Gluten Free Crispy Fried Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 to 1-1/2 pounds cut up chicken, thighs, or legs
• 2 - 4 cups buttermilk, enough to cover the chicken (See tips for dairy-free*)
• Salt, to taste, plus more for dredging
• Pepper, to taste, plus more for dredging
• Gluten free hot sauce, to taste (Tobasco) (optional)
• 1/2 cup cornstarch, for dredging (or potato starch)**
• 1/2 cup white rice flour, for dredging
• 1/2 - 1 teaspoon turmeric*** (optional)
• 2 quarts neutral-flavored high-smoke oil or at least 3-inches, for frying

Instructions:

1. Add the chicken pieces to a baking dish. Salt and pepper them on both sides as desired. Cover with buttermilk. Add additional salt, pepper, and if for a little heat, some hot sauce. Stir as best you can. Cover and refrigerate. At least once, turn the pieces over. Marinate overnight if you desire moist chicken. Otherwise, marinate at least 4 hours.
2. When ready to fry, preheat your deep-fryer or a large pan of oil to 350 - 370ºF.
3. Whisk together the cornstarch, rice flour, salt, and pepper, to taste, in a shallow dish.
4. Remove a piece of chicken from the marinade and allow any excess buttermilk to drain back into the dish. Dredge the chicken in the flour/cornstarch mixture.
5. For thick breading, moisten it again in the buttermilk and then dredge again in the dry mixture.
6. Working in small batches, (over-crowding lowers the oil's temperature too much), add the chicken to preheated oil until the chicken's internal temperature reaches 165ºF. Be sure to remove any loose bits of the breading mixture that you see floating in the oil. If you do not remove them, they will burn and create an off-flavor in your chicken. If it browns too soon, add it to a wire rack and bake in the oven on 350ºF until done. Adding chicken to the oven makes it crispier. Then lower the temperature of the oil if you had it higher than 350ºF. I try to avoid placing the chicken on a plate because it creates steam, which will make the breading soggy. If you have a heat-resistant wire rack you use for cooling cookies, that will work well. Just realize that those black-coated racks are not really oven safe. When the chicken reaches 165ºF, remove it from the oven and allow it to rest on a wire rack or a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Allow the chicken to rest for at least 5 minutes as it is super hot when it is first removed from the oil.

Tips

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