Oven-Fried Chicken (Paula Deen)

This wonderful recipe is courtesy of Paula Deen, but I have tweaked it slightly buy I adding in some extra spices to the flour mixture, use kosher salt only for this --- this recipe makes a lot so make certain that you have a large rack that will fit onto a large baking sheet --- plan ahead the chicken will need to marinate overnight, cooking time is oven time.

• Ready In: 24 hrs 35 mins
• Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 2  whole chickens (3 pounds each cut into 8 pieces)
• 6  cups buttermilk (can use a little less)
• 2  cups all-purpose flour
• 1  teaspoon garlic powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon paprika
• 1  pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1  tablespoon kosher salt (use only kosher salt NOT table salt!)
• 3  teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
•  vegetable oil (for frying) or  vegetable shortening (for frying)

Directions

1. Place the chicken pieces in a large bowl; pour the buttermilk over and toss with hands to coat.
2. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
3. In a large bowl combine the flour with kosher salt and black pepper.
4. Remove the chicken out of the buttermilk and coat each piece thoroughly with the flour mixture.
5. Place the coated chicken on a large platter (make certain to have all of your chicken coated before frying).
6. Pour the oil into a large heavy-bottomed stockpot to a depth of 1-inch and heat to 360 degrees F.
7. Working in batches carefully place several pieces of chicken into the oil and fry about 3 minutes on each side until the coating is a light golden brown (it will continue to brown in the oven) do not crowd the pieces while frying.
8. Remove the chicken from the oil and place each piece on a metal baking rack on a sheet pan.
9. Allow the oil to return to 360 degrees F before frying the next batch.
10. When all the chicken is fried bake at 350 degrees F (set oven rack to lowest position) for about 30-35 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink.