Southern Cooking... Fried Chicken and our favorite Buttermilk Biscuits

I've never made fried chicken. I don't fry much food, just homemade french fries a couple of times a year with the skin on like my mom always did when we were growing up. But good fried chicken is SO good. So I decided to try making some! I used a recipe from Martha's Everyday Food and it was really good. Truly crispy skin and the chicken inside didn't feel like it was soaked in grease. Mmmm. I'll probably make this 1-2 times a year as a treat. It was delicious!!! Here's the recipe:

Classic Fried Chicken

Prep Time 45 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes, plus marinating
Yield Serves 4

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cornstarch
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 quart buttermilk
1 chicken (3 1/2 to 4 pounds), cut into 10 pieces, or 10 skin-on legs or thighs
3 cups vegetable oil

Directions
In a wide, shallow dish or pie plate, whisk together flour, cornstarch, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Transfer 1 1/4 cups flour mixture to an airtight container; set aside. In a large glass bowl, whisk together buttermilk, 2 tablespoons salt, and 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Dredge chicken in flour mixture, then submerge in buttermilk mixture. Cover and refrigerate 3 hours (or up to overnight).

Place a wire rack on a rimmed baking sheet lined with paper towels. In a large cast-iron or other heavy skillet, heat oil to 350 degrees over medium (a small cube of bread should brown in less than 1 minute). Transfer reserved flour mixture to a wide, shallow dish. In batches, lift chicken from buttermilk, letting excess drip off, and dredge in flour mixture.

Fry chicken until golden brown and cooked through, 16 to 20 minutes per batch, flipping once (adjust heat if browning too quickly). With tongs, transfer chicken to rack to drain, 5 minutes, then serve.

I had a little trouble with some of the coating come off during frying. I'm not sure if it's the utensil I used to pick up the dredged chicken or because of the wire basket I used in the deep fryer (I have a cast iron deep fryer that you use on the stove.) After the coating stuck to the basket on my first batch I didn't use the basket for the other 2 batches, and some of the coating still came off during frying, but not as badly as with the basket. Any suggestions?

Since I was making fried chicken and had leftover buttermilk, I decided to go all out and make a whole southern meal. I made mashed sweet potatoes, green beans and our favorite "Best-Ever Buttermilk Biscuits" from Better Homes and Garden's New Baking Book. I've adapted the recipe to our liking, so here's my version, and it's very easy and very worth it.

Best-Ever Buttermilk Biscuits

2 c. all-purpose flour
1 T. baking powder
2 t. granulated sugar
1/2 t. cream of tartar
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. baking soda
1/2 c. shortening (we use butter. better for you and better tasting!)
2/3 c. buttermilk (I use 1 whole cup of buttermilk. Lighter biscuits. May need a little more flour when patting out on counter.)

In a bowl, combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter with pastry blender. Add buttermilk and stir just until moistened. Knead gently on floured surface only 10 or 12 times. Roll or pat out to 1/2 inch thickness, and use a biscuit cutter to make circles or a pizza cutter to make squares. Bake in 450 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. Serve warm. (May keep 1 day in an airtight container)

Sometimes, to make these really easy, I add an extra 1/3 c. buttermilk (1 1/3 c total) and instead of patting out and cutting the dough, I drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto a parchment lined baking sheet and make "drop biscuits". You can't make sandwiches out of these though, but still good with butter and honey!