Smokey Mountain Breakdown

To celebrate my freakishly low cholesterol and triglyceride values on my recent bloodwork, I made this for dinner tonight!

When I was growing up, we had this meal with the addition of some bothersome green thing at least once a week. Now...I make it maybe once every two or three months. This really is a food best served on a quarter annum basis if you want to maintain your freakishly low cholesterol levels.

Some of my work has been appearing on Dew on the Kudzu these days. I was really pleased to see Larry Hambey's piece, My Mother's Annual Family Reunion, with an excellent footer on how to fry a chicken. My only addendum would be, if you are using a yard chicken, to make sure you age it for a few days before frying it. I generally soak it in salt water in the bottom of my fridge for about four days. That makes it really tender. If using store bought chicken...you can leave out that part. Just remember to salt the pieces before you dredge them in flour. Self-rising flour seems to make the most satisfying crust.

I do indeed fry my chicken as Mr. Hambey describes. Just a bit of oil in the bottom and cooking on medium heat after browning with the lid on the pan. Turn often. I prefer to use an electric skillet to fry chicken. Spices are a matter of personal preference. I rely heavily on Old Bay and have been known to marinate the pieces in Tabasco sauce before dredging in flour.

For the gravy, just pour out most of the left over oil from your pan, then make a roux with some flour. Add milk and let thicken. It should be a bit lumpy from the bits of chicken left in there, but if you are picky about such things, just put it in your blender and smooth it out.

The way to make perfect rice every time without fussing with measurements is to boil the rice in water for about five minutes then drain into a colander. Fill your pot back up with water and put the colander on top of the pot. Put a lid on the colander and steam the rice until done. Works every time. No fuss.

And, of course, fried chicken is good cold the next day. My mother used to fry up a batch to take out on the boat when we went cobia fishing. Really good with pineapple sandwiches made with white bread and mayonnaise.