Cajun Fried Chicken Drumsticks

Ingredients:
3 eggs
80ml water
250ml hot red pepper sauce
1L flour
10ml pepper
10ml paprika
15ml cayenne pepper
900ml buttermilk
Salt, Pepper, and Garlic Powder to taste
1 kg chicken drumsticks
Peanut Oil, for frying

Method:

Place cut-up chicken in a large bowl, and cover with buttermilk. Cover and chill for two hours, or overnight.

In a large bowl, add eggs, water, and red pepper sauce. Whisk until combined.

In a large gallon freezer bag, mix flour, pepper, paprika, and cayenne.

Remove chicken from buttermilk and sprinkle lightly with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Place all chicken pieces in freezer bag with flour mixture. Shake until all pieces are evenly coated.

Remove chicken pieces one at a time, shaking excess flour. Dip each piece in the egg mixture, and return to bag of flour. After all pieces of been dipped in the egg mixture and put back in the bag, give it a second shake to coat chicken pieces again.

Heat oil in deep fryer or deep pan to 180˚C. Working in batches, drop each piece of chicken into the hot oil. Fry for 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown, turning occasionally if oil does not completely cover chicken. Keep in mind that dark meat chicken takes longer to cook than white meat.

Grandma's Buttermilk Rusks

Ingredients:

Self-raising flour 2 Kg

3 cups sugar

500 g Butter 

750 ml Buttermilk

5 large eggs

Baking powder 15ml

5ml salt

Method:

Sift flour and baking powder into a large bowl.

Beat the sugar, eggs and salt together very well.

Melt the butter.

Add buttermilk to egg mixture and whisk, then add melted butter / margarine to. Beat well.

Add egg mixture to flour and mix. Knead lightly.

If you do not use biscuit oven trays like mine in the picture it, roll dough into balls and place in greased baking dish.

Leave it for ½ hour to rise. Bake 1 hour at 180 ° C.

Break with a fork / knife and place in oven at 100 ° C until well dried out (about 6 hours). 

Cheese and Bacon Buttermilk Bread

Buttermilk makes a tasteful base to a savoury bread. With undertones of bacon, cheese and onion, this loaf is quickly prepared. It's a great bread to serve at a braai or barbecue and is bound to be a family favourite.

Ingredients:
375ml wholemeal flour
250ml cake flour
10ml baking powder
2ml bicarbonate of soda
10ml sugar
5ml salt
5ml English mustard powder
2ml cayenne pepper
50g butter
80 ml grated Parmesan cheese
5 slices streaky bacon, crispy cooked and crumbled
1 egg, lightly beaten
500ml buttermilk
10ml Worcestershire sauce
2 spring onions, chopped fine.

Method:
Preheat the oven to 160C.
Mix together the flours, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, mustard and cayenne pepper. Rub the butter into the mixture until it resembles fine bread crumbs. Fold in the cheese and the bacon, reserving a little of each to go on the top of the loaf.
Combine the egg, buttermilk and Worcestershire sauce and blend. Mix into the dry ingredients.
Pour the mixture into a buttered loaf tin, which has been lined with baking paper. Sprinkle the chopped spring onion, reserved cheese and bacon on top of the loaf.
Bake for one hour. To test for readyness, knock on the top of the loaf; it should sound hollow, or test with a metal skewer pushed into the middle of the loaf. When the loaf is cooked it should come out clean.
Cool before slicing and buttering to serve.

Buttermilk Chicken Drumsticks

Buttermilk reminds me of farm life and good home cooking.

Those in urban environments may be under the misconception that buttermilk is buttery, high fat milk, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Buttermilk contains no ‘butter’. It’s actually whey, the liquid left over after the fats have been removed when churning butter.

Combined with natural airborne bacteria, this liquid thickens and sours to produce a pleasant tangy flavour in a product that it slightly thicker in texture than milk, but not as heavy as cream.

Most commercial buttermilk is made by adding a lactic acid bacteria culture to skimmed or low fat milk. Buttermilk makes an excellent addition to biscuits, pancakes, baking and, as I have used it here, in marinades.

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Ingredients:

12 chicken drumsticks (approximately 1.25kg total weight)

500ml buttermilk

60ml vegetable oil, plus 30ml extra for drizzling

2 garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed

15ml crushed peppercorns

5ml sea salt

5mlground cumin

15ml maple syrup

Method:

Place the chicken drumsticks into a large plastic freezer bag and add the buttermilk and 60ml of vegetable oil.

Add the lightly crushed garlic cloves to the bag along with the crushed peppercorns and salt.

Sprinkle in the ground cumin and add the maple syrup, then gently squeeze the bag to mix the marinade ingredients together and coat the chicken.

Seal the bag and leave the chicken to marinate in the fridge, ideally overnight, or out of the fridge for at least 30 minutes and up to two hours.

Preheat the oven to 220C.

Take the chicken pieces out of the bag, shaking off the excess marinade, and arrange them in a roasting tin lined with foil.

Drizzle over the remaining two tablespoons of oil, then transfer to the oven and roast for about 30 minutes, or until golden-brown and completely cooked through.

To serve, place two drumsticks onto each of six serving plates.

Lay-Z Buttermilk Soda Bread

Just to show that making bread doesn’t have to be difficult,

time consuming or hard work,

I have included this quick and easy soda bread.

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Ingredients:

225g wholemeal flour

225g plain flour

5ml sea salt

5ml caster sugar

5ml bicarbonate of soda

350ml buttermilk

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Method:

Preheat the oven to 220C. Put a large casserole dish and its lid into the oven.

In a large bowl, mix the flours, sea salt, sugar and bicarbonate of soda together with your fingers. Pour in the buttermilk and bringing the mixture together as a soft dough. As the bicarbonate of soda will start working immediately, you need to work quickly, shaping the dough into a shallow round loaf about 4cm thick.

Remove the hot casserole dish from the oven, dust the inside lightly with flour then lower in the dough. Cover with the lid and return to the oven to bake for 25 minutes, when the bread should be ready. Remove from the oven and leave with the lid in place for 5 minutes before turning out and leaving the loaf to cool slightly before eating. This soda bread is best eaten warm.

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