popeyes

I make a pretty mean fried chicken dinner. I cut up a fryer into 12 pieces: 2 legs, 2 thighs, 2 wings, 2 pieces of the back and cut the breasts across the narrow side for 4 smaller pieces of breast.

For my dredge I mix egg, sour cream and Dijon mustard for a fairly thick dredge so it stays on the chicken and when dredged through my flour mix, you get a good bit of that to stick.

Flour mix: All purpose flour, black pepper, garlic powder, Slap Ya Mama and a healthy dose of cayenne. Mix all this together real well and flour the wet chicken to get a good coating.

I use a cast iron pot that holds about 4 qts. and put about 2 inches of oil. Heat your oil to 350 degrees, put the chicken in the oil, but do not crowd. Turn the pieces every 5 minutes until a cook time of 20 minutes has been reached. It will take me 2 fries to cook this much chicken. Put the chicken on a baking pan with paper towels to absorb some of the grease. The crust should be very crispy and medium dark brown.

quicker to run to popeyes without all that mess

I hate frying enough chicken to feed a family

I hear ya. It's not something many people do anymore, but I like frying my own chicken and the mess isn't really all that bad. I use a fine mesh splatter screen over the pan as the chicken fries to cut down on grease splatter.

The oil I fry it in is strained and I'll use it with some fresh AP flour to make a nice size pot of dark roux to use in gumbos, stews and soups, so not much goes to waste.

I just toss the flour I use to batter the chicken because it is highly seasoned and if used for the roux, it is far too spicy and the peppers will tend to burn, giving it a bitter taste. I found that out the hard way.

Back in my youth, I worked for a now-absent Cajun fried chicken chain. I seasoned their chicken. Their seasoning recipe was one part salt to four parts cayenne. This was sprinkled over the chicken before it was stored in the cooler. That was it! They made much over a "secret ingredient," but that ingredient was simply a food coloring for the batter that made the chicken more of an orange color.

they have them if you googled it, here is one:

Popeyes Chicken (copy cat)

Ingredients

o 8 pieces fresh frying chicken
o 1 (6 ounce) bottle Louisiana brand hot sauce (Skip for the "mild" version)
o 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
o 1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (Skip for the "mild" version)
o 1 teaspoon dry buttermilk ( SACO)
o 1 teaspoon white pepper
o 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
o 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
o 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
o 1/2 teaspoon Accent seasoning
o 1/2 teaspoon superfine sugar
o 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
o 1/4 teaspoon ground dill seed ( not dill weed)
o 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
o 1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
o 1/4 teaspoon dried chipotle powder

BATTER
o 6 large eggs, beaten
o 1 tablespoon white pepper
o 1 teaspoon fine salt
o 1 teaspoon fine sugar
o 1/2 teaspoon Accent seasoning

DREDGING
o 3 cups all-purpose flour

DEEP-FRYING FAT
o beef tallow shortening


Directions
1. RINSE chicken pieces and blot; PLACE chicken into a 9 x 13 baking dish; COAT chicken well with contents of one 6-ounce bottle original Louisiana Hot Sauce, rubbing sauce well into skin of chicken. Skip the hot sauce for the "mild" version of Popeye's chicken.
2. MEASURE the all of the SEASONING ingredients into a resealable plastic container; SEAL container and shake well to blend; FUNNEL mixture into an empty, clean salt shaker; SPRINKLE the SEASONING evenly and generously on every side of marinated chicken; RUB mixture well into chicken; ALLOW chicken to marinate in seasoning for at least 2 hours, refrigerated and sealed.
3. BEAT 6 large eggs in a large bowl with 1 tablespoon white pepper, 1 teaspoon fine salt, 1 teaspoon fine sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon Accent seasoning; WHISK mixture in bowl vigorously until smooth.
4. ADD 3 cups all-purpose flour into a medium bowl for the DREDGING.
5. PLACE a cooling rack over a baking sheet and set aside.
6. REMOVE chicken from the marinating dish using tong; (1) DIP chicken into the BATTER until evenly coated; (2) COAT the chicken well in the DREDGING flour; PLACE chicken onto the rack over baking sheet.
7. REPEAT steps with remaining chicken pieces until all are battered and breaded (NOTE: IF THE FLOUR DREDGING BECOMES CLUMPY, SIFT IT THROUGH A SIEVE TO REMOVE CLUMPS BEFORE CONTINUING); ALLOW breaded chicken to rest at least 15 minutes to absorb the breading.
8. ADD the manufacturer's recommended amount of deep-frying fat for deep-frying (100% beef tallow shortening or 70% Crisco Shortening with 30% Crisco Butter-Flavor Shortening); PLACE deep-fryer basket into place in deep-fryer; PREHEAT fryer to 315°F (or preheat enough fat to immerse chicken completely in deep heavy stovetop pot between 315°F, using a standard deep-fryer thermometer to gauge).
9. CAREFULLY lower each piece breaded chicken one at a time, into the deep-fryer basket without crowding (if a standard size home fryer is used, add no more than 2-3 pieces at a time); (if stovetop frying, gently place breaded chicken pieces into hot oil using tongs, turning once halfway through frying duration); FRY for 10 minutes; RAISE frying temperature to 375°F ; CONTINUE frying at the higher temperature for 5 minutes (return frying oil temperature to 315°F for each new batch).
10. BLOT chicken lightly to drain; TRANSFER rack over a baking sheet and keep chicken warmed in a preheated 170°F oven until serving; SERVE and enjoy!

Damn that's a lot of work for a three piece with out a biscuit