Sweet Tea Chicken Recipe

Directions:

1. Combine tea, lemon, sugar and salt and simmer for 5 minutes or until salt and sugar are completely dissolved.
2. Pour in ice water and cool brine completely. Submerge thighs and drumsticks in brine for 48 hours. Remove to a wire rack and allow chicken to drain.
3. Combine the 2 cups flour, cornflour, Old Bay, chili powder, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. In a medium bowl have the 1 cup flour, and in a third bowl beat the 8 eggs with the buttermilk.
4. Line up containers of flour, egg-buttermilk mixture, and flour-cornflour mix in that order. Bread the chicken in the flour, then the egg, and then the flour-cornflour mix, applying pressure to ensure even adherence. Let the chicken sit in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour before frying.
5. Pour oil into a heavy pot to a depth of at least 3 inches. Heat oil to 300°F
6. Fry chicken, submerged in oil, for 15 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer registers 170°F for dark meat, 160°F for white meat. Drain on a rack.
7. Cool to room temperature, and then place in refrigerator for at least 4 hours and no more than 24. Serve cool from a picnic basket or cold, straight from the fridge.