Fried Chicken

The trick to great fried chicken in my humble opinion is an overnight bath in buttermilk.   Cut up a chicken or buy chicken pieces and soak over night in buttermilk.  I season my chicken with some cayenne pepper & salt and then place in a large resealable plastic bag.  Place the bag in a large bowl and then fill the bag with buttermilk.    I usually go for a full 24 hours but you can also do this in the morning.  Give it at least 8 hours to soak.
 
Drain the chicken and then get ready to add a nice and crispy outer jacket.  Coating the chicken is a bit of a process.  You want to set up an assembly line so that their is no cross contamination.  No one wants to get sick now do they?

The assembly line:  drained chicken, spice rub, wet works, dry mix, wire rack, frying pan, draining rack.

Spice Blend:  hot paprika, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper.  Wet Works: 1 cup buttermilk and 2 eggs whisked together.  Dry Mix:  2 cups of flour in a resealable plastic bag.

Take a piece of drained chicken and rub with spice mix and then give it a bath in the wet works.  After it has a short bath drop it in the bag filled with flour.  You can place about 4 pieces of chicken in the bag at at time.  Shake the bag and then place the heavily coated chicken on the wire rack.

Fry the chicken in about 1 inch of melted Crisco or vegetable oil for 10 minutes on each side.  Drain on another wire rack set on top of a cookie sheet with some paper towels or brown paper bag to soak up the oil.