Chicken can be boiled, roasted, fried, baked, barbecued--there seems to be no shortage to the ways that chicken can be cooked and no shortage of people who will eat it however it is prepared. Southern fried chicken, though, seems to be a popular and quick way to turn a simple chicken into an afternoon repast, whether as part of a picnic or a sit-down dinner.
Instructions
1. Rinse the pieces of cut-up chicken in running water and pat them dry with paper towels. This will help make the "dunk-and-dredge" process a little bit easier, because the chicken will be absorbing the buttermilk and spices from the dunk, and not the water from the rinse.
2. Mix the buttermilk, water and red pepper sauce in a large bowl to make a buttermilk marinade. Turn the chicken over to coat both sides and then soak the chicken pieces in the marinade at least over night. You can refrigerate the chicken in this marinade for up to 24 hours; the longer the better, because the buttermilk will make the chicken tender.
3. Put the flour in a big dinner plate or a platter. Mix the salt, pepper, paprika and cayenne into the flour with a fork. Take the marinated chicken pieces out of the refrigerator and give them one last dunk in the marinade as you take them out.
4. Dredge the chicken in the flour, one piece at a time, until all the pieces are coated with the spiced flour.
5. Dunk the chicken in the buttermilk marinade bath again--just a dunk--and then dredge them in the seasoned flour again. Let the chicken sit in the flour until the flour dries on them. The buttermilk is going to keep absorbing the spiced flour, and the coating will fry up a nice crispy crust.
6. Heat 1 inch of oil in a large electric skillet to 350 degrees F. Add the cut-up chicken pieces in one layer, skin side down, without crowding; watch the fat around the chicken (as long as it is bubbling, the temperature of the oil is fine).
7. Fry one side for 5 minutes, then turn all the chicken over and fry the other side 5 minutes. Keep frying and turning, every 5 minutes, for a total of 15 minutes. When 15 minutes have passed and the chicken is golden brown, take the chicken out of the frying pan and drain them on a plate or platter covered with folded paper towels.
Tags: chicken pieces, buttermilk marinade, chicken flour, chicken over, cut-up chicken, paper towels, plate platter