You Will Learn Who Is The Quick and Who Is The Hungry With Mama’s Fried Chicken | Vicki James

The last couple of weeks have left me feeling pretty ragged.  The pandemic has worsened and more than 400,000 have died.  We endured weeks of post-election trauma that was wearying and disturbing regardless of which side of the political fence one is on.  I found myself craving comfort food.  I found myself craving fried chicken.  Real fried chicken, that is.  While commercial purveyors of fried chicken abound, and often serve up pretty delicious products, nothing beats the kind you can make yourself.

This out of the blue craving caught me off-guard.  I had not made fried chicken from scratch in many, many years.  I’d made plenty of oven-fried chicken recipes, air fryer chicken nuggets, cornflake crusted chicken – you name it.  But real fried chicken is messy.  Your fingers become gluey as you dredge the chicken in flour.  Grease splatters from the frying pan.  But you know what?  It’s worth it.  On  the days your soul needs the nourishment that can only come from a childhood favorite,  fried chicken hits the spot – even if Mama’s not around to make it anymore.  That’s not meant to morbid, necessarily.  Mama may be living in a condo and too busy with yoga classes to fool with cooking something you can pick up at the grocery store ready-made.

Fried chicken days were always special when I was a child.  My mother would melt a big blob of Crisco in the electric frying pan and shake the chicken pieces in a flour filled paper sack.  Then each piece would be plunged into a golden, hot,  bubbling bath until cook through and golden brown.  We sat in the kitchen and gobbled it up, with my older brother and me arguing fiercely over which pieces we wanted.  As he would say, “There are two kinds of people in the world, the quick and the hungry.”  Guess which category I belonged in.

I didn’t even know how much I wanted fried chicken until I ran across this recipe from Southern Living, entitled “Mama’s Fried Chicken”.  This recipe was a little different from my mother’s recipe because it called for the chicken to enjoy a long, cool bath of buttermilk.  I decided to try it.

Off I went to the grocery store to buy a chicken.  I was hoping to find a whole fryer already cut up. I vaguely remembered finding packages labeled “Pick of the Chick” back in the day.  I found packages of drumsticks, breasts, wings and thighs, but none that contained two of everything.  I bought a whole fryer, confident that there would be a “how to” video on line.  I was right.  This excellent video led me through the process.  I found it very helpful and you might also

The breasts were so large, I cut each of them vertically in half and deboned them.  This made the cooking faster and still provided us with sizable pieces.

I put the chicken pieces in their buttermilk bath early in the day, planning to cook them that night.  They need to soak in the buttermilk at least two hours.  As it happened, I wasn’t able to cook them that night as planned, but they stayed covered in the fridge until the next evening.  I think the long soak helped to make the chicken even more delicious.

Ingredients 

One frying chicken, cut into pieces

Salt and pepper

2 cups of buttermilk 

Self-rising flour

Paprika 

Other seasonings as desired

Oil for frying 

Preparation

Once you have soaked the chicken in buttermilk, prepare a large bowl or casserole dish with seasoned flour.  Add salt and pepper for sure, but you might also add onion powder, garlic powder, and any other spice mix you enjoy.  Dredge each piece of chicken in the flour, and place it on a rack until you have dredged all of the pieces and are ready to cook. 

Using a deep-sided frying pan with a cover, heat cooking oil to 360 degrees.  I used peanut oil because it has a high smoking point.  I have an electric frying pan, which is great for temperature control.  If you are using a regular frying pan, be sure to use a kitchen thermometer to make sure the oil is heated to the correct temperature.  If the oil is not hot enough, you will not get the crispy crust you are going for. 

Add a few pieces of chicken.  Do not crowd the pieces, because it will lower the temperature.  Cover the frying pan and cook the chicken for six minutes.  Remove the cover and cook 5 to 9 more minutes.  I cooked my chicken for about 6 minutes uncovered.  Turn the chicken, cover it and cook an additional 6 minutes.  Remove the cover and turn the chicken for a few minutes on each side until crispy and golden brown.  Remove to a paper towel lined plate.  Continue cooking the rest of the chicken in batches until finished.  As you cook the chicken pieces, check the undersides to make sure it’s not getting too dark.  If it becomes dark, flip it over and lower the heat slightly. 

My chicken was wonderful!  It was golden, crispy and juicy.  We were glad we had cut the breasts into, because that meant we had plenty left over to enjoy the next day.  To reheat the leftovers, we placed the chicken on a rack over a sheet pan and heated in in the convection oven at 325 degrees.  If you are reheating in a conventional oven, increase the heat to 350 degrees.

You will love this recipe!Even the white meat will be juicy.Serve with comfort food favorites like green beans cooked to mush, mac and cheese made with Velveeta, or deviled eggs.Feel free to make a jello mold, if you must.Enjoy a luscious nostalgic dinner that will smooth out the rough edges of whatever kind of day you’ve had. And it might be even better than Mama used to make.

Vicki James