Southern fried chicken

Before you start

• the buttermilk marinade wants at least 4 hours and is better overnight
• oil for deep frying, and a pan deep enough to keep it a third full
• a thermometer, or a cube of bread and some patience

Ingredients

Serves 2 · dimmer marks are storecupboard

• 550gchicken thighs — bone in, skin on — drumsticks work too
• 300mlbuttermilk
• 150gplain flour
• 4 tbspoil for frying
• 2 tbsppaprika, garlic powder and cayenne
• 1 tspblack peppercorns
• to tastesalt

Method

6 steps

1. soak · 8 hours walk away

   Chicken in the buttermilk with a tablespoon of salt and half the spice, covered, in the fridge. Four hours does something; overnight does more.

2. fold · 5m

   Flour, the rest of the spice and a good deal of salt in a wide bowl, with four tablespoons of the marinade rubbed through it to make ragged flakes. Those flakes are the craggy bits everyone reaches for.

3. finish · 12m

   Each piece lifted straight from the buttermilk, pressed hard into the flour, and left on a rack for ten minutes so the coating turns from powdery to tacky and stops falling off in the pan.

4. fry · 8m

   Oil into a deep pan, never more than a third full, and brought to 170°C. Never move a pan while there is hot oil in it, and keep a lid within reach.

5. fry · 30m

   Two or three pieces at a time, turned once, until deep golden brown. Thighs take about fifteen minutes; the oil drops when they go in and wants a minute to climb back before the next batch.

6. rest · 6m

   Onto a rack, not paper, so the underside stays crisp. Cut into the thickest piece at the bone before serving: the meat must be white through with clear juices and no pink at all near the bone.