Fairy Bell's Fried Chicken

Every self respecting Southern lady must have the perfect recipe for fried chicken and I claim this one. I found it in the cookbook named Square Table, A Collection of Recipes from Oxford, Mississippi. The cooking time includes marinating in a brine overnight.

• Ready In: 24 hrs 30 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1  chicken, cut up
•  salt
• 2  eggs
• 1  cup buttermilk
• 2  cups flour
•  salt and pepper
•  vegetable oil

Directions

1. Rinse chicken and place in a large baking dish or ziploc bag.
2. Cover with water and sprinkle with salt.(approx. 1 TBS per 3 lbs of chicken).
3. Refrigerate overnight.
4. Drain, rinse, and pat dry.
5. In a shallow bowl, beat eggs with buttermilk.
6. In a separate shallow bowl, combine flour with salt and pepper to taste. (Here is where I either add just salt and lots of pepper, or I use Emeril's Creole Seasonings, from this site).
7. Drain chicken pieces and dredge in egg mixture, then flour mixture.
8. In a heavy large skillet over high heat, pour enough oil to cover chicken.
9. Heat until flour sprinkled in the pan causes grease to splatter.
10. Turn heat to medium.
11. Add chicken, and fry chicken, uncovered, until brown on one side, 5-8 minutes.
12. Turn chicken to brown on the other side. Larger pieces will take longer.
13. Remove and drain on paper towels.