Recipe: Guardian Fried Chicken

This evening I made an attempt at the Guardian Fried Chicken, and although Tim Hayward gives the recipe in the associated video, I wanted to share how I had gotten on.

Although the recipe is simple, it does take some time.

• Soak the chicken in milk overnight and cover with cling film


• Poach the chicken in the milk it was soaked in by bringing to the boil and then simmering for 20 minutes


• Meanwhile combine the spices and blend, then add to plain flour


• When the chicken is cooked, leave to cool in the milk


• Coat the chicken in the spiced flour


• Return to the milk and dip again in the spiced flour


• Place into hot (but not scalding) oil and cook for 5-6 minutes until nicely brown


• Pat down with kitchen paper

I also added some BBQ beans (just normal beans with brown sauce and lots of pepper) and some coleslaw for good measure.

I also had to make some compromises. I don't have a fryer, so I used a pan. Without a temperature guide, I used a trick my Mum used to do which is to drop a small piece of bread into the oil to get a feel for how hot the oil is.

So generally it all went well, although I had the oil too hot, so the coating became too crispy too early and when cut, the chicken looked slightly underdone. I put it in the oven for 10 minutes to finish it off, so while the meat was cooked it also dried out the coating. However, as I was cooking the pieces one at a time, I turned the heat down a lot so that the 5-6 minutes fried cooked the meat all the way through.

The one thing that was missing from the recipe was MSG for the spices. It might have enhanced the flavour more, it was already pretty good. It still didn't have that KFC feel to it though. I think I'll be trying it again though.

Check out the set for more photos.