My mom never took the skin off. Nor did she use buttermilk. She simply washed the cutup chicken, rolled (or shook it in bag) in flour with salt, pepper and paprika. Then she fried it in iron skillet with Crisco shortening. Meanwhile she boiled the potatoes for mashing. She poured off the water and saved it to make gravy with milk and leftover crispies from chicken pan. We ate the gravy with the potatoes and chicken, fresh vegetables and salad. Delicious.