The ingredients for fried chicken can be easily varied in quantity: just keep in mind that larger pieces will take longer to cook, so you will want to check the internal temperature with a probe thermometer in order to cook all pieces evenly.
You will need:
chicken (we used legs and thighs here, but usually we cut up a whole chicken)
enough buttermilk to marinade chicken
Lawry's seasoning salt
flour for dredging
Crisco
large frying pan or dutch oven
probe thermometer
large sheet pan
cooling rack
aluminum foil
Prep for this recipe begins a day ahead, or at the very least, the morning of the day you plan to make it, as you will want to give the chicken plenty of time in its buttermilk bath. Put the chicken pieces in a Ziploc bag and pour in enough buttermilk to coat it all. Place the baggie full of chicken in a bowl (to prevent cross-contamination in case it leaks) and refrigerate 12-24 hours.
When the chicken is done marinading, remove the pieces from the bag and shake off excess buttermilk (do not rinse). Season the chicken liberally with the Lawry's seasoning salt, then dredge in flour. Shake off excess flour. Set the flour-coated chicken aside.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Fill your frying pan with enough Crisco to go 1/3 of an inch up the side of the pan. Put your probe thermometer in the pan and turn up the heat enough to bring the oil to 375 degrees. This is a good time to put a sheet of foil on your sheet pan, then put the cooling rack on top of the foil. (You'll use this to finish the chicken in the oven: the cooling rack will keep the chicken from sitting in its own grease on the pan.
When the oil has reached 375 degrees, add the chicken pieces. If you are cooking a lot of chicken, do it in batches -- you can pack the pan fairly closely, as you want the pan full enough that the oil goes more than halfway up the sides of the pieces, but does not completely submerge them. When you add the chicken, the oil will drop in temperature; adjust the heat and try to maintain a temperature of 350 degrees while the chicken is frying. You may want to place the larger pieces in the middle, as the middle of the pan tends to be the hottest. Flip each piece over when it is deeply browned on the bottom, about 10 minutes depending on the exact temperature of your oil and the size of your chicken pieces. When the pieces are dark brown on both sides, remove them from the hot oil and use the probe thermometer to check the internal temperature: each piece should be 162 degrees at the thickest part (it will coast to the safe temperature 165 degrees, as it rests). If the chicken has not reached that temperature, put it on the cooling rack on the sheet pan, and finish cooking it in the oven.
Serve with mashed potatoes, collard greens, biscuits, cornbread, potato salad, waffles...but no one will really care what the sides are, because homemade fried chicken tends to steal the spotlight!
