Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Method

1. Whisk 2 tablespoons of the salt and the hot sauce into the buttermilk until the salt dissolves. Submerge the chicken, cover, and refrigerate at least 8 hours and up to 24. The salt brines the meat and the buttermilk's acid tenderizes the surface — this is the difference between juicy and merely cooked.
2. Whisk the flour, cornstarch, remaining tablespoon of salt, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper and cayenne in a wide, shallow dish. The cornstarch keeps the crust crisp instead of bready.
3. Drizzle 4 tablespoons of the brine into the flour and rub it through with your fingers until the mixture is pebbly with small clumps. Those clumps become the craggy bits.
4. Lift a piece of chicken from the brine, let it drip for 3 seconds, and press it firmly into the flour, packing the coating on from every angle. Set it on a wire rack. Coat everything, then rest 20 minutes until the flour looks pasted and damp rather than dusty — dry coating slides off in the oil.
5. Pour oil 2 inches deep into a heavy Dutch oven and heat to 350°F over medium-high, tracking it with a clip-on thermometer. Frying without a thermometer is guesswork you will taste.
6. Lower in 3 or 4 pieces skin side down, never crowding. The oil will drop to about 300°F; adjust the burner to hold 300 to 325°F for the whole fry. Below that the crust absorbs oil; above it the crust burns before the thigh bone is done.
7. Fry 8 to 10 minutes per side, turning once with tongs. Dark meat needs 165°F at the bone, breasts 160°F — check with an instant-read at the thickest point, avoiding the bone itself.
8. Drain on a wire rack set over a sheet pan, never on paper towels, and salt lightly the instant it comes out of the oil. A rack keeps air circulating under the crust; paper traps steam and softens it.
9. Let the oil return to 350°F between batches and skim out loose crumbs, which burn and turn the next batch bitter. Rest the chicken 10 minutes before serving.