My family comes from the midwest. Farm folk. I mean like bale the hay and chase the cows farm folk. Food in the midwest is quite different than traditional southern fare. Veggies arent flavored with "fat back". W
e eat aspargus and creamed spinach and avadacos.Mac and cheese is a MAIN dish, tea is (GASP) served without sugar or more commonly HOT.We eat foods like goulash and stoganoff and every casserole known to man. If you can mix some frozen mixed veggies and a can of cream of mushroom soup? We'll call it dinner! We have thick hearty stews and we eat oatmeal and cream of wheat for breakfast.
Add in my Alaskan upbringing and I crave seafood almost constantly. I grew up eating salmon and halibut so fresh you had to pull the lure out of its mouth to cook it.Ive eaten Alaskan King Crab on the beach in Homer. Ive picked wild blueberries and salmonberries and yes. Ive eaten Muktuk. (Its whale blubber.. its not pleasant really. Much like a fishy tasting rubberband that expands in your mouth as you chew it.)Alaskan Ice cream is seal oil whipped until creamy and then berries mixed in. Its not Ben and Jerry, but I can say that Ive eaten it. I say all this to explain that I am not a southern cook. I have mastered a few key dishes like the local chicken bog and can make a pretty passable homemade mac and cheese. I cannot however make grits. My collard greens are bitter. I tried red velvet cake, and it was a total disaster. I am trying REALLY hard to learn to make good biscuits.. but so far? not so much.
Mostly Steven has learned to deal. You marry a yankee? You eat yankee food. He gets it. But the one thing he misses more often than not is fried chicken.
Fried chicken in the midwest is different than southern fried chicken. Its rolled in seasoned flour and pan fried in about 1 inch of grease until nearly done. Then all the chicken is placed back in the pan and covered with a lid and steamed. Its not crisp. Its very good and is rarely dry. But its not crispy. Its just not the same.
I have watched my Father's sisters make fried chicken (his family is from right here in Dillon..) but I havent gotten it right yet. I cant get the batter to stay on, and I end up with nekkid chicken and floaters in the grease. I either get it too hot and burn the outside while the inside is bloddy, or I over cook it and it requires you eat pieces of white bread along with it to keep you from choking on it.
Whats a yankee girl to do?
She watches Food Network!The other day Thing One and I were watching Food Network (heh heh.. I got her hooked too!) and saw Paula Dean make this awesome looking fried chicken. It looked so great and crispy that I wanted to try making it.
MAN is it good. My kids are already asking when I'll make it again.And my little southern gentleman husband? He was SO happy. He keept looking at me and asking where I bought the chicken from.. or had his Mama been here today. YAY for me. Yay for Southern food.. (and YAY for Paula Dean!)I adjusted the recipe to add seasoned salt and garlic salt.. but Im sure she wont mind! Dont let the hot sauce scare you. The heat cooks out of it and it isnt spicy at ALL. The baby even liked it.
REAL southern FRIED CHICKEN.
1 chicken cut into pieces
1/2 bottle of Texas Pete Hot Sauce (the big one.. about 1 1/2 cups REALLLY!)
4 cups of all purpose flour
6 eggs beaten
salt and pepper
seasoned salt
garlic salt
about a quart of peanut oil
Cut up your chicken into pieces. ( I buy it from the store all butchered up and I added an additional pack of drumsticks)Rinse it. Its probably not neccesry anymore.. but it yucks me out to think of feeding my famiy chicken blood.
In a large bowl season chicken with salts and pepper. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.
In another large bowl beat 6 eggs and add hot sauce. mix well and cover the chicken in it.
Heat oil to approx 375 degrees. ( USE A THERMOMETER. it totally helps)in a big pot. It needs to be deep enough to completely immerse the chicken.
Make sure the chicken is thouroghly with egg and then with flour.Really cover it. squeeze it a little to make sure that every nook and cranny is covered with flour. Shake it off a little before you put it into the oil.
Fry chicken for about 16 minutes. It will float when done.
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3 comments:
I love fried chicken, too. My mom makes the best and I haven't been able to master her's. But I did try cooking it in a big pot with the themometer and it makes a difference. She is able to cook it in a frying pan with the lid on!
I just now learned how to make good grits. You have to stir them the WHOLE time they are cooking. I use the five minute grits and I put milk or cream into them instead of using all water like the box calls for. Also put the salt in the water before you put the grits in because you will never get the grits salty enough if you don't. Also I put one-fourth stick butter in them while they cook. It's really fattening but they are so good. But I do stir them with a whisk the entire time so that they are smooth.
I have never heard of chicken bog but I did she the recipe on your site and I'm going to have to try that.
Grits are the best when Country Crock butter and Velveeta Cheese are added. LOVE IT!!! And how come you didn't bring me a piece of the above mentioned chicken. You know I'm always ready to taste-test and willing to give my opinion, LOL.
P.S. Are you sure this is a Paula Dean recipe. I did NOT see a stick of butter listed as an ingredient in this recipe. You know she uses a STICK-UH-BUTTER in EVERYTHING!
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