Buttermilk Brilliance: The Ingredient That Changed Chicago Chicken Forever
Before 1949, fried chicken in Chicago was good. It was satisfying, hearty, and familiar. But it was not transcendent. There existed a ceiling—a point beyond which crispiness surrendered to greasiness, beyond which moisture escaped despite the best intentions of fry cooks across the city. That ceiling held firm until a modest trailer at 80th and Harlem in Bridgeview introduced an...