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Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken Copycat Recipes

Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken is the Memphis institution tracing to the Bonner family's chicken business in Mason, Tennessee, started by Napoleon 'Na' Bonner and his wife Maggie. After they died in the early 1980s, their son Vernon 'Gus' Bonner reopened it in 1984 under the Gus's name — 'Gus' was Vernon's nickname. The signature is heat-in-the-brine fried chicken: whole chicken pieces soaked overnight in spiced buttermilk, then shallow-fried in cast iron until the crust shatters. The chain began franchising in 2001, and the Downtown Memphis Front Street location is the one that put Gus's on the national map, with waits routinely exceeding an hour on weekends.

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