Or to quote a song 'Free your mind, and the rest will follow.' Yeah!! Be that leader!!! Close your mind and close the door on life, I say. It takes all races, creeds and sexualities to make this world go 'round. I am very human rights focused and very open minded. My own dad is a wonderful person, a fantastic woodworker and generous man whom I adore. I am a school secretary, very happily married to a firefighter who is the love of my life! I am the fortunate soul of an outstanding mother in law, who I consider my 'mom', and for a step-dad in law that is an absolute riot and always makes me laugh. Cooking is a passion and I am having fun! ) The three main marinade components are buttermilk, egg, and cornstarch-the buttermilk aids in juicy tenderness, while the egg and cornstarch start to build the foundation for that final crispy exterior.It's a pleasure to cook for my friends and family! I love to try new recipes and I prefer eating and entertaining at home to eating at a restaurant. The marinade, which also doubles as a batter here (that’s right, it goes straight into the dredge), imparts flavor and tenderizes the meat from the inside out. This breading is built in two steps: (1) the marinade, and (2) the dredge. The key to popcorn chicken built for game day is a thin, shatteringly crisp outer coating that doesn’t overpower the chicken but that provides enough stability to be sauced. When developing my Harissa-Honey Popcorn Chicken, my goal was not only to achieve that elusive crispy-gone-just-barely-soggy bite, but also to fry up a snack that could withstand a couple hours of feasting (because, whew, football games are long).

It doesn’t even keep its crisp until halftime.

The one catch? When popcorn chicken is over-breaded, it can lose any semblance of crispiness and be straight up gloopy after only 20 minutes on a buffet. On any other day, I’m a wing girl, but on game day, give me the sauciest, glossiest, crispy popcorn chicken because the last thing I want is a plateful of bones. The right game day spread can be magical-a wonderland of queso-doused nachos, slow cookers full of party meatballs, the obligatory veggie platter, dips galore, and, the pièce de résistance of football food: popcorn chicken. Some people go to Super Bowl parties for the game (or the halftime show), but me, I go for the food.

Dredge chicken