This weekend we went to see Carrie in a cemetery and of course had to pack picnic food so of course had to bring fried chicken. The next recipe in my fried chicken journey was an adobo and vinegar marinated chicken a la Guatemalan chicken chain Pollo Campero.

Since we were bringing my friend Jonathan along, too, I skipped ahead to also make some good, traditional, southern fried chicken.

The Deacon's Southern Fried Chicken (brine, toss in flour, salt, pepper, and thyme) could have been better. I think it would have been better if I had let the floured chicken sit a bit before tossing it straight into the hot lard. I think that pre-fry resting is a key to a really crisp crust. Jeff gave it a 10 out of 10, and I gave it a 7.

The Vinegar and Adobo Marinated Chicken (soak in cider vinegar and adobo, toss in 1/2 corn flour, 1/2 flour, and salt and pepper, rest, fry) was very different. The tang of the vinegariness really grew on me, but the fried skin crackled and shattered when you picked it up. Jeff gave it "slightly less than the other one," and I gave it a 7.5.

To accompany the chicken I made a salad with what I had on hand (homegrown tomatoes, feta cheese, lemon juice, olive oil, mint and basil) and some pita crisps. The salad was delicious but also totally reminded me of my sophomore year of college when all I ate was sundried tomato/basil feta cheese on saltines. I was skinny, but also malnourished.