In last month’s Esquire magazine, Chef John Currence of City Grocery Restaurant in Oxford, Mississippi provided his recipe for Coca-Cola Brined Fried Chicken.
Now, let’s stop for a moment and ponder this. In one very descriptive phrase, the chef covered pretty much every one of my favorite food groups. Coca-Cola: check. Brined: works for me. Fried: there are other cooking methods? Chicken: protein. And something to hold whatever “fried” business comes into play.
Lisa and I were driving back from a family visit in southern Indiana, and somewhere outside Mt Vernon, Illinois I opened the magazine to a full-color photo of the finished product. (Our version appears at the top of this page.) I knew at that moment what our next cooking experiment would be. So, on a Saturday afternoon a couple weeks later, there we were in the kitchen…

Coca-Cola-Brined Fried Chicken
One Southern chef’s sweet, fried homage to a New Orleans’ culinary institution
By Chef John Currence
Ingredients:
12 chicken thighs (skin on)
Peanut oil and lard, for frying
Brining Mix:
1 qt Coca-Cola
1 tsp Liquid Smoke (optional)
2 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp Tabasco
3 tbsp ground black pepper
3 tbsp coarse salt
Batter:
1 egg
3/4 cup peanut oil
Dry Mix (well combined):
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp coarse salt
4 tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
2 1/2 cups flour
Instructions:

Rinse chicken, drain, and set aside. Blend together brining mix until salt dissolves. Place chicken in brine in a large covered bowl and marinate, refrigerated, for 4 hours.

Whisk egg well in a stainless-steel bowl and add peanut oil and 21/2 cups water. Add in dry mix, whisking slowly so batter doesn’t clump.

To prepare chicken: Fill a large cast-iron skillet halfway with equal amounts peanut oil and lard. Slowly bring temperature to 375 degrees. (Use a candy thermometer.) While oil is heating, remove chicken from brine and place in a colander in sink. Once chicken has drained, pat dry with paper towels (a critical step) and season with salt and pepper.

Dip chicken in batter and place (carefully) in hot oil. Adjust heat, as the chicken will bring the oil temperature down dramatically — you want it back up to just above 350 degrees. Turn chicken regularly using tongs to prevent burning. After 8 or 9 minutes, remove a piece, prick it to the bone with a fork, and mash it. If the juices run clear, it’s done. Continue cooking if necessary.
Serve with pickle-garlic relish. Cover any leftovers with a dish towel and leave out at room temperature (or in the fridge, if you must, although my grandmother never did). This keeps it crispy.
Pickle-Garlic Relish

Ingredients:
1 cup Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
1 cup hamburger dill-pickle chips
3 tbsp garlic
Instructions:
Chop everything finely and combine. Add a little pickle juice, if desired. Refrigerate.

Let’s cut to the chase: the chicken was delicious. The coating was light and spicy, and once we resolved the challenge of the oil temperature it turned out wonderfully crispy. The chicken itself was moist and spicy, although I think next time we’ll ease up on the Liquid Smoke– a teaspoon was a bit much and overpowered some of the other flavors. There was a sweetness to the meat, but if you weren’t told there was Coke in the brine you may not catch it.
The relish was good, but I think it was unnecessary. The chicken was that good.
This recipe called for chicken thighs, which tend to be much more flavorful and tender than chicken breasts. We might try breasts in the future just to see how it turns out.
Delicious!