Jolly Fried

Happy foodie Friday my friends!
I know today's post is late, but I promise it's Totally worth the wait. I'm a southern girl, and nothing says southern like homemade fried chicken. I spent the last few years doing research and perfecting my chicken expertise. I will warn you now, if I've created a recipe, I'm not one to measure. I will do my best to give you an estimated amount, but when I cook I get lost in a world of food and love, and math just doesn't belong there. So hold on to your belt buckles kids, get ready to lie to yourself about the calories and prepare your mouth for this awesomeness. To start I advise if this is your first time making fried chicken you go with just wings or drum sticks. They are easier to control and cook faster than some of the other parts of the chicken.
Ingredients:
3-4 pounds chicken legs
1 egg
2 cups of milk
hot sauce
3 cups of flour
onion powder
garlic powder
salt/pepper
smoked/Hungary paprika
dried thyme
oil for frying

In a large bowl add the milk, eggs, and about 4 dashes of your favorite hot sauce, and a few dashes of salt and pepper. Mix till everything is well incorporated. Place clean dry chicken in the milk
mixture. In a separate large bowl add the flour and a table spoon of the remaining dry ingredients. And two tablespoons of salt and pepper. Mix well.
Heat oil in frying pan. You want the temperature to get to 300 degrees. A great way to test this is to sprinkle a bit of the flour mixture in the oil, if it floats it's ready!
Here comes the fun! You may have to work in batches depending on pan size. I can usually get about 5 drumsticks in at a time. Take the chicken from the milk mixture, coat it in the flour mixture, shake off excess, then dip it back into the milk mixture. Return it back to the flour mixture one last time and then you're ready for frying.
Some tips on frying:
I give each side at least 4 minutes of cooking time, it also helps with cooking time if you place a lid on while frying. Just be careful when removing the lid, because if you remember nothing else from science class it's that oil and water don't mix.
After 7-8 minutes of cook time you should have some nice golden fried chicken. Remove from oil and place on a baking rack. This allows the chicken to drian but still remain crispy. Sprinkle with salt. Continue in batches till all chicken is cooked.
In our house we go full southern and cook up mashed potatoes and sweet corn to round out our meal. This is definitely a meal that takes a lot of love and time, but it's so worth it to see my boys smile.
Summers alomst here, and this is an amazing recipe for a picnic. Until next time!