Come with me as I attempt to reverse engineer Gus' Fried Chicken.

[Quiganomics]

My favorite part of Tennessee (and the only reason to venture into Memphis) is Gus' Fried Chicken. I've been working on reverse engineering their chicken for a few years now and was really close last time. Today I made a few tweaks to the last version and hoping this is it. Here's the recipe I'm rolling with today:

1 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup AP flour
2 tsp sweet Hungarian paprika
1 tsp fine ground black pepper
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp Accent
1 tablespoon Louisiana Hot Sauce
16 oz butter milk
4 oz water

Whisk it all together to make your slurry, then add in your chicken, making sure each piece gets coated. Cover and let marinate for 6 hours. It will looks like this:

This batch is 5 drummies, 2 thighs, and 3 breasts. I'll be frying these up later this afternoon and will post an update. Thinking I may try using foil pans with oil in them on the Blackstone to avoid having to clean the deep fryer... I fry at 300° as to not burn the coating and I'm pretty sure the Blackstone will be able to maintain a lower frying temp like that.

 

[Steve H]

Interested. And following. I've done french frys on the BS before with no problem. I used a small dutch oven to help maintain the temp .
I've never heard of this chicken before.

 

[Winterrider]

Yep, watching!

 

[mneeley490]

Sounds interesting.

 

[Brokenhandle]

I'm in... it has to be good if you went into Memphis to get it!

Ryan

 

[Quiganomics]

So....I chickened out on the foil pan on the Blackstone and fired up the turkey fryer.

First batch is in.

 

[voyager 663rd]

C'mon. We're dyin' out here.

 

[Quiganomics]

Drums are done.

 

[voyager 663rd]

If they taste as good as they look, I gots to save this one!

 

[Quiganomics]

I'd say 90% there im terms of cracking Gus' recipe. Best batch yet, but got caught slacking and forgot to shake the basket and the breast got a tad stuck....lost part of the delicious breading.

Here it is plated up with some fries and slaw.

 

[ifitsdeadsmokeit]

wish the better half liked fried chix as much as I do. Looks fantastic. We never have it in this house.

 

[dward51]

That looks nice and crispy! If I was not doing the low carb thing, I would jump all over giving these a try.

 

[in. pred]

looks pretty good! never had gus chicken either. i am trying to do the same with "fish of stroh" from our area. best fish breading i ever had. probably because i grew up eating it. lol

wish the better half liked fried chix as much as I do. Looks fantastic. We never have it in this house.

you should have at it yourself man. i love fried chicken too. one of my favorite chews. i had to learn to make it at home. you dont need to get fancy either. just grab a store breading like andys red. or cajun if you like heat its all you. lol roll the meat in beaten egg n milk shake in andys and fry. i pan fry as to conserve on oil. life is to short to go without fried chicken brother!! :)