We're going to start with some wonderful posts from Celebrating Appalachia. Tipper and her daughters and husband at the Blind Pig & The Acorn just keeps knocking out great videos, recipes, grannyisms, and so much on Appalachian culture and history. If you're not from the region, please listen in closely when they start talking about stereotypes and moonshine in the first video.
This post ends with a reading of What Do You Do With An Idea? by Kobi Yamada and a recipe for fried chicken. The book is for children, but I heard a sermon last week that mentioned the book and I got curious and liked it. You can read a lot into that book, so go on and listen and be a kid or a wise adult for six minutes. And, like I say below, fried checken will make just about anyone smile if it's made right (and if you're not a chicken).
Get yourself one whole chicken and cut it how you like it cut. You want to have manageable pieces that will look like something folks want to eat and that pile nicely on a plate. Do this in a clean place with clean knives and a clean cutting board. Really. Put aside three or four beaten eggs and at least 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil.
For your coating use at least two cups of flour, at least four teaspoons of paprika (I like more), a bit of salt, pepper to taste, some chicken broth powder, at least one teaspoon of oregano, and some tarragon if you have it. Figure to use at least one teaspoon of each of these. Use one-half teaspoons of garlic powder, onion powder, and whatever other powered flavorings you like and have sitting around. I like Vegeta. Some people grind up red pepper and add that.
Mix in the flour with all of the coating seasonings. Sift it, grind it, do whatever you have to in order to get a good coating that will be fine with a little crunch to it. Put this in a bag that you have not used for some other purpose or that you have cleaned well and let fully dry. We used to use paper bags, but that can get messy.
Paint the chicken with the egg. You can use one of those food brushes. Dipping it or dropping it in doesn't work for me, but it might work for you..
Drop the chicken pieces in the bag and shake them up and keep shaking. You might have to do each piece individually. You want each piece totally coated.
Now, I use much more oil than what it says above, but you have to put the oil that you do use in a heavy skillet and get it hot but not popping out of the skillet. You can get a screen for doing this that will help. Watch yourself and wear an apron. Brown those chicken pieces slowly and carefully so that they're really starting to cook through. Turn on your kitchen fan if you have one or open your windows. Watch for the chicken to brown, but if it's getting crisp then you're going along too fast. Cover your skillet and keep it going until you have crisp and fully cooked chicken. It won't look or smell like KFC, but you will have something pretty good with some practice.
Most people don't want greasy chicken, so when you're done put the pieces on some paper towels on a plate and let them set just a bit. You may want to stick them in the oven for a couple of minutes on high heat. But I don't mind greasy fried chicken at all, especially with mashed potatoes and collards and chow-chow or red beans and rice and onion on the side, so please call me up when you're serving.
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