Hannah Taylor—AKA LilyLouTay.com—Shares Her Take On The Southern Classic Fried Chicken

Cut chicken into 2 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 drumsticks, and 2 wings. To large bowl, add buttermilk, then shake in a good amount of Tabasco (about 2 Tbs.) and sprinkle in a palmful each of garlic salt, onion powder, sweet paprika, all-purpose seasoning and black pepper, plus a couple pinches of cayenne pepper and mix it up. Taste and adjust seasonings. Add eggs and whisk until smooth. Add chicken to bowl, cover, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 24 hours.

Over medium-high, heat 12-inch cast-iron skillet with 1 inch of oil, until oil is 350°F. (If you don’t have a thermometer, a pinch of flour should sizzle immediately.) Put wire rack on baking sheet. Heat oven to 350°F. To shallow bowl, add flour, cornstarch and baking powder, and then sprinkle in a palmful each of garlic salt, onion powder, sweet paprika, all-purpose seasoning and pepper and a couple pinches of cayenne pepper. Mix well. When oil is ready, get chicken from fridge. Starting with biggest pieces, lift them out of bowl and let extra buttermilk drip off. Then, coat pieces in flour. Now, dip back into buttermilk, and back again into flour, making sure each piece is coated. In batches, place pieces in oil but don’t crowd them. Adjust stove to keep oil at 300°F while you’re frying, so chicken can cook nice and even.

Cook until each piece is golden, 10–15 min. total, then move to rack. If chicken isn’t cooked through, put baking sheet in oven and bake until chicken is done. Meanwhile, continue to fry chicken and finish any pieces in oven as needed. Let chicken cool 5–10 min., then sprinkle with flaky sea salt.