The Best Thing I Ever Ate ~ Fried Chicken

Did you ever eat a Reese’s peanut butter cup and wonder, “How can I make this better?” Probably not, as perfection is good enough for most of us. After eating fried chicken, I have often wondered why anybody would want it cooked any other way.  Honestly, I think I could eat fried chicken once a week for the rest of my days, and not miss it baked, barbequed, boiled, spun on a rotisserie, as chicken salad, in a casserole, or however else people prepare it.

In the early years of my marriage I tried to convince my wife that fried was the only way to eat chicken. I won't admit to having lost that battle, but I'll allow that I learned to eat it many other ways. Yet, there's an old saying which remains true, "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion, still."

In my lifetime, two of my family members could cook the best fried chicken I ever ate. The two were my mother, Frances, and my dad's sister, Nettie Mae.

Both Mama and Aunt Nettie Mae bought whole fryers and cut them into pieces at home, unless, as in Mom's case, there was a butcher in the family who sometimes cut it up at the store.

Mama pulled the skin off the pieces of chicken before frying them, whereas Aunt Nettie Mae left the skin on the meat. Each had cooked with lard in their earlier years, but by the time I came alone they were using a vegetable shortening, most often the Crisco brand, and they pan-fried the chicken in either a cast iron skillet or a heavy aluminum pan. 

Before frying, Mama dipped the chicken pieces in a mixture of egg and milk and then dredged the pieces in flour. Aunt Nettie Mae simply dredged her chicken parts in flour. At some point in the process the chicken was seasoned with salt and/or pepper, but I don't remember when.

There was never enough "lard" in the skillet to deep-fry the chicken, as people often do today whether prepared at home or in restaurants, and I don't remember there being even a half-inch of melted shortening in the pan to start the frying process. Mama's chicken was always delicious with its soft flakey crust. Aunt Nettie Mae's chicken was equally delicious, though the exterior of the chicken pieces was crispy and crunchy.

Cousin Becky remembers Aunt Nettie Mae would cover the skillet once all the pieces of chicken where in place, leaving the lid on during the cooking process and turning the chicken pieces only one.

When I first began teaching high school math, in Ripley, Mississippi, I boarded with Aunt Nettie Mae through the week and returned home to Pontotoc on the weekends, commuting sort of like my college years.  At that time two of my cousins were still at home with my aunt and uncle. On nights that fried chicken was served (about once a week), Cousin Becky and I would often "spar" over the crispy crumbles left of the serving platter.

Fried chicken, whether at home or at my aunt’s was always served with homemade biscuits. Mom’s biscuits were rolled out and cut with a biscuit cutter made from an empty Vienna sausage can. They were light and flakey and if left unattended would almost float off your plate. Aunt Nettie Mae’s homemade biscuits were choked-off and hand worked into the perfect size. Though her biscuits were much heavier than Mom’s, they were absolutely wonderful.

It’s not often in the world of “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” there’s a tie, but with regard to fried chicken and biscuits, both Mama and Aunt Nettie Mae’s fried chicken and biscuits remain “The Best Thing I Ever Ate.”