Willie Mae's Fried Chicken with Red Beans and Rice

Serve when

Fry the chicken until it's a deep mahogany brown, and start the beans early — they need the whole afternoon.

In the series

Season 1

S1E5 · ~00:12:00 At Willie Mae's Scotch House in Treme, Phil eats the restaurant's famous fried chicken alongside red beans and rice

In the series

Willie Mae's Scotch House has been named one of the best fried chicken spots in the country for decades, run out of the Treme neighborhood that's also the birthplace of American jazz. Pairing the chicken with red beans and rice — traditionally a Monday wash-day dish, cooked low and slow while the laundry ran — roots the meal in the city's everyday domestic cooking as much as its restaurant scene.

Ingredients

For the chicken:
1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
2 cups buttermilk
1 tablespoon hot sauce
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne
Salt and black pepper
Vegetable oil or lard, for frying
For the red beans and rice:
1 lb dried red kidney beans, soaked overnight
1 ham hock or a few strips of bacon
1 onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
Cayenne, salt, and black pepper, to taste
Steamed white rice, to serve

Method

Marinate the chicken in buttermilk and hot sauce for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
For the beans, sweat the onion, bell pepper, and celery, then add the garlic, drained beans, ham hock, bay leaves, and enough water to cover generously. Boil hard for the first 10 minutes — dried kidney beans need that initial boil to be safe to eat — then simmer, partially covered, for 2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally and mashing some of the beans against the pot to thicken the liquid.
Season the beans with cayenne, salt, and pepper once they're tender, and keep warm.
Mix the flour with paprika, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Dredge the marinated chicken pieces, shaking off the excess.
Fry in oil or lard at 325 F, turning occasionally, until deeply browned and cooked through — 165 F on an instant-read thermometer at the thickest point — about 15 to 18 minutes for larger pieces.
Serve the chicken alongside a generous scoop of red beans and rice.

Substitutions

Ham hock: Smoked turkey leg or a few strips of thick bacon both give the beans a similar smoky backbone if ham hock isn't available.
Lard: Frying in lard gives the closest flavor to the classic Southern method; vegetable oil is a fine, more accessible substitute.