Here It Is...

When making fried chicken, you have to start soaking it in the buttermilk at least overnight. The best batch I ever made was one I just couldn't get to and wound up making it after it soaked in the buttermilk for 48 plus hours. I usually stick to 24 hours.
I buy cut up organic fryers or, if I have to, a whole fryer and cut it up myself. The larger, yellow skinned chickens do not work as well nor do they taste as good as the thin, transparent skinned smaller chickens. In this area we blessed with a very good producer of chickens; Allen's out of Delaware.
If you have to cut up your own chicken, start by removing the back bone, but do not cut off the "oyster". This is the best part of any poultry and is found in a pocket on the back bone where the thigh bone joins it. You have to cut up and around the base of the thigh bone. Take a look as to where the breast rib bones join into the back bone and you can usually see where to cut cleanly through. When removing the wings and thigh bones, cut through the skin until you hit the bone and then "pop" or break the join apart with your two hands. You can then slice through the connective tissue easily and not cut any bone. For the breast, "pop" the bone by spreading the two breast halves flat. It will also be very easy to cut out. I then cut each breast section in half at a 45 degree angle not a 90 degree angle. This is basically
along the lines of the rib bone underneath. Do not remove the bones as they add flavor and prevent the breast from drying too much.
1. Put he pieces in a large bowl and sprinkle with the juice of 1/2 lemon.(I sometimes will add a package of wings to fry as well because there are never enough wings!)
2. Toss and sprinkle very lightly with salt.
3. Completely cover with about 1/2 quart or more of buttermilk and toss to coat well.
4. I now put the chicken pieces and buttermilk into gallon ziplock freezer bags and squeeze out all remaining air. Put them on a plate or in a bowl (in case they leak) and refrigerate to soak at least overnight.
Pre heat the oven to 325 before you start the chicken.
5. Take a large bowl and add about two cups of all purpose flour. Dump the chicken pieces and buttermilk out of the bag into a separate bowl. Making sure they are "sloppy with buttermilk", put half of the chicken pieces into the flour and gently throw more flour over the top to cover them. Let them sit for about 10 minutes or so and then toss them around. Put these to the side and do the same with the remaining pieces of chicken adding more flour if you need it. Put all of the chicken back into the flour bowl and do one last tossing adding flour if needed.
Now the trick is to let the buttermilk soak up as much flour as possible. By tossing it, the flour becomes moist . You will have a thicker, crumbly texture to the coating. You have the chicken coated so it's more like a very light, moist but not wet batter as opposed to being just dusted with flour.
6. Take a CAST IRON pan. No other pan will do. No nonsticks, not stainless steel. No enameled cast iron. No copper. Nothing but cast iron. You can find them at Wall mart.
You can buy one and use it right away as the best way to season a cast iron pan is to make fried chicken. If you want to start seasoning it before, smear it with some oil. Sprinkle with salt and heat it on a burner until it starts to look dry. smear with more oil and rub the salt in. You can keep doing this over the course of a few days, a month, and years. Do not use soap on it ever. If it gets something on it that won't brush off or dry off, rinse while it is still very hot with running water and smear with oil when dry.
Fill it with peanut oil (not corn oil, veg. oil or any other oil) until it is one third full.
7. Heat the oil on a medium heat until it is 350 degrees. If you don't have a thermometer, take a few bigger pieces of left over buttermilk flour dregs and put it in the pan. If they sizzle with ambition and a sense of purpose, the oil is hot enough. Don't let it smoke of course and don't go anywhere while frying chicken!
It's easy to let it get too hot and it is dangerous to walk away.
8. Place in the chicken pieces so there is some space around each one. Don't pack them in. Give them room to fry. Here is something you have to watch and gauge for yourself. I fry them med. slow (each side should take 12 mins. plus)you should never have to have your temp. above med. heat. On most med. low is good. when you first put some new chicken in, you might have to bump up the flame a little. I have never fried chicken without adjusting the flame at times and moving the pieces around as you will find your pan will have spots that are hotter than other spots.
I use TONGUES to handle and turn my chicken. No forks. The chicken will fall off the fork and burn you as it splashes oil all over the stove. If you do this, you will find that your fried chicken attains the aristocratic "mahogany brown coloring" sought by many and attained by few in the cooking of fried chicken. Part of this coloring comes from blood bleeding out of the bone marrow into the chicken coating which is why a slower fry is needed.
9. When a piece is done and still HOT, I place it on a terry kitchen towel and press down with another towel on top to blot excess oil out. I place it in a dish in the oven to keep it warm and as the rest of the chicken finishes frying. I sprinkle it with a seasoning of lemon pepper and dried rosemary processed in a food processor until finely ground.
Note: If you have a lot of chicken to make, you can use two pans at once