Mr. Lake's New Orleans Forum

From Julia Child’s Master Chefs book, this is the fried chicken recipe from the best cook to ever, in my opinion, fry chicken in New Orleans, Leah Chase. I looked for Leah’s recipe for years and happy I was to finally find it as the only recipe for fried chicken to ever appear in any of Julia’s cookbooks… and that is no accident, because as Julia says:

“This is the fried chicken that you dream about –
moist and tender meat and a crunchy crust.”

Ingredients
For the chicken
2 3 ½ lb frying chickens…get the best frying chickens that you possibly can e.g.free range
2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp freshly ground white pepper

For the egg wash
Either the restaurant way in a large bowl: 4 large eggs
24 ounces evaporated milk
3 cups water
or the home cook’s way in a 1 gallon leakproof plastic bag and half of the above ingredients

For the flour coating
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsps ‘seasoning salt’, Leah Chase always uses Lawry’s salt whose secret always includes salt, sugar, paprika, turmeric, cornstarch and garlic and onion powder.formula
1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper

The frying medium
1 quart (or more) solid white vegetable shortening such as Crisco solid shortening

Preparation
•Cut free range chickens into 8 to 10 pieces(I split each breast lengthwise), then trim excess fat and skin, mix salt and white pepper together, sprinkle liberally and rub into pieces well.
•Whisk eggs and beat in evaporated milk and then add the water. Place chicken pieces in bowl or bag (if in tearing hurry then just for 10-20 minutes ) but much better if left in refrigerator overnight
•Heat fryer to 350F - I use a 10” diameter 6” deep cast iron pot half full of Crisco shortening…test temp with a pinch of flour and if it instantly sizzles up then you’re ready.
•Prepare the flour coating and then just dredge the chicken from the egg wash into the flour and slide into the fryer, not overcrowding. Allow 15-20 minutes per batch and yes the white meat will be done a bit sooner.
•Drain on fresh paper towels, again and again…and I let the pieces rest as a single layer. You can keep them warm in an oven or, my preference which is to, just let them rest and serve when all is ready.
•Note1: If the oil is hot then the oil will immediately seal the flour/egg wash coating & your chicken will not be greasy… which means this is great chicken, even cold the next day. Note2: After each batch is fried, Austin Leslie, another famed creole chef, strained the oil removing the fallen flour before it burned. Note3: Leslie’s persillade garnish: 8 tbsp fresh minced garlic, 8 tbsp fresh minced parsley - plus dill pickle slices sprinkled over the 2 chickens… this is one of Austin’s special touches and as Leah Chase, herself, said: “You couldn't fry a chicken better than Austin. You couldn't stuff a pepper better than Austin Leslie.”

I have had both Leah Chase's Fried Chicken & Austin Leslie's. To be fair, I'd say Leah's only a couple of times and many times of Austin Leslie's.

Austin's always won hands down. I'm wondering if you ate his, U119? Not saying hers was bad in any way at all, it was good.

The addition of persillade that graced Austin's chicken added tremendous flavor to already stellar chicken.
And yeah, his stuffed peppers were great too. You could get that combo at his place stuffed peppers, chicken & potato salad.
A kind of died & gone to heaven kind of meal. I miss that man.

Hi Isabella,

Well thanks for jumping into the fried chicken fray. It seems to happen here every year or two... and I guess it is because it is
such a great dish, when done well. I confess that I've never had Austin Leslie or Leah Chase's chicken at their restaurants. Thirty years ago I heard from many that Leah's was the best in the city but I never made it to her place and I envy you for having enjoyed both.

When I compare their two recipes I find both using egg/evaporated milk wash and frying at 350. But Austin used peanut oil, admittedly a great frying oil, and Leah uses Crisco which has been favored by many good chefs for the past 100 years. What I find interesting about Austin is, even though he says nothing is easier to cook than fried chicken, is his attention to detail. He never overfries the chicken (only 7-8 minutes one side then 7-8 on the other) but midway he would always squeeze the pieces down to the bone with tongs (even pierce them with a fork) to make sure any blood was not left uncooked. I understand his point about customers wanting no red blood near the bone but I wish I would have had a chance to see him do it. And one of the great things about good fried chicken is that it is sealed instantly by the oil, leaving the chicken meat grease free... and yet Austin deliberately broke that seal, I presume, to make sure the blood near the bone was cooked while still making sure the chicken wasn't overcooked. Here's Austin' own words on this from an article posted on this website by Danno several years ago:"I never cook it well done; I never cook any meat well done. What I do is take the blood out of it first-while the chicken is frying, take a pair of tongs and squeeze each piece. Squeeze it till it bursts to let the blood out. You can look right down there by the bone and see if there is any blood there." So, did Austin's fried chicken pass the crispy/low grease test after a day in the refrigerator as Leah's does? And yes, I realize Austin's chicken probably was eaten clean to the bone at the time of serving.

Austin's other special attention to detail was his filtering/cleaning the oil to remove the flour debris, something I've just about never read from a recipe about fried chicken: "You have to watch the flour that falls to the bottom of the pan very carefully. After each set of pieces gets done, strain the oil out and clean the pan, otherwise the flour at the bottom is going to burn. You’ve heard people say the first chicken looks good, the second so-so, and the third you can forget. That’s why." I have to agree with Austin and I too have noticed that by the third batch (say 5 pieces per batch) the chicken is starting to pick up burned flour from the bottom... but I've never figured out a practical way to strain that 350 degree oil and keep moving to the next batch. Actually now I have a second large cast iron fryer and a larger strainer and I may just be able to do it, next time, without scalding myself to death.

Lastly, I think his persillade is a brilliant addition and though I use Leah's recipe I do add Austin's special touch at the end which is why I included this in Leah's recipe along with her words of praise at the time of Austin's death.

So let me know if and how you squeeze those chicken pieces and does the meat become greasier having broken the crust and
who strains their frying medium, from batch to batch, and how?

All the best,
U119