Buttermilk Fried Chicken

  Another thing that I enjoyed growing up was fried chicken.  Fried chicken is just basic food in the South! Everyone eats it, or most everyone, and everyone cooks it slightly different. One of the variations that was popular growing up was to fry chicken that had been soaked in buttermilk overnight. I don't know what it does, but something about soaking the chicken pieces overnight just adds a zing to fried chicken! Everyone adds slightly different spices to the mix, and you can experiment and add different ones, too. This is just the barebones basic recipe that I cook, when I decide to cook the recipe. Most use just this basic recipe, and it tastes just fine! If you wanted, you could even coat the fried pieces with some homemade barbeque sauce, afterwards, for an added zing to barbeque fried chicken.  This is my favorite way to eat fried chicken, and the buttermilk just holds the juices inside, and it makes your mouth water from the first bite!  If you've never tried this recipe, give it a try, and see why so many people in the south cook their chicken this way!  :-)

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

1 whole chicken fryer, cut into pieces
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups Crisco oil, or vegetable oil~ or enough to fill a couple of inches in the frying pan
½ teaspoon black pepper
3 cups all purpose flour
buttermilk ~ enough to cover pieces in a large bowl, to soak

Cut up one large, whole chicken fryer, separating breasts, wings, thighs, etc.  Salt and
pepper chicken pieces to taste, and place in a large bowl.

Pour buttermilk over chicken, in a large bowl, until all pieces are covered.  Cover bowl
with plastic wrap. Let soak for a minimum of 2 hours in the refrigerator, but will taste
better if you let pieces soak overnight and cook later the next day.
 
Add the salt, pepper and flour to a big bag. Shake buttermilk coated chicken pieces in
bag until pieces are coated with flour mixture.

Add the shortening or vegetable oil to a skillet and heat it. When the shortening is very
hot, and a dash of flour bubbles in the grease, put the coated chicken in the skillet and
lower the heat to medium, cooking several pieces at a time.

Let it cook for about 15 minutes or so, until it is golden brown on one side. Turn the chicken over and let the other side cook until golden brown.

Turn the heat down to low, cover the pan and cook for 10 more minutes or until the chicken is cooked through with no pink in the center.  After trying this recipe, you may find that one making of the chicken isn't enough, and you have to cook more next time!

(Serves 4 people)