Southern fried chicken

[Beohthram]

Does anyone know any recipies for making your own southern fried chicken? i saw the movie 'ray' about ray charles, and i saw he made his own, and ive wanted to try it ever since!  any recipies/ websites would be great thanks.

[woofgang]

Try here for a start

http://www.recipesource.com/misc/copycat/

[Clanad]

Here's our basic recipe, used by family for years..

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

3/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper (We use mor... about 1 tbsp.)
1 (2 1/2 -to- 3-pound) broiler-frier, cut up
1 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
Combine buttermilk, salt, and pepper; stir well. Place chicken pieces in mixture, cover and let stand 20 minutes, turning once. Remove chicken.
Dredge chicken in flour,(add some pepper here too) coating well. Cook in hot oil (350 degrees) until browned, turning to brown both sides. Reduce heat to 275 degrees; cover and cook 25 mins. Uncover and cook an additional 5 mins. Drain on paper towels..

A couple of caveats...

We place flour in a gallon sized ziptop baggie adding a few pieces at a time.  Then one can just shake the bag to get an even coating. Next, use only a well seasoned large black cast iorn skillet.  If you absolutely don't have one, use the heaviest skillet you have for even heat distribution.  Be sure to use about 2 inches of a good cooking oil for the frying. Add a few pieces of chicken at a time so the oil doesn't cool too much. We use peanut oil.  A little secret that all good southern cooks use is to fry about two or three strips of a good, thick sliced hickory smoked bacon in the skillet and then add your cooking oil. (Remove the bacon)  It gives a really nice extra flavor.

Additionally, learn how to make gravy out of the drippings after frying the chicken.  Southern fried chicken is nothing without the gravy to go over the mashed potatoes...  Enjoy...