I have made this numerous times for my family, and they love it. The trick to the brine is to use the coarsest salt that you can find, I like a very coarse sea salt that I get from a local Mexican grocer. This chicken is delicious, especially when served with fresh, not frozen, waffles, and greens. Classic Southern food.

Rinsing the chicken is important too. Don't forget to rinse.

I wish I had taken time to read the reviews before I made the chicken...I would have cut the salt in half. I used table salt instead of kosher salt and that may have made a difference. The chicken fried up beautifully with a lovely crunchy crust. When I bit into a piece I was really disappointed. I had planned to take some to my neighbors but decided against it. I do like the idea of brining the chicken because it did cook up nicely and I think that cutting back on the salt will help.

I have to say my mouth watered at the thought of this recipe and was so very disappointed with the results. We made this and everyone was so excited to eat it, everyone's first bite commented on how salty it was, so we brought out the BBQ sauce to 'hide" the taste. Well we should have just threw it away. All 5 of us who ate it was up all night with very upset tummys from the salt. Everyone was bloated and still upset the next morning. WILL. NEVER. MAKE. THIS. AGAIN!. Very disappointing.

Thank you all for your comments, I used less salt and add about 2 Tb of vinegar after the water was cool, left over night. The taste was irresistible to eat only one piece. My family enjoyed, this one of my favorites recipes. *- )

Sadly I read the comments after spending 2 days making the chicken (24 hours). I almost brought it to my friend's birthday party. Absolutely inedible. Did any figure this out as the project was easy and I love the look and feel (and it wasn't a mess and then it was just a "bar of salt"!

I too thought the chicken was too salty but not inedible, at least only by me. My husband and son thought it was fine. I am sensitive to salt and I have high blood pressure so it was too much salt for me. The next time I will only use 1/2 cup of salt instead of 1 cup. I did love the fact that the chicken didn't burn faster than it cooked since the chicken was brined beforehand. Brining is the way to go and I will use this technique from now on when frying, baking or broiling meats.

To answer Geralyn - Table Salt weighs out heavier than Kosher Salt so you would use half as much. With Table Salt the salt/sugar ratio will be 1:1 - Kosher Salt is 2:1 to sugar. I too think timing is the problem. Chicken parts would be 1-2 hours tops! A whole chicken is about 8 hrs. A big 20 lb. turkey overnight. Hope this helps!

To answer Geralyn - Table Salt

I'm going to try 1/2 c. Kosher salt, etc in 1 gallon of water, no heat, and chill for only 12 hours. I'll post next week. :)