Indiana’s Greatest Fried Hen Recipe

I’ve joked that southeastern Indiana fried hen, which may be so peppery it’s nearly au poivre, is the Midwest’s reply to Nashville’s well-known scorching hen—a fiery thrill for people who think black pepper is spicy.

However the Hoosier custom is nothing to chuckle at. Southeastern Indiana—the place Colonel Sanders was born and largely raised, earlier than shifting to Kentucky as an grownup—is among the finest locations in America to eat fried hen.

The hen at Wagner’s Village Inn in Oldenburg has earned a James Beard America’s Traditional Award and has been featured within the New York Times. Reduce into a cheap twelve items, together with the again, and skillet-fried in lard, it’s particularly peppery and tender.

After I moved again to my hometown of Cincinnati in 2019, I grew to become a daily at Wagner’s, simply throughout the Indiana border. Throughout the pandemic, as soon as we have been allowed to cross state traces once more, I started to deal with the hour-and-a-half round-trip like a mini-vacation—an excuse to get out of the home (and the state) that ended with a takeout fried hen feast, if I didn’t refill on drumsticks on the way in which residence.

You can order the hen at Wagner’s à la carte, however the menu highlights the hen dinner, which comes with mashed potatoes, inexperienced beans, coleslaw, dinner rolls, and real-deal skillet gravy, and that’s the one method I’ve ever performed it. The fixings add to the sensation {that a} meal at (or from) Wagner’s is an important day.

Final 12 months, Cincinnati journal requested me to write down an article about southeastern Indiana fried chicken, which gave me an excuse to go to a number of the area’s different fried hen establishments. All have been price making an attempt, however I ended up agreeing with the Indiana fuel station cashier who rolled his eyes after I requested the place I ought to go—apart from Wagner’s. “Wagner’s is the fried hen place round right here,” he stated. “That’s the place I might go, each time.” To my data, it’s the one southeastern Indiana fried hen spot that also makes use of lard and forged iron, whereas others have moved on to canola oil and deep fryers. No surprise it stands out.

The primary time I ended by Wagner’s, then-owner Ginger Saccomando (who has since handed the restaurant on to her son, Dan) inspired me to stay my head within the kitchen. “Name forward subsequent time, and we’ll present you the entire course of,” she stated.

So, I did. Earlier this 12 months, I spent an hour with supervisor Patricia Caldwell and cook dinner Nolan Lecher, watching Nolan cook dinner whereas peppering the 2 Wagner’s veterans with questions on their well-known fried hen. Because it seems, I may describe the entire course of in a paragraph if I needed to. “We attempt to preserve it easy,” Nolan says. “That’s what works for us.” 

The Wagner’s Approach

The Hen

The method begins with small (roughly three-pound) birds from O’Mara Meals in Greensburg, which provides many of the space’s fried hen eating places. Small birds cook dinner extra shortly and evenly. O’Mara breaks them down into elements, together with the again items, that are utilized in some regional fried hen traditions to make extra from the fowl.

The Seasonings

First, the cooks at Wagner’s toss the hen with salt and coarse-ground black pepper. Till lately, they didn’t measure both one. After the Beard win and the ensuing surge in enterprise, they standardized the method with measuring cups—a 3D-printed scoop and what gave the impression to be the lid from some sort of plastic container, respectively. The seasoned hen can sit for as much as half-hour, however it doesn’t must. “That isn’t a brine or something,” Nolan says. “It’s simply useful to get forward of the crowds on busy days.”

Their pepper is an 18-mesh grind from a foodservice provider. You need to have the ability to discover a related product at your native grocery store. (I used McCormick’s coarse floor pepper.) Sure, I at all times, at all times freshly grind my very own pepper… besides after I’m making this fried hen, as a result of the dimensions and consistency of the grind is vital, if you would like a devoted imitation of Wagner’s.

They combine the seasoning into the hen, then add the hen to a tray of unseasoned flour and toss to coat it totally.

The Fats for Frying and the Frying Methodology

In the meantime, they warmth lard—the pure, non-hydrogenated stuff—in 14-inch cast-iron skillets that date again to the restaurant’s 1968 opening. They don’t need the lard to be scorching after they add the hen, simply totally rendered, which suggests it’s lukewarm. If you happen to’ve ever fried hen (or something) earlier than, you understand how uncommon that’s. Beginning the hen at a decrease temperature signifies that it absorbs extra oil because it cooks, making a confit impact in the course of the buildup to a high-heat fry.

They carry the hen out of the flour, shake off the surplus, crowd it into the skillets (two birds per pan), and crank up the warmth—as excessive because it goes. Because the fats heats, the hen begins to sizzle. They let the items cook dinner, nestled towards one another and largely submerged, for about half an hour, or till the bottoms begins to brown. They flip and cook dinner for an additional 15 or 20 minutes.

Lastly, they take away the hen to a rack, the place it might probably sit for as much as half an hour. (They now not end it with the splash of water included in the Times’ Wagner’s-inspired recipe. “I believe that was only for present,” Nolan says.)

The Gravy

They pour the lard by means of cheesecloth earlier than reusing it, and so they gather the “crumbs,” or drippings, from the underside of the skillet to make a gravy—sometimes only a slurry of “crumbs” and water, thickened with slightly flour, if essential. All of the seasoning in gravy comes from the crumbs.

Recreating Wagner’s Hen at House

Easy, proper? However after I tried to recreate Wagner’s hen at residence, it didn’t work. I ruined skillet after skillet of hen, first overcooking it after which undercooking it as I attempted to search out the correct mixture of time and temperature. Lastly, I needed to acknowledge that the hen in my 12-inch skillet at residence was behaving otherwise than the hen within the 14-inch skillets on the extra environment friendly restaurant-grade vary at Wagner’s, it doesn’t matter what I attempted.

After dozens of assessments, I ended up at one thing nearer to straightforward fried hen process, frying at 300-325℉ for simply 15 to twenty minutes whole. (I used a skillet in tribute to Wagner’s and generations of fried hen cooks, however you should use a big Dutch oven for the same consequence with out the splattery mess.) That isn’t precisely the way in which they do it at Wagner’s, as detailed above, however in my residence kitchen, it produced essentially the most related consequence.

I additionally changed the water within the gravy with hen inventory, standardized that recipe with a roux for a extra predictable and constant texture, and added dashes of soy sauce and apple cider vinegar for additional taste. (If you would like a plainer gravy, just like the one at Wagner’s, you’ll be able to simply strip all that out.)

In any other case, I selected custom, together with the lard, which is crucial to the golden coloration, deep, savory taste, and steadiness of juicy meat and crackling crust that separates Wagner’s from different eating places.

Embrace that animal fats—don’t you dare substitute canola!—and what looks like method an excessive amount of black pepper (till you chunk right into a drumstick), and also you’ll find yourself with one thing loads just like the fried hen that’s introduced the Occasions, the Beards, and me, repeatedly, to a small city in southeastern Indiana.

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