A Fried Chicken Sunday

Today is the fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Times. Every Sunday is special. In the secular world this Sunday is awesome. This year National Fried Chicken Day (July 6) happens to fall on a Sunday.

Did your family have a Sunday tradition? Lots of folks in America, especially in Southern or Okie parts of the country, it was a Sunday Chicken Dinner. Chickens were inexpensive, so you could feed a large family cheaply. And there were folks that had chickens in their yard not only for the eggs, but for Sunday supper.

My favorite restaurant fried chicken growing up was Kentucky Fried Chicken. Unfortunately, something has happened to KFC over the years. The pieces are smaller, dryer and just not as good. It’s nearly impossible to recreate the original KFC because most of us do not have a modified pressure-cooker fryer. That was something Colonel Sanders came up with. He was an interesting character.

I’m not going to tell you this is anything like the Colonel’s fried chicken. But it is good, made with 11 herbs and spices. It’s fried, then baked. And while it may appear a bit burnt, it’s really not. That’s the paprika in the flour. Hubby said this was one of the best fried chickens I’ve ever served. You can bet in all the years we’ve been married, I’ve fried a few chickens. The original recipe called for a fryer to be cut into 8 pieces, with the breasts split into 4 and the wings saved for soup or something else. Over the years when it comes to fried chicken, Hubby has converted me from a white meat eater to a dark meat eater. Again, that is due in part to progress. Growing up, dark meat had a strong, gamey taste. White meat was milder in flavor. These days the dark meat isn’t as strong and the white meat has no taste at all. Which is why breasts are great in a sauce, but not so great all on their own.

If you do use a whole fryer, you’ll need to cook the dark meat, beginning with the thighs, about 10 minutes longer than the breasts. Breast meat, when fried, tends to dry out.

KFC Style Chicken I
4 Chicken Quarters
1 cup Milk
1 tablespoon White Vinegar
2 Eggs, beaten
1 cup Flour
1/2 tablespoons Kosher Salt
1/2 tablespoons Dried Thyme
1/2 tablespoons Dried Basil
1 tablespoon Celery Salt
1/2 tablespoons Dried Oregano
1 tablespoon Black Pepper
1 tablespoon Dried Mustard
2 tablespoons Paprika
2 tablespoons Garlic Salt
2 teaspoons Ground Ginger
2 tablespoons White Pepper
Oil or Lard for frying

Separate legs from thighs at the joint. Place chicken in a gallon size re-sealable bag. Set inside a casserole dish to catch any drippings as the chicken marinates.

Pour milk into a 2-cup glass measuring cup. Add white vinegar to the milk. Beat in 2 eggs. Pour the milk mixture into the bag over the chicken. Squeeze out as much air as possible, make sure the chicken is submerged. Refrigerate for 6 to 8 hours.

When ready to begin cooking, heat oven to 400-degrees. Place a wire rack inside a rimmed baking sheet and heat in the oven. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator card milk mixture.

In a pie tin mix flour with all the spices. Set aside. In a deep skillet, Dutch Oven or deep fryer heat oil to 350-degrees.

Beginning with the thighs, coat chicken in the seasoned flour, place in the oil to fry. Cook thighs for 4 minutes per side. Coat legs, add to the skillet. Continue to fry the chicken, turning as needed to prevent burning, for 15 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the oil, place on the wire rack in the oven. Bake chicken about 15 minutes longer, or until cooked through.

For a real down-home experience serve chicken with sweet corn on the cob and warm biscuits

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Shout joyfully to God, all the earth,
sing praise to the glory of His name;
proclaim His glorious praise.
Say to God, “How tremendous are Your deeds!”