Oven-Fried Chicken

Ingredients

• 2 chickens (2 lbs. each), cut in eight serving pieces
• 1 quart buttermilk
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 TBS kosher salt
• 1 TBS freshly ground black pepper
• Vegetable oil or vegetable shortening

Instructions

Place the chicken pieces in a large bowl and pour the buttermilk over them. Cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight. After marinating is complete, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the flour, salt and black pepper in a large bowl. Remove chicken from the buttermilk and coat each piece thoroughly with the flour mixture. Pour the oil into a large heavy-bottomed stockpot to a depth of one inch and heat. Working in batches, carefully place several pieces of chicken in the oil and fry for about 3 minutes on each side until the coating is a light golden brown (it will continue to brown in the oven). Don’t crowd the pieces. Remove the chicken from the oil and place each piece on a metal baking rack set on a sheet pan. Continue with the next batch of chicken until you have fried all the pieces. Then, bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is no longer pink inside. Serve hot.