I have a favorite way of starting many chicken dishes. It’s a couple simple steps that will create a crispy piece of chicken that you can then go on and use in many recipes.

We like our chicken well done. I usually cook low and slow, and often longer than in many recipes, to get that falling off the bone tender thigh or leg. I most often use skin on, bone-in chicken, but pounded breast meat or skinless, boneless thighs work as well. With chicken wet with buttermilk a simple flour mix will stick. You can even re-dip into buttermilk and add a second coating of flour. It’s a little easier than the flour-egg- crumb routine. However, if you don’t have any buttermilk, eggs whisked well with a little milk will work. Or make “buttermilk” by souring some milk with lemon juice or vinegar.

And this is how I usually start off:

Pat chicken dry with a paper towel to remove excess chicken juice. When I can start the day before, I soak the chicken in buttermilk. Buttermilk has enzymes that help tenderize the meat. Even a few hours will help. If you like, flavor the milk with some spices or hot sauce, and a couple teaspoons of salt when doing 4-8 pieces of chicken.

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Meanwhile, prepare the flour mix that will serve as a dredge. I like to add in smoked paprika and cumin; many times also some garlic powder and onion powder. Use whatever your favorite spices or herb mix is, or tailor it to compliment whatever recipe you carry on with after these steps. For instance, use an Italian herb mix if you are making Chicken partisan. I use either a paper bag or a pie plate to hold the flour mix. a pie plate works best for flat pieces of breast meat, and legs and thighs shake up well in a paper bag.

Remove the chicken a piece at a time, letting most of the milk drip off. Drop into the flour and shake or roll around to coat the chicken. If there is time, refrigerate to let the coating dry on, or even a few minutes in the freezer will help it adhere.

While it’s chilling, fire up a large skillet over a medium heat, and once it starts to warm up, add a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Don’t crowd the pan, and saute in batches if need be. Saute the chicken just long enough to get a beautiful golden color on it. This does not cook the chicken through – it’s a base for you to work with. The only time I saute long enough to cook the chicken thoroughly would be for pounded thin chicken breasts – like for Chicken Francaise or Chicken Marsala.

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From this point forward you can make a myriad of different kinds of chicken dinners:

• Chicken Parmesan

• Honey Garlic chicken
• Finish baking in the oven in a casserole dish or lined sheet pan and add any kind of sauce for the last 15 minutes of baking – your favorite jarred sauce i.e.sweet and sour sauce; any gravy, i.e.country gravy, chicken gravy or brown gravy; a lemon sauce, mushroom sauce, kicked up creamy soup sauce, coconut lime sauce, – endless possibilities! Pour heavy sauces around the chicken, rather than over, so that chicken pieces are poking through the sauce & stays crispy. Glazes and lighter sauce go directly over the chicken.
• Garlic Creamy Chicken
• Parmesan Cream Sauce Chicken
• Add some grated Parmesan to the flour and make Parmesan Crusted thighs
• Cover cooked chicken with Garlic Butter Sauce
• French Onion Chicken
• Chicken Marbella
• Chicken Stroganoff – make a stroganoff sauce of cream and mushrooms and pour around thighs or legs then bake the casserole
• Bake boneless breast and slice to put over salad
• Place pasta, like rigatoni, in the casserole dish first, cover with vodka sauce, and put chicken on top to bake
• Make a gratin by putting potatoes, cream, and cheese underneath the chicken; or maybe curried rice
• Use saute boneless breast meat for chicken taco’s
• Turn them into a chicken and rice casserole
• Tikka Masala Chicken
• Use sauteed breasts for chicken sandwiches
• Barbecued chicken – with Carolina Sauce or Smoky Barbecue flavor.

If you want the chicken really crunchy, and a couple tablespoons of panko crumbs to the flour mix.

Think about the favorite flavors your family likes with chicken, and use these steps to start instead of the usual start to a recipe. Or, better yet, try expanding the families taste buds with something totally new!