongs or a slotted spoon. Transfer to a baking rack on top of a baking sheet into the oven to keep warm.

And fry the next batch!

Equipment Needed

• Meat thermometer

• Candy thermometer for the oil

• Deep pot for frying

• 2 plates

• 2 bowls

• Tongs/slotted spoon and fork

• Measuring spoons and cups

• Baking rack

• Baking sheet