Celebrating Georgia’s Big Chicken

Sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite. Most of us are familiar with this strange way of tucking our children into bed at night. Just where did this come from?

As it turns out, the phrase started in Georgia. Once upon a time, ropes were used to keep bed frames together. Due to less-than-ideal mattress conditions and the materials available to ordinary people, bed bugs were a common occurrence. While there’s no record of who first uttered the phrase in the late 1800s, most agree it began in Georgia and quickly caught on.

While Georgia may have been one of the original 13 colonies, its settlement was not intended to expand a British presence in the New World. Georgia was meant to serve as a penal colony. Debtors in the New World were sent to Georgia to work off their debts. It functioned as an early type of work-release program. That also might explain why Georgia was against slavery. Slave labor would have undermined penal labor.

Formed over 300 million years ago, Georgia’s Stone Mountain in entirely made of granite. It is the largest solid mass of exposed granite in the world. The mountain is only a part of this massive granite deposit. It also continues underground for 9 miles. Carved into the face of Stone Mountain is the largest Confederate Monument in the country. Surprisingly, the Monument was completed not during the Civil War or shortly thereafter, but in 1972, and there have been demands to remove it ever since.

Granite from Stone Mountain has been shipped across the country and around the world. They from the steps on the east wing of the U.S. Capitol; the locks of the Panama Canal, and the Arlington Memorial Bridge. Dozens of blocks have been used to form courthouses and post offices all across America. The idea what some call the defacing this massive piece of granite began in 1916 with a group of women who wanted their husbands, killed in the Civil War, to never be forgotten. The original concept underwent various changes before finally being completed. While many are offended by its existence, and with valid reason, it remains the largest high relief sculpture in the world. The figures of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Andrew Jackson stretch across three acres. Just how to get rid of something this massive has yet to be decided. Perhaps it never should have been created in the first place.

Speaking of massive creations, in the town of Mariette, Georgia, at the intersection of Cobb Parkway and Roswell Road there stands a towering 56-foot tall steel side structure of a rooster. Known as “The Big Chicken”, this stylized bird is complete with a moving beak and eyes. Originally built in 1963 to call attention to Johnny Reb’s Chick-Cluck-N-Shake Drive-in Restaurant. Johnny Reb’s featured “Dixie Fried Chicken” that was sold by the sack, the box or the barrel. You were invited to eat in your car or take it home. It wasn’t long before the Big Chicken became a landmark and a point of direction. Locals knew phrases like “turn left at the big chicken” or “just one mile south of the big chicken” because everyone around knew just where the big chicken was. In 1993, after years of deterioration, the famous landmark was in danger of being torn down. When news of these plans reached the public, the outcry was so great that KFC agreed to rebuild the entire structure, returning it to its former glory.

And it is with that in mind that I give you a recipe once served at KFC. Well, sort of. You could get fried chicken and biscuits and packets of honey. Once upon a time you could even get a pickled Jalapeno Pepper. I always ordered the once piece breast with a biscuit and a pepper on the side. Then I made a sandwich out of it, with the jalapeno right on top. Yum!

Happy Georgia Day! Make this day, and every day count. Learn something new. Make a new friend. Smile and brighten a stranger’s day. We are all loved and blessed.

Spicy Fried Chicken Biscuits
8 Southern-Style Biscuits
2 boneless Chicken Breasts
1/3 cup Franks Red Hot Sauce
1/3 cup Water
1 Egg
1 cup Flour
2-1/2 teaspoons Salt
4 teaspoons Cayenne Pepper
1 teaspoon Black Pepper
1 teaspoon Onion Powder
½ teaspoon Hot Smoked Paprika
Pinch Garlic Powder
Vegetable Oil for Frying
2 Jalapeno Peppers
Honey for drizzle

Heat oven to 375-degrees. Arrange frozen Southern-Style Biscuits on a baking sheet, sides touching. Bake in the heated over for about 23 minutes or until golden brown, light and fluffy. Keep warm until ready to serve.

While the oven heats and the biscuits bake, cut chicken breasts in half lengthwise to create four thinner breasts. Cut each breast in half again widthwise to create 8 pieces of chicken. Set aside.

In a pie pan, whisk together the hot sauce, water and egg. Set aside. In another pie pan, combine flour, salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper, onion powder, paprika and garlic powder.

Coat each piece of chicken in flour, then in the hot sauce mixture, then in the flour again. Lay chicken pieces out on a wire rack and let rest for 10 minutes for the coating to adhere to the meat.

While the chicken rests, fill a large skillet with about a half an inch of oil. Heat oil over medium-high heat. Place half of the chicken into the hot oil. Immediately turn heat down to medium. Fry chicken pieces for about 3 minutes. Turn and fry another 3 minutes. Place chicken on a wire rack to drain, hold in a warm oven with the biscuits. Fry remaining chicken.

When ready to assemble, stem jalapeno peppers. Slice into rounds and set aside. Split biscuits, top with spicy fried chicken, a few slices of Jalapenos and a drizzle of honey. Serve and enjoy.

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Open our hearts, O Lord
To heed Your Holy words