Sweet Tea Chicken

I'm from the South. Plain and simple, I love all Southern food. When I came across this recipe, I had to put it in my files because it just sounded Southern. I will admit, I haven't tried it yet because I just came across it not too long ago, but it is on the docket for the next time I have an important dinner guest. This was the introduction on the site (and I can't remember which one it was) where I found this. "John Fleer is a thinking man's chef, a onetime doctoral candidate in religion who chucked it all for a career in the kitchen. One of the best ideas to spring from his mind is this brined chicken, which manages to pay tribute to the traditional South of days past and the multicultural South still on the horizon."

• Ready In: 49 hrs
• Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 8  chicken leg quarters, cut into thighs and drumsticks
• 1  quart  brewed tea, double strength
• 1  lemon, quartered
• 1  cup sugar
• 1⁄2 cup kosher salt
• 1  quart  ice water
• 2  cups all-purpose flour
• 2  cups cornflour (or fish fry)
• 2  tablespoons  Old Bay Seasoning
• 1  tablespoon chili powder
•  salt and pepper
• 1  cup all-purpose flour
• 1  cup buttermilk
• 8  eggs
•  peanut oil

Directions

1. Combine tea, lemon, sugar and salt and simmer for 5 minutes or until salt and sugar are completely dissolved.
2. Pour in ice water and cool brine completely. Submerge thighs and drumsticks in brine for 48 hours. Remove to a wire rack and allow chicken to drain.
3. Combine the 2 cups flour, cornflour, Old Bay, chili powder, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. In a medium bowl have the 1 cup flour, and in a third bowl beat the 8 eggs with the buttermilk.
4. Line up containers of flour, egg-buttermilk mixture, and flour-cornflour mix in that order. Bread the chicken in the flour, then the egg, and then the flour-cornflour mix, applying pressure to ensure even adherence. Let the chicken sit in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour before frying.
5. Pour oil into a heavy pot to a depth of at least 3 inches. Heat oil to 300°F
6. Fry chicken, submerged in oil, for 15 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer registers 170°F for dark meat, 160°F for white meat. Drain on a rack.
7. Cool to room temperature, and then place in refrigerator for at least 4 hours and no more than 24. Serve cool from a picnic basket or cold, straight from the fridge.