We vary our buttermilk-soaked fried chicken by frying just the dark meat in a buttermilk and chipotle infused marinade. The chicken, once fried, is bathed in a butter and chipotle sauce and served over blue-cheese dressed coleslaw for an interesting and tasty variation on “hot wings”.

Alternate Preparations: Fried Chicken Breast

About an hour and a half before we want to eat the chicken, we remove it from the fridge. We place a gallon-size resealable plastic bag in a large bowl and shake up our buttermilk. We measure and add the buttermilk along with 2 teaspoons of salt, and ½ teaspoon chipotle hot sauce. We add the chicken legs and the thighs, having pulled the skin from the thigh pieces.

We wash our hands, seal the bag, smoosh around the ingredients, and let it sit on the counter. The chicken will only be out for an hour before frying, otherwise we would refrigerate it. We wash up again, disinfect the counter (have we mentioned that we are fanatical about keeping our hands and work areas clean when working with chicken or meat?) and let the chicken marinate.

The most important thing to do when making fried chicken is to try and keep the oil at a consistent temperature. In our Dutch oven, we start to bring the Crisco to 360° F. While the shortening is heating, we combine the flour with a pinch of salt and some freshly ground black pepper in another gallon size resealable plastic bag.

In a large bowl, we put our coleslaw mix and add 1 tablespoon of the Chipotle hot sauce. In the food processor, we add the mayonnaise, yogurt, and blue cheese. We purée until mostly smooth and add some of it to the coleslaw mix to nicely coat it (about half of it). The rest of the sauce is put in a ramekin to be served with the chicken.

When the chicken has soaked for almost an hour and the temperature of the oil in the Dutch oven is climbing to the “perfect” fry temperature, we coat the chicken. Using tongs to drop two pieces of chicken at a time into the flour mixture, we seal the bag, and shake to combine. Then we place the coated chicken on a large dinner plate. We repeat with the rest of the chicken and wash our hands well again.

When the oil is between 350° F and 375° F, we begin frying. We fry 6 pieces to start, over medium high heat, carefully placing one at a time into the hot shortening with tongs. We cover it partially (the candy thermometer is in the way) and cook for 5 minutes. We then rearrange the chicken to ensure even browning, cover, and cook for another 5 minutes. At this point, the chicken is nicely browned. We flip each piece over with clean tongs and cook over medium heat, uncovered, for an additional 12 minutes.

We remove the pieces to a wire rack set over a cookie sheet and we let them rest for about 5 minutes. We do a quick visual check the chicken before serving it to ensure that it is cooked all the way through—we could have used a meat thermometer as well.

While we let them rest, we repeat the procedure with the remaining 2 pieces of chicken.

In a medium bowl we melt the butter in the microwave for a minute and add 4 tablespoons of the Chipotle hot sauce. We toss most of the fried chicken pieces with this “Buffalo-style” sauce, although some we leave plain for the children. We have enough to start eating so we serve the chicken over the blue cheese slaw.

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