Pollo Frito
This is fried chicken done right! I have had fried chicken before and never was really big fan of it. I mean it was OK. I considered it as plain old Southern fried food. Many times it was overly battered or greasy or even bland. These versions told me that making fried chicken could be fraught with peril. Of course it would be considered unhealthy because it was fried in oil! And greasy! OMG — How much extra cholesterol do you need to ingest every day!?!
It never tasted like this recipe that Michelle made. This is not a deep-fried chicken. It’s not greasy nor does it have a thick and tasteless batter coating. Rather this version is first marinated and then cooked making it lighter and healthier yet just as tasty. The cooking method makes the skin crispy, not greasy. The meat is succulent and is infused with a distinct and wonderfully perfect lemon flavor from the marinade. You won’t have fried batter falling off, either. This particular recipe has a strong Italian influence, but preparing chicken in this manner is extremely popular amongst many Latin American and Spanish based cultures — with the addition of some spices. A Cuban version uses a marinade of sour orange juice, limes and cumin. A Mexican version uses a tomato and chili based marinade. There are many, many variations; you just need a marinade with some acidity to breakdown and flavor the meat.
I like to use chicken breasts and thighs for this recipe. Drumsticks are great too. If you are industrious and want to save money, buy a whole chicken and section it into pieces. Thighs are usually a good buy and do well cooked like this.
We are going to ‘Flash Fry’ the chicken and finish them off in the oven. Oven baking will take between 30 and 35 minutes depending on whether it’s boneless or not, or a breast or thigh. (Thighs take much longer) When you bake the chicken you will want to use a wire rack inside a baking sheet.
Why Flash Fry instead completely frying them? Flash frying gets the chicken really crispy, really quickly and doesn’t require you to be standing in front of a hot fry pan with hot oil and 3 or 4 pieces of chicken for 25 minutes. If you don’t wish to bake them, you can simply fry the chicken pieces for 25 to 30 minutes depending on the cut. However, with a large quantity of chicken pieces, like enough for an entire family, the ability to cook in batches — frying 3 or 4 pieces at a time and then put them in oven to finish and fry another batch saves time.
Ingredients:
- 8 pcs. of Chicken (or one whole fryer chicken, cut into 8 sections)
- 1/4 Cup Fresh Lemon Juice (2 lemons)
- ¼ Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 ½ Tsp. Kosher Salt
- 1 Tsp. Black Pepper
- 2 Cups Olive Oil (for frying)
- 1 Cup All Purpose Flour
- Extra Salt & Pepper, for the flour mix
Procedure:
- Marinate the Chicken
- Combine the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper in a large re-sealable freezer bag. Add the chicken pieces and get them well coated. Seal the bag and refrigerate. I toss in the used lemon wedges too. Why not? You may want to move the pieces around in the bag a few times while they are marinating. Let sit for 3-4 hours or overnight, but not longer than that, the acidity of the lemon juice will start to ‘cook’ the meat. Make sure your chicken pieces come up to room temp. before patting dry and flouring. this helps as well to keep your crust in place while in the hot oil.
- Drain the chicken and pat dry. If the pieces are wet the flour will get too thick and fall off when placed into the oil. The marinade’s flavors will have already worked its way into the meat. After flouring, if you allow the chicken to air dry (while the oven is preheating, for instance) you will get an even crisper crust! The longer you give it to air dry the better. The batter won’t pull off, which is what happens to most people’s fried chicken.
- Pour the flour in a dish. By the way, Michelle says no self respecting Italian would use garlic powder in an authentic dish. Mix in a little kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper, that’s fine. Mix with a fork. Dredge the chicken in the flour. Shake off any excess, let sit on a rack placed inside the sheet pan for 5 to 15 minutes, before putting in the hot oil. Again this will ensure your crust to stay on versus falling off as soon as it hits the hot oil.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- A large cast iron frying pan works best for the frying process. You want something large with high sides that transfers and holds heat really well. You can also use a stainless steel Sauté pan. Fill the fry pan about 1/3 full with Olive Oil. DO NOT over fill the pan. DO NOT POUR THIS MUCH OIL into a hot pan, either! Then Heat the oil over medium heat. Olive Oil has a smoke point of a little over 400 degrees so it will work for this application. We are not deep-frying the chicken, just cooking them quickly in a shallow amount of olive oil.
- To check the heat of the oil, stick the handle of a wooden spoon in the oil. You should see tiny bubbles emerging from the spoon handle. If you don’t — it’s not hot enough. Having oil at the correct temperature ensures that whatever you are frying will not be sitting in — and soaking up — oil, rather it will fry. Properly fried food is not oily or greasy and therefore not really unhealthy. (Sort of like searing meat on the grill.) The wooden spoon method is a great indicator and allows you to adjust the temperature.
- Don’t throw water in the oil, unless you really hate your kitchen or want to be splattered and possibly burned.
- Add the chicken pieces to the hot oil and fry for about 5–7 minutes per side, turning once. Do not over crowd the pan, otherwise the temperature of the oil will drop too quickly and you will end up with greasy — not fried — chicken. Cooking time will vary depending on size and if there are bones involved. When the pieces are all golden with deep brown spots, transfer to your sheet pan with the rack inside of it, place the chicken on the rack, so that the air of the oven can circulate around each piece freely. This also ensures your chicken is not cooking in pools of excess oil while in the oven, crisping all sides of the chicken not just the top. After 15 to 20 minutes check for temperature. (Total bake time should be about 25–30 minutes.) They are done when the flesh is firm, white and the juice is running clear. If you have meat thermometer, chicken can be removed from the heat when it hits 160 F. It will come up about 10 degrees while it rests.
Feel free to cook two chickens. Pollo Frito is even better the next day!
