Seeing Red

I stumbled across the most interesting recipe about a year ago in a magazine. Now when I say recipe I actually mean that I stumbled across a tiny paragraph about four sentences long squeezed into a magazine with three simple instructions. I have been thinking about this "recipe" somewhat constantly since then. Whenever a dinner party opportunity presented itself, I had always briefly considered taking this dish and promptly decided that it is too weird. Now I have the perfect reason to try it! Red velvet fried chicken. If you are anything like me you might have read that more than once. It is supposed to be the perfect blend of sweet and salty, so here I am to put it to the test.

Red Velvet Fried Chicken

Ingredients
However many pieces of chicken  you would like (we cut up a whole chicken)
1 box red velvet cake mix

Directions
1. Mix box cake as directed and split in half. Save one half in a container and put in the refrigerator.
2. Make the other into a cake. It can be any size or shape you are merely using it for crumbs.
3. Bake cake as directed and let the cake sit out overnight uncovered so that it can dry out.
4. The next day when you are ready to fry your chicken pull the batter out of the refrigerator and crumble up your cake into small crumbs (you can use a food processor, I used my hands) in a separate bowl. 
5. I would suggest using a deep fryer or a large pot filled with oil. We tried the skillet way and it was not successful. Your oil needs to be at least 375º before frying.
6. Roll your chicken in the red velvet batter and then dip in the crumbs.
7. Fry your chicken.

Ok, we found some flaws with this plan. First the bread crumbs seem to burn way before the chicken is done. If I were going to do this again I might fry it just long enough to get a crisp on the outside and then put it in the oven to finish out. Secondly, a way to test to see if fried chicken is done is to pierce the skin with a fork in the meatiest part and if the juices run clear you're chicken is done, if the juices are red or pink the chicken isn't done. My problem is how can a chicken covered in red batter run clear and not red? Unless you know the correct way to "push" on meat and see if it's cooked I would just go with cutting it open. If it's still pink, it's not done. Simple as that.

Anyway, my consensus on the whole red velvet fried chicken thing is simply this, it takes like sugared chicken. In short, I wasn't impressed. I would call this a fail but someone else might like it. As for me if I want my chicken to be covered in sugary goodness I'll stick to OKC's own Bobo's. Their honey smothered chicken wins my vote any day over red velvet.

I hope you try this for yourself if you are any bit interested. It's super easy and doesn't take very much time and you don't have to fry a whole chicken, just try a piece or two. If you do try it please let me know how you like it.

Beaucoup d'amour, de rire souvent, et bien mange

xoxo,
Susan