Rinse the chicken in cold water and dry with paper towel. Add the salt, flour, black pepper, and cayenne pepper into a large, bowl and mix together well. Place a few of chicken pieces into the flour mixture and coat the chicken. Then shake off the excess flour mixture. Put the buttermilk into a second bowl and dip the flour coated chicken pieces into the buttermilk. Then coat again with the flour mixture. Use either a heavy bottomed (preferably cast iron) pan or a deep fat fryer to heat your oil. Heat about 3-4 inches of vegetable oil over a medium heat until the temperature reaches 360F on your deep fat fryer or your fat frying thermometer.
Carefully place the chicken into the oil (preferably using tongs and adding the pieces slowly, to ensure the temperature does not drop). Fry only 2 or 3 pieces at a time so that overcrowding does not occur and this will keep the temperature high enough. If you do not have a thermometer or deep fat fryer, heat the oil until a piece of bread turns golden brown within the space of about 1 minute. It is important for the oil not to be too hot or the coating will burn and the inside will be uncooked. It is just as important not to have the oil below temperature as the coating will become soggy. Fry the chicken until golden brown (approx 10-18mins depending on the size of your pieces), turning once during cooking. Check your chicken is cooked through by piercing the meat with a skewer and the the juices should run clear. Please ensure your chicken is thoroughly cooked through. Drain the chicken on paper towel and a wire rack. The cooked chicken can be kept warm in an oven on a low setting while you wait for the remaining batches to be cooked.
