Paula Deen's Southern Fried Chicken

By Addie

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 About 1 cup hot red pepper sauce (recommended: Texas Pete)
• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• House seasoning, recipe follows
• 1 (1 to 2 1/2-pound) chicken, cut into pieces
• Oil, for frying, preferably peanut oil

Preparation

Step 1

In a medium size bowl, beat the eggs with the water. Add enough hot sauce so the egg mixture is bright orange. Add the chicken pieces and refrigerate overnight if possible - however, four hours will do fine.

Next day, in another bowl, combine the flour and pepper. Remove the chicken from the hot sauce marinade.

Season the chicken with the house seasoning. Dip the seasoned chicken in the egg, and then coat well in the flour mixture.
Place on rack and let sit for 30 minutes to "set" the coating.

Heat the oil to 360 degrees F in a deep pot. Do not fill the pot more than 1/2 full with oil.

Fry the chicken in the oil until brown and crisp. Dark meat takes longer then white meat. It should take dark meat about 13 to 14 minutes, white meat around 8 to 10 minutes.
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PAULA'S HOUSE SEASONING

1 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder

Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.