Urban Picnicking - Quick Fried Chicken

by Erin

I've never made fried chicken.  It always felt a little intimidating to me.  However, I decided to take on the challenge when I read that one of my most beloved bands, The Handsome Family, was playing at Millennium Park during Monday night's Downtown Sound.  I often do the traditional cheese, baguette, fruit, and Underground Meats for picnic style concerts, but I decided to go the traditional southern style and give fried chicken a whirl.

I used Lucinda Scala Quinn's recipe for Quick Fried Chicken from her cookbook Mad Hungry Feeding Men and Boys, a new favorite of mine.  Lucinda says you can have this on the table in 45 minutes and I would agree.  Minus soaking the chicken (not necessary) and my fumbling around with cutting apart a chicken, that is.

Timing was of the essence with this picnic item, so I'm going to write this blog post as a timeline.   I wanted the chicken to be warmish by the time I got to Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, so I planned my schedule backwards from there.*  I didn't write it down, but this was my timetable floating around in my head.

1:30 - Soak the chicken in a mixture of buttermilk and hot sauce.  Lucinda says you can do this for as little as 10 minutes or for as long 24 hours.  Mine ended up being about 2 hours.

buttermilk and hot sauce

3:30 - Heat up oil.  Since it was pushing 90 degrees yesterday, and I don't have AC, I opted to dirty two pans, so I didn't have to do two sets of chicken frying.  I reused some peanut oil I had previously used on french fries. Score.

3:35 - Coat chicken with flour and seasoning mixture in a brown paper bag.

coated chicken

3:45 (or when the oil is ready) - Fry chicken.  Let the chicken fry untouched for about 12-15 minutes.

sizzlin'

4:00 - flip chicken.

• In the meantime, you can start packing your picnic bag/basket.  Mine just happens to be a bike pannier.

sheet, bug spray, grapes, radishes, boxed wine,
reading material (while waiting for others to arrive),
scarf (wildly unnecessary)

4:15 - Take chicken out of the oil and let the oil drip off on a rack onto a brown paper bag to soak up the mess.

Resting chicken

4:30 - Pack up chicken.  I put the chick in a doubled brown paper bag.  Lightly salt in the chicken.

4:35 - Ride my bike downtown to Millennium Park.

5:30 - Arrive at MP (it was windy).  Stake out a spot.  Admire the scenery.  Try not to eat the chicken until Max, Danielle, Jason, or Hunter arrive (difficult).

Jay Pritzker Pavilion

6:15 - Max arrives! Chicken time!

Erin eating a chicken wing

I'm not sure I look like I'm enjoying the chicken, but I am.  Totally.  It was do flavorful and, uh, the crispy skin.  Fabulous.  Whether you are picnicking or just in the mood for some fried chicken, this recipe by Ms. Quinn is a winner!

*Obviously the chicken wasn't piping hot, but it was warm, and as I pigged out on more pieces throughout the night I enjoyed it as much cold as I did warm.