Cooking Lesson

Raven LOVES to be in the kitchen, especially with Papa Hurston.

This particular evening the plan was to have Meme's Fried Chicken (Yum!) - so I started prep the necessary items when I was informed by Raven that I could not do anything that had to do with the Fried Chicken. That in fact, Meme's Fried Chicken is Raven & Papa's job - only.
OK. No Problem. So I made Tender Pepper biscuits to go with the comfort food deluxe dinner at hand.
Papa took to teaching Raven the finer points of flouring, milk-bathing, dipping and frying the chicken. The following is what I picked up while Papa coached Raven.

Meme's Fried Chicken:

Ingredients ~

1 chicken with about 6 legs (or 1 whole chicken and a package of legs is a more probable find)

Vegetable oil to cover fryer pan about 3/4"
2 cups or so milk

2 cups of AP flour
with fork, stir in the following spices:
Kosher salt & ground black pepper to taste and a hand full of "special spices" that Papa finds in the spice rack. While eavesdropping, I think I heard poultry seasoning, cumin, paprika, garlic salt or powder and a little of this and little of that (we'll have to see if we can get those from Raven or Papa)

Directions ~

dredge chicken pieces lightly in flour

dip in milk

back into flour for a good dredge

into hot oil
- now, here's a good tip: strain and keep some of your frying oil from one cooking session to the next. It's best to put it into a Mason jar and keep in the fridge. Mark it as suchor someone kindly cleaning out your fridge may toss it. Also, if cooling it in a mug, please inform anyone else in the kitchen with you what the contents of the mug are, for they should not drink or toss out. (speaking from personal experience on this one. I didn't drink, but did toss one batch ONCE at Meme & Papa's house)

Frying time ~

Do not go messing with the chicken while it is cooking. Let it fry in about 1 inch or less of vegetable oil until you see the sides start to turn golden brown, turn once and allow to cook uncovered until other side is brown. This should take about 20 to 25 minutes.

Serving ~

Make your gravy after draining off most of the grease. (somewhere in there the veg oil turned into grease)
Serve with mashed potatoes & green veggie of choice (we prefer broccoli or green beans) and biscuits.

Mind you that this meal is only to be consumed upon occasion that you are prepared to work it off. There is no lack of caloric intake here :) but it sure is Yummy!

Freezable "Chicken Nuggets"

Like most kids, mine like "chicken nuggets". I really do not like to fry food, but even less like buying fast food for my kids. So, I have come up compromise: spend a few hours cutting battering and frying lean chicken breast in pure vegetable oil, then cooling, freezing and packing in a resealable plastic bag. This makes for super quick and easy lunches or dinners for the kids during busy times. They call it "Chinese Chicken", but it is really just a simple seasoned batter with 2 tablespoons of corn starch to give it the special crisp. They reheat beautifully too!

I usually do 6 to 8lbs at a time and like to fry it in my dutch oven.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

• 8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 1/4 cups self-rising flour (I use All Purpose and add about 1 tsp baking powder & 1 tsp baking soda)
  
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper (use about 5 turns of fresh ground black pepper)
• garlic salt or garlic powder - about 1 tsp
• ground cumin - about 1 tsp OR ground ginger is going Asian with them
• paprika - Spanish or smoked - whatever works - about 1 tps
  
• 1 egg
• 2 cups water
• Mix all of the batter ingredients together,
  
• i usually do 1 to 2 chicken breasts at a time, cubed & coated w/ batter.
• fry in veg oil until golden brown.
  
• drain & cool on a wire rack on a covered cookie sheet,
  
• then freeze on the rack on the sheet before moving to a zip top freezer bag for storage
• reheat in 400 degree over for about 10 minutes