Monday 23 August 2010

Buttermilk Fried Chicken & Creamed Corn

I have a deep love for sweetcorn. I often boil a couple handfuls of the frozen stuff and eat it with a spoon, a sprinkle of salt over it. Corn on the cob, steamed and then slathered with butter to then be drizzled with lime juice, chilli flakes and salt is a common snack in my house. Corn, freshly popped and drizzled with salty butter, or sprinkled with spices and then deep fried till crunchy, the list goes on and on.

I've never had creamed corn. Having never been to America, there aren't a great deal of places otherwise that serve it. However, I saw this recipe and knew I had to have it. Immediately. But it is considered a side dish, and I could do nothing but go the whole hog and cook me up some fried chicken. Marinated in buttermilk, spices and aromatics, the chicken is deep fried until it had a crunchy coating revealing juicy moist flesh within the crust. The buttermilk tenderises and moistens the meat, while the double flour buttermilk combination ensures perfect crispness.

If you have high cholesterol, look away now.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Serves 4

4 chicken thighs
3 cloves of garlic
2 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1 onion
1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
6 peppercorns
284ml tub of buttermilk
Flour
Vegetable oil for deep frying

Pound the Sichuan & normal peppercorns in a pestle and mortar until it is a fine powder. Mince the onion finely and add to a pestle and mortar. Add the garlic cloves and the salt and pestle into a fine paste. Add the paprika and incorporate well. Add to a bowl, mix in the buttermilk. Toss the chicken in the buttermilk, fit snugly and marinate overnight.

Next, preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Put some flour on a plate and season with salt and pepper. Wipe the marinade off the chicken (reserving the buttermilk). Dredge well in flour and put to one side. Once they are all dredged, dip back into the buttermilk and dredge again. Leave to sit for 1 hour - this means the flour soaks up all moisture making it crispier.

Heat up 3 inches of the oil in a wok until almost smoking. Add the chicken pieces, two at a time, and fry on a medium heat for 10 minutes on each side. Remove and place on a wire baking rack and put in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes.

Creamed Corn

Serves 4

4 ears of corn
2 shallots
2 rashers of streaky bacon
2 sprigs of rosemary
150ml cream
Water

Remove the corn from their husks and using a sharp knife, remove the kernels, reserving any milky liquid. In a frying pan, soften the shallots in a little oil. Add the bacon chopped up. Remove the rosemary needles and mince finely, adding it to the oil. Add the corn kernels in and add a mugful of water. Bring to the simmer and then add the cream. Simmer for 10 - 15 minutes. Remove a large ladleful and liquidise in a blender to add some consistency to the corn. Add back to the pan, bring back to the simmer and then take off the heat. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with the chicken. And some greens to make you feel a bit better about it all.

23 comments:

Fiona Beckett said...

Mmmmm. Nice recipe, Lizzie. I'm not a fellow corn fanatic but I do like the sound of this. The rosemary sounds a very good touch and the buttermilk chicken sounds fab.

Wine Splodge said...

Had a craving for crispy chicken and sweetcorn tonight... not normal fo me. Just finished eating then spotted your post... mine came from M&S, this looks far more tasty!

Oldsoul_NotQuite said...

I'm pretty sure I ate something like your creamed corn at the Capital Grill in New York (finr steakhouse) and it was damn good.

Su-Lin said...

Aw yeah, fried chicken! How much smoke is produced when frying the chicken? I've wanted to do it for ages but am too chicken (haha) to fry it in our tiny flat.

BeccaRothwell said...

That looks and sounds incredible. I LOVE fresh sweetcorn, I can normally take or leave the tinned/frozen stuff but fresh off the cob I can't get enough. Definitely going to have to file this for making some day soon.

Kavey said...

Oooh am bookmarking to make with sweetcorn from our garden, when it's ready. Won't be much as some bastard little critters ate half of the young plants and their teeny cobs but I might get 3 or 4 cobs and this looks yum!

Sharmila said...

Aw, man, that looks great.

Whenver I've done buttermilk fried chicken I've opted for long, slow shallow frying as a way of building up that crispy crust. It really works. However, this method also looks really good (although me and hot oil is always a scary combo).

BribedwithFood said...

Once again you've made me drool all over my keyboard...

God, sweetcorn is good!
And so is fried chicken mind...

Anonymous said...

I've been getting right in to the sweetcorn this season. This looks a pretty tasty, if not as healthy feeling as my boiled cob, use for it.

Food Urchin said...

I've got loads of corn from the allotment at the moment, beautiful stuff.

If I remember, I might bring an ear or two for you tonight at the pigfest.

Anonymous said...

That looks so delicious! I'm a big fan of corn soup (corn chowder?) which is really popular in Japan. Can't seem to get it anywhere in London though.

Unknown said...

so lovely... and I love what you've done with the chicken thighs... always looking for new things to do with them, although I doubt I could include them on my 'eat chicken to lose weight' diet...

Gin and Crumpets said...

This post is giving me a seriously bad case of The Wants.

PDH said...

How are you not huge? I want to know the secret??? this looks awesome, pure awesome!

Yoshi Blade said...

You had me at Buttermilk! :)

George@CulinaryTravels said...

As a fellow corn (and fried chicken) lover I cannot wait to try this.

Hollow Legs said...

Fiona - Thanks! The rosemary was inspired, though sadly not my idea.

Wine Splodge - M&S aint so bad either!

OldSoul - I need to go to New York.

Su-Lin - It wasn't very smoky at all - I have an open plan kitchen and it was fine, just don't have the oil too hot.

Becca - Corn on the cob is such an amazing simple pleasure.

Kavey - It's a great recipe!

Sharmila - oooh - I must try the shallow frying. If only for my conscience.

Bribedwithfood - excellent; my work is done.

Josh - Yes, not the healthiest, but also great.

chasinbwa - I haven't seen corn chowder on many menus myself.

Dom - You never know, it might happen...

Gin & Crumpet - Excellent news!

Pavel - Time. In due course I shall be the size of a HOUSE.

Yoshi - Buttermilk is the secret.

George - do let me know if you do try it.

gastrogeek said...

Utter filth! I loves it. I'm fasting as I read this and it's made me yearn for fried chicken in an almost psychotic manner.

S said...

i am a huge corn fanatic and i love this write-up! scrummy. i add some salt and chili pepper to my corn. x shayma

Paunchos said...

Buttermilk chicken. Yes please! And loving the corn porn you and Helen are serving up.

Jenny Eatwell said...

Thank you so much for the Creamed Corn recipe. I've wanted to try creamed corn for as long as I've known it is a dish, but did not want to sample the tinned variety. At last, I had the recipe and the ingredients around at one and the same time! :) Fabulous. I've posted the recipe (with my own little tweaks) on my blog at www.jennyeatwellsrhubarbginger.com with a link back to you here and hope you approve!

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