Ingredients

• 3 lb chicken, 1 whole cut into 8 parts, or chicken parts with skin and bone
• Salt & pepper
• Seasoning of your choice or design, see step 1 below
• 1 egg
• ½ C milk
• 3 C all-purpose flour
• Vegetable oil

Instructions

Step 1

1. Season the bird 8 hours before cooking it, a few more hours won't hurt
2. Just make sure you have 2 tsp of salt and a few good cranks of black pepper. Refrigerate for 8 hours or more.
3. Heat your pan over medium heat and add oil to a depth of ½".
4. Meanwhile, beat together the egg yolk and white in a small bowl, beat in the milk and season with a healthy pinch of salt, a couple cranks of pepper, and a pinch of your spices.
5. Season the flour in a big bowl. How much? Give it a couple of pinches, dip a clean finger in, and taste it. It won't be delicious, but if you can tell the salt and seasonings are in there, you're good.
6. Pour the egg wash over the chicken
7. Stir it a bit to distribute it evenly, then quickly take out a couple of pieces and toss them in the flour so they're well- coated
8. Shake off the excess, and lay them on a platter, trying not to let them touch. Repeat until all the chicken is coated. Use tongs to move the chicken from the egg wash to the flour.

Step 2

1. Dip a piece of chicken into the pan, you want to see a sizzle.
2. Turn the heat up to high, adding the chicken skin side down, beginning with the thighs and legs.
3. Add as many pieces as will fit without touching one another, if they touch, they won't brown
4. Adjust the heat down, erring on the cool side: The bubbling should be steady and vigorous, but again not violent. A thermometer should read around 350F without touching the pan bottom.
5. After about five minutes, take a peek at the underside of the chicken
6. If it's taken on some color, flip it
7. When that side becomes that same color, flip it again. Continue doing this, cycling through the pieces, watching for particularly brown spots where the chicken touches the pan, and somewhat favoring keeping the skin side down. You might occasionally get an extra jolt of sizzling, probably from a thigh. Don't worry. At this point, stab at the center of the thigh pieces with tongs, around the bone, to let the hot oil get in there and cook it thoroughly; otherwise the breasts will finish cooking several minutes before the thighs.
8. When the chicken is the color of walnuts, after about a total of 15 minutes of cooking, it should be done