MY LIFE began a week ago when my youngest went off to college. Since my children were babies, every day has been filled with jobs and them. Now I dont have either to fill my day. What do I do? It seems the children were more concerned with my new free time than I was. They were worried that I'd be bored. Fat chance! All this "free time" is wonderful. Yet, I feel incomplete some how. Like I'm supposed to be doing more with my life. Thanks to my youngest, here I am sharing all of this with you all.
There are two things that are constants in my life. My faith and cooking. My kitchen is my sanctuary. lts where I go to unwind, have talks with friends or family, or just get away from the hustle and bustle of family life. A good recipe is like a reading a novel. You can picture the outcome in your head, but its the interpretation of what you see in the recipe that makes the ending good.
What particular dish to you love to cook? Name something that you can eat all the time and never get tired of it. For me, it's fried chicken. I'm going to share my method of frying chicken to get that crunchy bursting with flavor result. Sorry, the actual recipe is a family secret but, the technique can be shared. Try fried chicken thighs for a delicious chicken sandwich.
Recipe for Intermediate Cooks
Gather together your tools:
Large pot for frying
Seasonings of your choice
Flour
Oil
Milk
Eggs
Extra flour for coating
First put your pot of oil on the stove. If you have a thermometer, make sure the oil is on medium high and reaches a temperature of 300-325. No thermometer, no problem. You can use the old method of wetting your finger with water and allow one drop to go into the oil. If it sizzles and pops, the oil is hot enough.
While waiting for your oil to heat, beat eggs in a bowl
Rinse and drain chicken thighs and place in a separate bowl
Add seasonings and milk to chicken
Next add egg and flour
Now work them all together by hand. Use a disposable glove. Its faster and ensures that all the meat gets coated evenly.
Note: You want to use just enough flour so that the mixture is thick but not doughy. This will allow the flour coating to stick.
Check oil to make sure it is ready to fry.
With separate bowl of flour, begin coating one piece of chicken at a time. Some people prefer using bags to coat chicken. I like to be kind to the environment and I use a bowl with a lid.
Make sure to shake off excess flour.
Carefully place chicken in oil.
Be sure not to overcrowd chicken. You should be able to cook three or four pieces at a time depending on the size of your pot and your pieces of meat.
Be sure to turn meat for even browning. Cook for about 12-15 mins. If the meat has floated to the top of the oil and it is golden brown, it's ready to be taken out of the oil.
Drain meat on paper towels then enjoy
Feel free to email pics of your final results dininganddevotion@gmail.com