It's SUMMER! Time for Fried Chicken!

Memorial Day has passed, and it's officially SUMMER, for all intents and purposes.  It used to be that a staple of picnics and pitch-ins was fried chicken, and NOT from a red-and-white-striped bucket.

I pulled out my cast iron skillet and made fried chicken a couple of days ago, and it always gets the same comment from That Man - "This is better than KFC!"  I used split chicken breasts instead of the skinless boneless Chick-zilla breasts I usually buy, but darned if those split breasts, which were even from a different company, were still HUGE - 2 1/2 pounds, and only TWO breasts in the package.  I had to cut them in half with my trusty kitchen shears.

Fried chicken really ought to be made with bone-in chicken with the skin on, but you can still make it with boneless, skinless breasts or thighs.  It's up to you, of course!

I used to just buy one of the prepared fry mixes, like Drake's or Kentucky Kernel, but I always ended by doctoring them up.  This recipe for my fry mix should be enough for 5 to 6 pounds of chicken.  I used half for those two monster split breasts, and there wasn't more than a spoonful left, so I just sprinkled it over the chicken pieces once I had them in the pan.


Fried Chicken

5-6 lb cut-up chicken (rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel)

1 c all-purpose flour
5 t seasoned salt
1 t pepper
1 t paprika
1 t poultry seasoning
1 t Montreal grilling seasoning for chicken
1/8 t ginger
1/8 t MSG (optional)

1 c Crisco shortening (one stick, if you buy it that way)
1/4 c bacon fat (optional, but everything's better with bacon!)

If making the full recipe, you'll need two 12-inch skillets with lids, or a large electric skillet with a lid.  Melt the Crisco and bacon fat at medium-low heat while you make the mix and dredge the chicken.

In a medium bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients.  Dredge each piece of chicken in the prepared mix, coating each piece thoroughly.  Set the coated pieces on a sheet pan while you finish dredging all the pieces. 

Turn up the heat to about medium.  Start with the first piece and dredge each piece in turn a second time.  After all the pieces have been dredged twice, place them in the skillet(s) skin side down (if you're using bone-in chicken with skin), or what would have been the skin side down (if you're using boneless skinless pieces).  Cover the skillet(s).  Turn down the heat to somewhere around medium-low, so the chicken is gently sizzling.  You may need to turn it down a little more.  Cook 20 minutes on each side.

Using tongs, transfer the chicken from the skillet(s) to a paper-towel-lined sheet pan to catch any excess fat.  Dig in!