Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Fried Chicken

1 frying chicken (Remove skin if you want low-fat, I prefer to leave the skin on)
3 teaspoons Salt
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup vegetable oil (Preferably Wesson)

1. If you have purchased the chicken as a whole bird, you must dis-assemble the parts! So it's best to purchase poultry for frying already dis-assembled! Trust me, chicken is not clean straight from the butcher....and I would strictly advise to do the following, whether you fry, bake, roast or boil:
Wash the chicken until it's squeaky clean and allow it to soak in a salt solution for about 1/2 hour. Call it my "Kosher-Connection" but I find that this adds to the flavor of the chicken and it also serves as further purification. After soaking, rinse well with cold water to remove the salt residue.
2. Heat skillet with approximately 1 1/2 inches of oil enough to cover sides of chicken pieces. and allow the oil to become very hot. You can lower during the cooking process, as this locks in the moisture and flavor!!
3. Season chicken with salt and optional pepper.
4. Roll chicken in flour until covered. Shake off the excess flour.
4. Simply fry chicken in the "Black Skillet" on medium heat until it's a rich golden brown, turning frequently. Preferably, I like it crispy, so I let it cook longer!
5. Remove chicken to paper towel to drain excess oil.

To convert recipe to Smothered Chicken, is quite simple and it's a delicious twist as well as a shortcut to creating Southern Chicken Gravy!

Smothered Chicken

Remove (Pour-off) oil from hot skillet and replace oil with hot water covering chicken. Place cover over skillet and let simmer slowly until gravy thickens. This is a great dish to serve as an Open-Face sandwich using Kaiser Rolls with a side order of Mashed Potatoes! Save the gravy when the chicken is gone, Gravy Sandwiches are great snacks for Saturday Football Games!

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