Grandaddy’s favorite food was Grandmama’s fried chicken. And believe me, after you fry up this simple recipe, it’ll be your family’s favorite too! When I asked Grandaddy how come he scraped the chicken bones with a knife after he’d already eaten all his meat off, he answered, “Cause, when it’s this good, us Southern folk don’t waste nuthin’.”
Grandaddy’s Favorite Skillet Fried Chicken
Recipe by: Bobbi Jo Lathan
Recipe type: Entree
Cuisine: Southern
Serves: 4
PREP TIME
10 mins
COOK TIME
10 mins
TOTAL TIME
20 mins
INGREDIENTS
1 whole Chicken or fresh hen (cut-up, ask your butcher to chop ‘em into small pieces for you)
1 Big brown grocery paper bag
Flour (1⁄2 of an unbleached 5-pound Bag or possibly more)
1 can Crisco (vegetable lard)
2 pieces Bacon
2-3 tablespoons Salt and pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
The trick to Grandmama’s fried chicken was she cut it up into small pieces, so if she had a breast she’d chop it in half, same with the legs and wings (chop off the tips, they got no meat on ‘em anyway!).
Rinse the pieces off to remove any bone chips.
Pour 1⁄2 bag of unbleached flour into a big brown paper bag. Yes, I said 1⁄2 bag!
Pour in the salt. I honestly don’t think you can have too much salt in this recipe, because the flour and oil will soak it up. I’ve put as much as 3 tablespoons but do it to your own taste.
Add a lot of pepper ‘till it’s speckled lookin’ (1 tablespoon or more).
Fry the bacon in your fryin’ pan (cast-iron skillets work best if available).
Remove the bacon and add enough Crisco to the skillet that when it melts, there’s about 2 to 21⁄2 inches of oil bubbling in the pan.
Once it’s hot, turn it down - just a little.
Throw the cut up chicken into the paper bag with the flour mixture and shake like crazy!
Put the coated chicken in the hot oil and fry it up! Keep turning the chicken so it don’t burn. The pieces will cook faster because they’re small. You might taste one of the first pieces to see if you need more seasoning.
Remove the chicken once it becomes golden brown and put the pieces on some paper towel to soak up any excess oil. And baby… you’ve got yourself some tasty fried chicken!
NOTES
You can also add 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper to give it a “kick!”