Popcorn Chicken

FRIED CHICKENIS a labor of love for me, and it always feels like a special occasion when I make it and eat it. But does it have to be so? What about a more casual fried chicken, one you can eat while lounging on the couch watching a movie or a ballgame?

Enter popcorn chicken, those craggy, crispy, bite-size morsels of fried chicken goodness. The appeal is partly in its crunch and delicious flavor, sure, but also in the sheer fun and immediacy of eating it pretty much hot out of the fryer, when it’s at its absolute crunchiest.

But the fun was dampened as I cooked