First, I hafta confess my sins. I've never really fried chicken.
There, I've said it. Oh, I took a half hearted stab at it back when I
was a pup. But, it was so pitiful it has intimidated me ever since.
Add the fact that I've never really been a rabid fried chicken fan,
and you have life-long calculated indifference.

So anyway, I did the big fried chicken thing this weekend and tonight.
The whole nine yards. Cut up a whole fryer, marinated in buttermilk,
fried in my big ol' No. 10 Wagner, yada yada. Actually, I'm pretty
pleased with how it came out, taste-wise, and that's what really
counts. Also, it's very moist and tender. BUT!! ...it's just not
pretty! It's not post-the-pic material. I see other folk's picnic
chicken and recall how my godmother's killer chicken looked. In
comparison, mine looks horrible.

Here's pics of the recipe I pretty much followed to the letter.

http://www.elise.com/recipes/archive...ed_chicken.php

As I said, it tastes great. But, mine is not that picture perfect
chicken you see on the drain rack and serving plate on that website.
Let's put it this way. If the chicken in the pictures is Beyoncé
Knowles, my chicken is CCH Pounder. And here is where I want some
honesty. How does one really cook fried chicken to cook it hot enough
so it's not greasy, long enough that it's done, yet just enough so it
looks appealing? Cuz I'm telling you right now, there's no way in
Hell the recipe on that website produced the chicken in those
pictures. Cooking chicken in oil @ 350 deg F for 12-15 mins *per
side* is gonna get you some damn dark chicken. Sure, I know
commercial cooking pics are mostly bogus, but I've seen real
in-the-wild fried chicken that's both pretty and good tasting at the
same time. So! ...what's the skinny? How did you and/or granny
really do it?

nb