Chef John Fleer, Inn At Blackberry Farm in Tennessee
Recipe Introduction
This makes for very moist, very good fried chicken. You don’t taste the tea, so I don’t know that using the tea instead of plain water does anything for the texture or flavor, but it was so good that I wouldn’t change it for anything! I did substitute Splenda for the sugar, however.
List of Ingredients
1 lemon
1 qt. very strong tea
1 c. sugar
½ c. kosher salt
Recipe
Zest, then quarter the lemon. Put the lemon zest and quarters in a saucepan. Add the tea, sugar and salt. Simmer the mixture over medium-high heat until the salt and sugar dissolve. Add 1 qt. of ice water and the chicken. Brine the chicken in the refrigerator for 48 hours. Drain the chicken and blot dry.
NOTE: This is plenty of brine for one of those ‘Pick of the Chix’ packages. When I make fried chicken, I soak it in buttermilk for an additional 12 – 24 hours after draining the brine.