Lemon Chicken Pieces

Submitted by Tuck Burnette

"Even though this chicken is best to marinate overnight, it is possible to do it from three to six hours at room temperature. There is no chance of any spoilage occurring because of the lemons acidic content."

 

• Ready In: 25hrs
• Ingredients: 14
• Yields: 1 5-6 pound chicken
• Serves: 4-6

ingredients

• 1 whole chicken (5-6 pounds)
• 2 cups strained fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• pepper, if desired
• Wondra Flour
• 1⁄2 cup lard or 1/2 cup oil
• toothpick (optional)
• salt and pepper
• 2 lemons, zest from
• 4 -5 tablespoons brown sugar or 4 -5 tablespoons demerara sugar
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced, seeded
• 5 tablespoons water or 5 tablespoons low sodium broth
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract
• chopped parsley, for serving

directions

1. Wash the chicken well. Cut the chicken into 8 serving pieces, keeping the back and giblets for broth.
2. Put the lemon juice into a large non-reactive bowl or container with the salt, stir to dissolve. Add the chicken, skin side down, and move to coveur each piece as well as possible. Cover and chill overnight, or up to 24 hours. Remove from the refrigerator two or three hours before cooking. Drain and discard the juice. Spread flour on a plate. Heat a large skillet or sauté pan with lard or oil. Heat oven to 325 degrees.
3. Secure the cut skin of the chicken in a few spots with toothpicks, if desired (recommended for breasts). Dredge breasts in flour and cook quickly till brown on the skin side, flip and cook only about 1 minute more, just to coat with the oil.
4. Dredge remaining pieces in flour and cook crisp, briefly on both sides.
5. Transfer all pieces to a 13x9 dish, it is okay if the dark pieces overlap one another a little.
6. Sprinkle well with salt and several grinds of black pepper.
7. Cover with the zest and the sugar, lay over the lemon slices. Combine the liquid and extract, pour into the bottom of the dish. Put into the middle level of the preheated 325 oven and bake for approximately an hour and ten minutes The breasts should reach an internal temperature of 150-155 degrees, because of the marinade, the meat will be done a little prematurely, it will be very tender. A turkey baster may be used, if desired, but it is not strictly essential.
8. Transfer the chicken pieces to a platter, and serve at once, spoon over the delicious juices.