You might think of fried chicken as being about as Southern as it gets, but in fact the East Africans have been frying chicken in palm oil for generations before the Europeans came to the America’s. Those African who came too this country as slaves brought the recipe with them, and it became a mainstay of Southern cooking (They also brought sweet potatoes, okra, black eyed peas, watermelon and the cola nut to the new World).
Today, fried chicken is something that is enjoyed any day of the week, but in the early days, the main use of chickens was to produce eggs.
If you are from the South, the chances are that you claim your mother makes the best fried chicken around (my mother sure did!). Even today, if you want to start an argument, just about anywhere south of the Mason Dixon Line, claim someone you know makes the best chicken, and a heated debate will soon follow.
The most important factor in making good fried chicken is finding a high-quality, free-range chicken, that had a healthy diet and a healthy environment outside of the hen house to grow up in, But that’s pretty hard to do these days (it’s odd to think that in the past, that was the norm, not the exception!).
The next question is how you are going to fry the chicken, pan fried (cover on) or deep fried. Again, it’s a good subject for foodies to discuss. I like both methods, but chicken pan fried over a low heat, with the lid on, seems to be juicer. Believe it or not, my grandmother’s recipe calls for chicken to be battered, then pan fried, with the lid on, over very low heat for an hour.
The kind of oil is also important, but most importantly, it has got to be clean. You can recycle oil by lining a colander with paper towels, place it over a large pot and add the oil. It takes a while but does a good job.
Seasoning is also a topic of much discussion. Some people are satisfied with nothing but salt and pepper, but I like to add red pepper flakes and Italian seasoning. Most cooks season the flour and/or the egg wash they use for the coating, but it doesn’t heart too season the chicken before it is battered too.
Here are a few other guidelines that I strongly suggest you abide by. Maintain the temperature of the oil at all costs, if you add too much chicken or, Lord forbid, you put still cold chicken from the fridge in the oil, the temp will drop and the chicken will absorb way too much oil. Hot oil seals the chicken and keeps it from being greasy. Lastly, don’t be afraid to be aggressive with the seasoning. Under seasoned fried chicken is not very interesting at all!
