Wicked crispy/herby fried chicken

                    Fried Chicken, Biscuits, Turnip Greens, Sweet Chili Sauce


There are only a few things created on this planet that will satisfy every soul equally.  One of those things is fried chicken.  If you're a vegan, you know that at least the smell of fried chicken is enough to awaken the senses.  Now, fried chicken's accessibility to the palates of Americans has been only increasing over the years by chains like KFC, Popeye's, and local places that have a few shops across any given city. Some places can do it right, others cannot.  As you might have noticed by now, I can't stand fast food.

Put aside ethical reasons and their demand for cheap, questionably raised/processed meat products, the taste just isn't that good. Even as a obese teenager (maybe I'll post about that at a later date) I disliked the taste of KFC chicken.  I think their seven secret spice mixture is all off, whatever it is. 

I took it upon myself to just use some basic fried chicken know-how and come up with a solid recipe.  Not reinventing the wheel or anything, just doing it right. 

First, the brine.  Putting meat into brines is a great way to increase juiciness and salt level.  The way a brine works is through osmosis.  A salt solution surrounds the meat and works its way in, carrying along moisture with it.  It can increase the weight of the meat by more than 10% in the form of water, which should be flavored with spices and herbs.  So, why not do this more often?  Yeah, it is more work, but for a special occasion like fried chicken, do the extra work will ya?

As for tenderness and tang, go for buttermilk.  You can skip this step if you dislike it, which will result in a tasty product anyway.  However, it just works, so try it.

Flavor the dredge, so add spices/herbs and salt to the flour. Even though the chicken is brined, the crust needs to be seasoned too.  Double dredging will increase crustiness, which is what makes fried chicken so alluring, duh.

I used plenty of herbs throughout, which increase in flavor after frying.  The use of cardamon too is an interesting attribute that plays off the herbs.

The recipe is in the "recipe" section.  I think you guys will like it. Get to it dudes and feel free to share your success.