Recipe: Cooks Illustrated’s Easier Fried Chicken
Total Time: 2 hrs
Review: We first found this recipe when Zak and I started dating in college. It was the first time we used buttermilk in anything, and I thought it was ingenious that you put the spices in with the marinade. The acid in the buttermilk helps to tenderize the chicken, while the spices start to add flavor. It turned out so perfectly, and was so delicious, that all of us (Zak, me, my housemates) were all in thrall of how we could make this. We didn’t have to go to Kentucky Fried Chicken and order behind bullet-proof glass, we could buy all the ingredients and control the whole thing ourselves. Looking back, this probably helped to propel us on the journey of “what else can we make??” and pushed us to look at everything we make and evaluate how it’s made and whether we could make it.
This recipe holds up. Every time we make it, it is comfort food to the extreme and creates many happy memories.