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When we last left the post about Beck's fried chicken, our mouths were watering. At least mine was, so nothing would do but to fry up some chicken this weekend using Beck's "recipe." Let me first say that I cannot and do not fry chicken or much of anything, not because of some notion of "eating healthy" but because I've never had the confidence to do so and because I didn't really need to know how to fry chicken since I was surrounded by a family of women who could fry it and fry it well. Later, out of desperation, my husband "stepped up to the plate" and became the designated chicken fryer of our family. His fried chicken drummies are much in demand during tailgating season as well as the rest of the year. So there's my up front confession.
How did the chicken turn out? For a first time attempt, not too bad actually. The chicken was really salty so next time I'll know to decrease the amount of salt used, but not by too much. If you like salty food, then you probably would have loved this chicken. The first few pieces fried up too dark, I guess due to the heat of the oil being a bit too high. But otherwise, I'm pleased. If you are trying to identify the various pieces of chicken, below, you'll be confused. I did NOT buy a whole chicken to cut up, but the pre-cut whole chicken that I bought had two, monster-sized chicken breasts so I cut those in half. Added to the fry batch were some chicken tenders to stretch the meal.
How did the chicken compare to Beck's? It really didn't, close though, and maybe I can work on that.
Below, the chicken frying in the pan. You can tell I probably got the oil a little too hot at times.
In addition to the fried chicken, we had butter beans, creamed corn, turnip greens, slaw, cornbread and pear salad - a true Southern meal. The complete meal is pictured below for the three children of mine that missed it. Sorry. In a nod to Itawamba County connections, the creamed corn was served in a bowl that belonged to Ma Davis (Queenie Victoria Clayton Davis) while the turnips rest quietly in a bowl that belonged to my grandmother, Pearl Cofield Robinson.
My husband is the cornbread baker in the family too. Am I lucky or what? Below is the cornbread that he prepared for our meal, and he probably won't be pleased to see that I made a picture of it and posted it here. He misjudged the time, and when he first dumped out the pan of bread it wasn't done yet. So it went back into the pan and back into the oven for a few more minutes. It still tasted great!
9 comments:
Mona, I've been "keeping house n cooking" longer than you are old! I've learned to never ever turn a skillet of cornbread or a cake out before I stick the center with a "round toothpick". If that toothpick isn't "slick as a whistle", back into the oven it goes for a little more time before testing again.
Seeing your bowl of butter beans, reminds me of my first attempt of cooking dried limas/butterbeans! I put them to soak, and didn't realize I would see these "shriveled and splitting things", so I threw them out! Now I never soak; instead I do quick cook on any beans or peas by bringing the pot of legumes to boil for about 3 minutes, add the lid, turn the heat off and let them set for an hour and they cook in no time.
Personally, I like that darker brown chicken because it has a more crunchy bite! Looks like you "done good"! Congratulations on that first try - move over Mike and share the skillet! bettye
Well "na-na na-na boo boo" to the other three children and their "significant others"! rebekah
That looks so yummy and Rebekah assured me that it was. Please don't let this get back to my family as I'm not up to a chicken fryin' day right now.
Mona, that's a southern sideboard of tasty looking food if I ever have seen one. And it looks like you used the traditional "black-iron skillet" too! Reading your blog is a daily ritual like reading the morning paper. Keep up the great work!
No more pizza when Im at your house. You have raised the bar on my expectations.
I have to say, guys, that cooking like that is hard work. I can't imagine doing it over a wood stove and washing up dishes in a sink that you had to carry your water in and then heat it up. Seems like you would just get finished cooking and cleaning up after one meal when it time to start another.
Mona, your mention of cooking on a wood stove was a chore; however, I remember my grandmother Kate Robinson Stone and also my mother, Mae Dyer Stone cooking on the wood stove and mother made all my dresses, and they had large vegetable gardens that permitted them to can enough vegetables (that's a lot of canning) and fruits to last all winter - none of this "store bought" stuff that we sweat what we will find in those cans!
We must not forget the backbreaking "wash day" before REA when it was done on a rub board and all that hanging on a line! plus ALL that ironing. How lucky we are!! No, those most definitely were not "the good old days", were they? At least we have air conditioning in the summer time when we are doing some of these similar chores!
We can understand why they say, "A woman's work is never done."
looking at that home cookin makes me miss the REAL south!
Cortney, you come visit us anytime and we'll fill you up with real Southern cookin. Door's open!
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