Fried Chicken adapted from French Laundry chef

Ingredients:

1. One 2 1/2 to 3 pound chicken

For Dredging and Frying:

1. Canola oil for deep- frying

2. 1 cup buttermilk

3. Salt and ground black pepper

Coating:

1. 3 cups all purpose flour

2. 1/8 cup garlic powder

3. 1/8 cup onion powder

4. 2 teaspoon paprika

5. 2 teaspoon cayenne

6. 2 teaspoon salt

7. 1 teaspoon ground pepper

Preparation:

1. Cut the chicken into 10 pieces: 2 legs, 2 thighs, 4 breast quarters, 2 wings. Pat dry with paper towels and let rest at room temperature.
2. If you have 2 large pots (about 6 inches deep) and a lot of oil, you can cook the dark and white meat at the same time. If not, cook dark meat first, then turn up the heat and cook the white meat.
3. Fill up pot with 2 inches of oil and heat to 340 F. The oil should not be more than 1/3 of the way up the sides of the pot.
4. Combine all the coating ingredients in a large bowl.
5. Pour buttermilk into a separate bowl and season with salt and pepper.
6. Just before frying, dip the chicken pieces into the bowl of coating, turning to coat and patting off excess; dip them into buttermilk; then dip into the bowl of coating again. Transfer to plate.

7. Carefully lower the chicken pieces into the hot oil. Fry for 2 minutes, then carefully move the chicken pieces around in the oil and continue to fry thighs and breasts for 11 to 12 minutes, wings for 7 minutes, until the chicken is a deep golden brown, cooked through and very crisp.

8. Place on cooling rack skin-side up and let rest while frying the remaining chicken.
9. Place chicken in 400 F oven to re-heat and continue cooking for 10 minutes if not cooked through.