I love all fried chicken. What is there not to love? It’s like a perfect food.

This version is deep fried and tossed in a a sticky, spicy butter baste.

The point of the brine/ milk marinade is to build flavor into the meat before adding a spicy butter baste, so if you just took the chicken out of the milk brine and grilled it, it would still be delicious without a sauce.

The more flavor you build on top of one another, the more delicious.

Enjoy !

DAY 1 - BRINE [OPTIONAL]

4 boneless chicken thighs with skin (skin is fat and fat is delicious)
Plenty of salt
Salt the chicken thighs, top and bottom, side to side, really well
Leave it in the fridge uncovered overnight

DAY 2 - MILK BATH INGREDIENTS

150 g butter milk or 150 g milk + 10 g vinegar
60 g pickle juice / Big splash
60 g hot sauce / A good amount of hot sauce. Louisiana/ Frank’s/ Crystal are all really good. I prefer vinegarry hot sauces
1 egg
Rest in the fridge for 2 hours up to 24 hours/ overnight

FLOUR DREDGE

300 g flour

HOT SAUCE BATH

60 g chili powder (Use less if you want it less spicy)
10 g paprika is like a big pinch
30 g garlic powder (or just about half of the chili powder)
small scoop of honey or brown sugar
Splash of hot sauce
100 g butter or you can just use the fry oil
Bring to a low heat so everything is mixed and melted

LET’S DEEP FRY SOME CHICKEN

First off, I usually start off with brining the chicken the night before. This is super extra and totally optional, but I find it adds more tenderness and more flavor.

By brining, I just mean salting the meat.

I salt the chicken, top and bottom really well until the next day, leaving it uncovered in the fridge.

The next day, start a few hours before you want to eat by soaking the chicken in the spicy, pickly milk bath.

Heat up a few inches of vegetable oil in a dutch oven. 350*F or hot enough that when you put in a dry chopstick, it starts to bubble up immediately around the chopstick.

Take 1 piece of chicken out of the milk bath and coat it well with flour. We’re gonna double dip, so dip the floury chicken thigh in the milk again. And lastly, dredge it through the flour again. Make sure you get the flour in all the nooks and crannies of the chicken. And now we drop it carefully into the hot fry oil.

I fried 2 pieces at a time.

Fry each chicken thigh for 6-8 minutes, turning the chicken in the oil often. Internal temp of 165*F.

Take them out and let them rest on a wire rack or some paper towels. They’re gonna be very hot and very crispy.

Now, after all 4 pieces, or however many you’re making, are done. You have all this hot fry oil. To make the hot sauce bath, you can heat up some butter on the stove and add the chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, or you can mix all the dry ingredients in a heat-proof bowl and pour in about a cup of that hot fry oil. I also add a hefty splash of hot sauce to our hot sauce bath.

Now take each of the thick chicken thighs, our thickens, and toss them in the hot sauce bath.

Serve them on a slice of white bread or brioche in my case cus I had some in the fridge, with pickles and a side of vinegarry slaw.

You just made fried chicken!