Everyone knows fried chicken. It is a near-universal dish with interesting variations around the world. The frying itself is pretty much the same across various cultures, too ¡ª what¡¯s different are the marinades used to flavor and soften the meat, and the dry coating applied before frying.

In Japan, fried chicken, or karaage, tends to be marinated in a soy sauce base. In the American South tradition, the fowl is coated in buttermilk, a cultured milk that serves as a replacement for cream.

The recipe below gives karaage a Southern fried twist by marinating it in umami-rich buttermilk. Buttermilk is not a staple of the Japanese kitchen but ¡ª similar to my recent miso milk pantry pie recipe ¡ª?you can make something similar by culturing milk with products that contain °ì¨­Âá¾± mold such as unpasteurized miso, sh¨­yu°ì¨­Âá¾± (soy sauce mixed with °ì¨­Âá¾±), or shio°ì¨­Âá¾± (°ì¨­Âá¾± fermented in salt).?