jilter wrote:To be clear, we are talking straight fried chicken on the bone. No chicken sandwiches, no spicy versions, no hot honey, no broasted.

I am curious about why you say no broasted. As I understand it, broasted chicken is just chicken fried under pressure. My personal experience with pressure-frying chicken at home is that it yields both a crispy crust and juicy meat. How that's not just as good as chicken fried at normal pressure, I don't understand. I will concede, though, that some of the places near me that serve broasted chicken use a pretty thin batter.

Katie wrote:My personal experience with pressure-frying chicken at home is that it yields both a crispy crust and juicy meat.

Intriguing - can you give details on how you do this? Using ordinary home equipment or did you buy out a closed-down Colonel Sanders?

And my experience with broasted chicken is that the real stuff has specific flavors in its coating, while to me the best fried chicken has a very neutral coating. I do enjoy a good supper club broasted chicken and potato wedges, though. Especially if it's AYCE

tjr wrote:

Katie wrote:My personal experience with pressure-frying chicken at home is that it yields both a crispy crust and juicy meat.

Intriguing - can you give details on how you do this? Using ordinary home equipment or did you buy out a closed-down Colonel Sanders?

Home equipment, but not ordinary: I am the proud owner of not one but two Wear-Ever Chicken Buckets --- one stovetop, one electric.

Katie wrote:Home equipment, but not ordinary: I am the proud owner of not one but two Wear-Ever Chicken Buckets --- one stovetop, one electric.

You are indeed a fortunate cook! I see the stovetop ones on eBay for around $50 in two sizes (seems like the need to have the chicken brown on the bottom of the pan would make the smaller as good as the bigger, but I'm no expert.) Complete electric ones go for more like $175.

I am even more fortunate than you know. I got the electric one for free from my brother, a long-time fan of the Chicken Bucket, an extra one that he picked up at a yard sale in Vermont. I got the stovetop one for probably no more than $20 at an estate sale near me. I prefer to use the electric one, but I bought the stovetop one anyway to practice with it and to have a spare lid gasket on hand.

Your point about broasted is a fair one, and I appreciate it.

Hi,

Years ago I learned LaSalle County is a hot bed of fried chicken. Bars and restaurants outmatch each other in the pursuit of fried chicken excellence. jimswside had an event in 2009 for a fried chicken crawl in LaSalle and Bureau counties.

Jim also initiated other chicken-centric posts.

Jim really loves his chicken with many other mentions over the years.

In Chicago, I have enjoyed Feed Restaurant. They use a broaster system from Minnesota.

I looked into making broasted chicken with my existing pressure cooker. The idea of splattering hot grease (far hotter than water) kept my ambitions on a slow simmer. I suggest looking into why Katie's home chicken broasters went off the market. A couple of stupid people tricks with a lawsuit might have persuaded the company to discontinue it. This is pure speculation, though one worthy of a few minutes checking.

Remember if you need more people to check out fried chicken with you, just post on the events board.

Regards,
Cathy2

You could make your own. This video, first in a series of 10, shows you how to make your own KFC.

Note that what's being used in that video is a pressure fryer.

The countertop pressure fryer market is in fact growing: "The countertop pressure fryer market size is anticipated to rise from US$ 485 M in 2023 and is anticipated to surpass US$ 730 M by 2033. The demand for countertop pressure fryers is anticipated to expand at a CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of 4.2% during the forecast period ..."

Bear in mind, a pressure fryer is neither an air fryer nor a pressure cooker. Attempting to pressure fry in a pressure cooker, electric or stovetop, is emphatically discouraged.

Katie wrote:Bear in mind, a pressure fryer is neither an air fryer nor a pressure cooker. Attempting to pressure fry in a pressure cooker, electric or stovetop, is emphatically discouraged.

Why I am not interested in giving it a try.

I've Stanned for it already but Gus's is the best fried chicken in town with Evanston chicken shack not too far behind. Also having big Jones, luellas and Mrs Ts in a few mile radius from me is a blessing and a curse. And while I know there's differences in quality at each Harolds location, I've enjoyed it every time.

All fried chicken is great, so I'd never turn it down but the roost, parsons and honey butter aren't my faves. Im cool with places charging a premium for fried chicken, especially nowadays, but you're also graded on a curve.

WhyBeeSea wrote:I've Stanned for it already but Gus's is the best fried chicken in town

Agreed 100%. I'm a fried chicken fanatic and to me nothing else in Chicago quite rises to Gus's level. Especially the breasts there, which at many joints are the driest and least flavorful pieces. But a Gus's chicken breast is pretty much the closest thing to food heaven for me. A few years ago I made a pilgrimage to Gus's home base in Memphis and it was notable that the quality of the chicken at the Chicago location is nearby indistinguishable from the hometown version.

Curious about Gus's: Their website says it isn't Nashville hot, it's southern spicy. But how spicy is that?

Breasts: I think that's where broasted really stands out - generally the pressure cooking makes the breasts as juicy as the other parts.

On another topic, deep fried crispy chicken and broasted have been mentioned here, but how about pan fried chicken? Does that even exist in Chicagoland?

And yet one more topic: When I look on Amazon for home pressure fryers, I see a few $700+ items that don't seem home friendly, and bunches of air fryer/pressure cookers. It looks like the AF/PC's operate in the reverse of the Wearever Chicken Bucket - you first pressure cook the food, then crisp the outside with the air fryer lid.

tjr wrote:Curious about Gus's: Their website says it isn't Nashville hot, it's southern spicy. But how spicy is that ?

I've learned not to make assumptions about others' spice tolerances but what I can say is that when my kids were younger they hated any spicy foods but they wolfed down Gus's without any complaints. It's definitely got a hint of a kick (I believe cayenne powder in the breading) but nothing painful or sweat-inducing.

I don't get the Gus' love, it lacks flavor and not even crispy and also very expensive.

I live 4 blocks away from one and never go, I'd rather go to a chain, Harold's, etc.

gullit wrote:I don't get the Gus' love, it lacks flavor and not even crispy and also very expensive.

I live 4 blocks away from one and never go, I'd rather go to a chain, Harold's, etc.

If you're looking for extra crispy fried chicken, gus's isn't for you. But their crust has plenty of texture and is some of the most flavorful fried chicken I've tasted

If you want it really crispy -- a relatively hard exterior crust -- Parson's may be to your liking. It's plenty flavorful and moist, too. I've only ever been to their original location in Logan. They serve a hot-style too, which is pretty much akin to Nasvhille Hot-style.

=R=

2952 W Armitage Ave
Chicago, IL 60647
(773) 384-3333

WhyBeeSea wrote:

gullit wrote:I don't get the Gus' love, it lacks flavor and not even crispy and also very expensive.

I live 4 blocks away from one and never go, I'd rather go to a chain, Harold's, etc.

If you're looking for extra crispy fried chicken, gus's isn't for you. But their crust has plenty of texture and is some of the most flavorful fried chicken I've tasted

Personally Gus's feels VERY crispy to me - and remains so even when delivered miles away via Uber Eats - but it's more of a thin, crackly crispyness vs a substantial layer of crunchy batter. After I've scraped off every edible morsel from each piece I typically scrounge the plate/box for all of the little leftover "crispy cracklies" I can find. I would order a side dish of those if they offered it.

Using KFC as a (admittely very inferior) comparison, Gus's is absolutely nothing like the soft, greasy exterior of "original recipe" but it's also totally different than the thick crunchy batter on the extra crispy variety.

One of the things that makes Gus's breading different than some other places is that they use corn starch instead of flour. Which essentially makes it gluten free even if it's not advertised as such.

Yeah, count me among the unimpressed by Gus’s. I think I’m just not a fan of that style of fried chicken

The fried chicken at Leon's BBQ, 4550 S. Archer Avenue, is seriously good.

I like Gus's and I probably like Evanston Chicken Shack even more. My favorite chicken sandwich is at Fry The Coop which is Nashville Hot (and great fresh cut fries).

Two places that people seem to love that I do not care for are Del Rhea's Chicken Basket (love the atmosphere and biscuits but not the chicken) and White Fence Farm.

I love the batter dip style at Rip's Tavern in Ladd, IL. Any places around Chicago that do it that way?

alisonmackenzie wrote:The fried chicken at Leon's BBQ, 4550 S. Archer Avenue, is seriously good.

Oh wow. I live a mile or so from it, and it's never occurred to me to try their fried chicken -- I've only had their barbecue. I'll have to make a note of it. In this general southwest side area, I've found Mini-Hut to be the best. (6659 W. Archer, but it's not visible right off the street. Entrance is on Normandy.) I'm sure I mentioned it years ago in this thread.

The best? Probably not, but am I the only one who thinks that Jewel fried chicken in a pinch scratches an itch?

Otherwise, another vote for Evanston Chicken Shack. I'm in Highland Park and can't think of anything else comparable nearby.

AlexG wrote:...but am I the only one who thinks that Jewel fried chicken in a pinch scratches an itch?

Far from it! I've been to a number of events where the budget was tight, the guest count was last minute, and da Jewels came through with flying colors.

The tenders are quite good, too. The best Jewel chicken seems to come from stores that sell a ginormous amount of it. The Waukegan/Gurnee location at Grand and Green Bay is one example.

AlexG wrote:The best? Probably not, but am I the only one who thinks that Jewel fried chicken in a pinch scratches an itch?

Otherwise, another vote for Evanston Chicken Shack. I'm in Highland Park and can't think of anything else comparable nearby.

My Jewel, Clark and Division, has some great spicy fried chicken. The only problem is they hardly ever make it. It used to be Mondays and Thursdays, but it's been more than a month since I've seen it.

skinnychef312 wrote:North Branch Fried Chicken - great local shop. Extra crispy crust, juicy inside, no fuss.

North Branch Fried Chicken
5481 N Northwest Highway
Chicago, IL 60630
https://www.northbranchfriedchicken.com/

My friend just moved right around the corner from there. I will definitely check them out.

I still enjoy the chicken at Brown's Chicken. It is just such unique recipe with buttermilk batter fried in cottonseed oil that gives the breading such an unusual taste. Some locations are not as good as others. I can attest to the stores in Palatine and Waukegan as still putting out very good product.

lsher wrote:Some locations are not as good as others.

Unfortunately true by my experience, too, because the Highland Park Brown's location (RIP) did a very good job with the fried mushrooms. I will try once more in Waukegan to see if it matches with my memories.

Regards,
CAthy2

Cathy2 wrote:

lsher wrote:Some locations are not as good as others.

Unfortunately true by my experience, too, because the Highland Park Brown's location (RIP) did a very good job with the fried mushrooms. I will try once more in Waukegan to see if it matches with my memories.

Regards,
CAthy2

Waukegan was pretty good when I had it. Northbrook was kind of run down and not putting out consistent food. Now it's closed, but not sure if it's being renovated or replaced. We used to go to the one in Highland Park since 1979.

Checked to find the Northbrook Brown's Chicken is temporarily closed. Yes, agreed it had a run down feeling. I will be nearby in a few weeks to check its status.

CAthy2