A Day in the Life of Fried Chicken

As I was chowing down on a piece of it yesterday I tried to recall just when I fell in love with that chicken.

Walk with me for a minute down memory lane[cue harp and fog machine].

Let's go back to the eighties when we packed up Granny & PawPaw’s Oldsmobile and headed to Disney World for the first time. Granny’s fried chicken was breakfast, lunch and dinner for that road trip. 

Keep walking with me to the nineties.  I’m rushing to get out the door for middle school and Granny has me wait a minute or two so I can grab a piece of chicken and a biscuit before I go.

[Cue fog machine] Well, that was a worthless trip, because I still can’t recall when I fell in love with Granny's chicken. All that matters is that I am. 

I’ve tried to make on my own before. I thought I knew how to do it, but I never would have guessed all that went into recreating Granny’s fried chicken (and I’m not just talking about the ingredients).  Click here for a printable version of the recipe.

Here’s what she used (She also usesLawry’s Seasoning Salt and Garlic Powder):

Yep, that really is Spaghetti mix… who knew? (Granny wasn’t keen on sharing her secrets with everyone so don't tell her about this post.)

When the chicken first comes out of the package it should be given a cool shower (since this is a family blog I have omitted pictures of the shower scene).

The chicken then undergoes a little cosmetic surgery, having excess skin removed as well as removing some healthy muscle tissue. ( Granny split 4 chicken breast in half to make 8 pieces)

After surgery the chicken gets dressed a in coat of flour accessorized with a few spices.

Granny filled her cast iron skillet chicken tanning bed with about 1/2" of oil and heated on high.  While it was heating she dressed the chicken in her mixture of:

½ c. self-rising flour

1 tbsp.  spaghetti mix

1 tsp. Italian Salad Dressing Seasoning Mix

½ tsp. black pepper

¼ tsp. paprika

¼ tsp. red pepper

¼ tsp. garlic powder

I learned you can put a pinch of the flour mixture in the skillet to check that the oil is hot enough.  

When the pinch of flour sizzles and fries the oil is ready and you can carefully add in the chicken. The flour mixture was just enough to coat the 8 pieces.

Once the chicken is in the skillet tanning bed. Granny sprinkled each piece generously with Lawry's Seasoning Salt. She then reduced the heat to medium and covered.  After about 10-15 minutes Granny had me check the edges of the chicken to see if they were browning.  When we discovered they were, we flipped the chicken over so the other side could begin to brown.

We sprinkled seasoning salt on that side and covered again.  10 minutes later we flipped the chicken one more time just to make it pretty! (I guess that's why...)

Now that's the color we want (think Snooki's tan). 

Granny mentioned the seasoning salt helping the chicken to brown, so that could have something to do with it getting flipped and covered again. See isn't that pretty?
In the meantime, Granny reads the paper and I wait with mouth watering....

Finally Granny says "Well, it sounds like it's ready!" Although I'm really ready to eat it now, I can't help but ask "Sounds like?"  Granny explains to me it's something I'll learn from experience, but I just have to listen to the sound of the frying. ... I'm working on it!

 

Well, now it looks like it's time to eat! ...

But not yet!

The chicken spends a few minutes in this pan lined with paper towels so some of the oil is absorbed, while Granny pours the remaining oil out of the skillet.  She then puts all the chicken back in the skillet and covers it (no heat).  Apparently the chicken is so exhausted from it's busy day that it now has to get some rest.

Who has ever heard that chicken resting before you eat it? Something about the flavors mingling and mixing, yada yada yada...

When the chicken had finally gotten its rest, it showcased its new look to its platemates, crinkle cut fries and toast.  (I was trying to recreate a Zaxby’s meal, but the Zax Sauce recipe I was so excited to find on Pinterest didn’t even taste remotely similar to the real stuff). 

There is no picture because I was so excited to eat that I couldn’t pause for 3 seconds to pick up my camera. And I'm aware of just what that says about me... and I don't care!

For a printable version of Granny's Fried Chicken click here.

 Instead, here is a picture of my mom’s plate who opted to have molasses with her chicken. 

I tried her chicken and molasses to see if it was something I could grow to love.  I’ll just say that when it comes to Granny’s fried chicken, I don’t need molasses, ketchup, barbeque sauce, fries, or toast just the chicken is good enough.