Recipes, Chicken Recipes

Deep-fried lollipopped chicken drumsticks

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I love fried chicken but detest KFC so here is a really easy and super scrumptious, crispy and delicious alternative for your finger lickin’ delectation.

Serves 4

Ingredients

Method

  1. Pull all the skin from the chicken legs and discard unless making scratchings or such with it.
  2. Taking a small sharp knife start scraping the meat forward to the thick end until you’ve pushed it all the way down.
  3. Pull out and discard the needle bone.
  4. When the meat is all loosened, gather it up in the hand (a clean kitchen cloth will help to grip the meat) and pull it out over the end. It has now been lollipopped!
  5. Place the chicken in a bowl with the bay and pour over the buttermilk. Massage and squish all together well and then cover and leave in the fridge for at least 6 hours or preferably overnight.
  6. When ready to cook, turn the fryer onto 170°C. I would not advise doing this with oil in an open pan. Turn the oven on as well to 100°C or so.
  7. Into a baking tray sift the plain flour and then mix with the cornflour and all your other dried ingredients.
  8. Lift the chicken out onto a plate and beat the two eggs into the buttermilk.
  9. Take each leg, roll in the buttermilk and then dredge well in the flour covering the bone as well as the meat with the seasoned flour mix. make sure each leg is well covered all over.
  10. Repeat until all six legs are done.
  11. Lay the chicken on a plate bone sticking up.
  12. When the fryer is ready cook 3 legs at a time, turning occasionally.
  13. After about 8-10 minutes the internal temperature should read 76°C and they should be a deep golden colour and crispy.
  14. Transfer to a tray with draining paper.
  15. Keep in the oven while the next batch is prepared.
  16. Season well with smoked or plain salt or alternatively go over with a vigorous shaking of OLD BAY seasoning (Google it).
  17. Eat with either garlic mayonnaise or ketchup mixed with equal parts molasses plus a little cayenne.

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Valentine Warner is a chef, food writer, business owner and broadcaster, with a deep interest in nature, travel and provincial food. He describes his cooking style as ‘International Grandmother’ and combines his strong sense of storytelling with his infectious love of cookery. Val has a deep respect and understanding of ingredients, both wild and cultivated, and has the instinctive ability to rustle up hearty and wholesome meals from whatever’s available. Val is an avid proponent of native food sources, and finds common ground with Swaledale in their work to deliver top-notch meat, within a truthful, ethical and high welfare framework. Originally a trained portrait painter, Val has also authored 5 cookbooks, managed his own catering company and is a co-owner of Taqueria, a West London Mexican cafe. Val is also a partner in the Hepple Distillery in Northumberland and Holmen Lofoten hotel on arctic Norway’s Lofoten island.