Fried chicken and waffles, Snoop Dogg's version

Cut the chicken into 10 pieces: two wings, two legs, two breasts cut crosswise and two thighs.

Boil the water in a large pot with the sugar, salt, red pepper flakes, orange peel and bay leaves, stir and cook about a minute, then take it off the heat to cool.

Cover the chicken with the cooled brine and refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours.

Remove the chicken, pat it dry and discard the brine.

Whisk the flour, cornmeal, black pepper, salt, cayenne and baking powder together in a shallow tray.

Dunk each piece in the buttermilk, lift and shake off the excess, then roll it in the dry mix, keeping one hand for wet and one for dry.

Rest the breaded chicken on a rack 20 to 30 minutes to dry.

Waffles: combine the flour, sugar, cornmeal and baking soda, then the buttermilk, vanilla, egg and melted butter, gradually adding the dry mix to the wet.

Bring the waffle iron to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and butter it if it is not nonstick; a working iron takes around three to five minutes a waffle, five to six here.

Heat the oil to around 350 degrees Fahrenheit in a Dutch oven and fry the chicken in batches, moving the pieces so they do not stick and colour evenly, keeping the oil around 350 as the temperature drops.

Rest the fried chicken 10 minutes or so.

Drumsticks took 15 minutes, breasts and thighs 10, wings eight, all to an internal 165.

Put a large pat of butter on each waffle, add the best pieces of fried chicken and pour over maple syrup.