Chook Me!

How do you get a crust on fried chicken like at Popeye's Chicken?

I can't seem to get the batter to stay and/ or get it thick like on Popeye's chicken or Church's chicken. What do I do? Also how do they add flavor? How much of each ingredient? I need a good crispy, crunch, tasty, and savory recipe! I'm a novice at making good home style fried chicken, and I need some ideas, or direction on a good cookbook for something like this...

Public Comments

1. dip into flour shake off extra then egg then flour again.also have the oil fairly hot 370 or so.
2. to make sure the batter stays on your fried chicken, dry it well then toss it in flour, then your egg wash, then flour again.
3. Fried chicken I prefer to soak in buttermilk overnight. Then you pad it dry, toss in flour, then into your batter. You can use a deep fryer or I prefer a good cast iron skillet. Use lard, not oil! Make sure the lard is up to temperature, if not hot enough you will not get crispy but instead soggy. Also, when finished, do not put on towels or paper to allow oil to come off, use a cooling rack resting on a cookie sheet (to catch the drippings), the rack method allows your chicken to stay crispy.
4. You need to dip the chicken in crushed corn flakes after you dip in egg, then flour then egg again. You can buy them already crushed in a bag in the baking isle. Just use seasoned salt in the flour AND egg. I'd do one tablespoon for every two cups of flour. You want to fry it in 325 degree oil for about 45 minutes to get that nice golden crunch. And make sure there is a fire extinguisher handy in case of an oil fire.
5. One way I like to batter chicken is flor first, then dip into beaten eggs, then in dip in a bread-crumb mixture (italian bread crumbs, garlic, onion powder etc) then deep-fry. They are crunchy and really great!