After years of being beaten by fried chicken, I saw a video of Anthony Bourdain going to Willie Mae's Scotch House in NOLA. Seeing that they battered fried their chicken I searched for 'Batter Fried Chicken; and found this recipe. It appears to originally come from Cooks Illustrated. IMHO, THIS is the way to do it. I keep a container of the premixed dry ingredients on hand so I just need to add water.
After a simple brine, the batter is made and the brined chicken is dipped into it and fried. You just need one bowl - none of this messy assembly line of flour -- egg -- flour/breading.
But if you'd like to go even more crispy - after battering, dredge in some crushed Corn Flakes.
I'm very pleased with the results (Note: I double the salt in the batter recipe). But am now experimenting with the brine to include vinegar or pickle juice.
[Edit to Add] Also, if you don't add the Corn Flake variation, the batter is very kind to your oil. There is virtually no flour dispersion to wind up burning and fouling your oil.
