Recipes and Rants (R)

Gainesville

I have a sudden hankering for fried chicken. Here is the recipe I will use, unless anyone has some updates or better ideas. It is from the cookbook Sandy made for me when Billy and I set off on our endless camping trip in 1973. I really should transcribe the whole thing, along with scans-- it's in multi-color ink, and has a wonderful Jeff Gorrell cartoon at the beginning. Alas, my scanner is on the fritz at the moment. Anyway:

CHICKEN, etc. [section heading]

Fried Chicken
Learned this from Pa.

1 chicken, cut up for frying (parts if you want) Dry the chicken on paper towels

A plastic bag or paper bag
Some flour (about a cup) Put flour in bag with salt
About 10 good sprinkles of Lawrey's seasoned salt or just some salt & pepper

Big skillet
2/3 stick butter
1/4 cup salad oil

Melt butter & oil in skillet at pretty high heat. As they're heating, shake the thighs & legs of chicken in the bag of flour. Drop in the skillet when the foam on the butter's beginning to die down. Brown them 3 or 4 minutes to a side. When they look pretty golden, shake the wings & Backs & add them to the skillet & brown 3 or 4 min to a side. Then to the breasts the same way (this order is important because breast meat cooks faster -- so the dark pieces cook 15 min. longer if you do it this way). When the breasts are browned (they don't get as pretty as legs & thighs for some reason), turn down the heat to moderately low & cook, turning every 5 min or so, for about 1/2 hour more. Don't cover it while it's cooking

If it sounds like Sandy was instructing a totally clueless cook, she was indeed! And she was assuming we'd be cooking over a campfire or coleman stove, which we were. This dear little cookbook was a godsend, and has been at my side ever since, for 33 years. Thanks, Sandy!

Anyway, I'll attempt a potato-ish salad with either cauliflower chunks or penne to go with this, and leftover 4-bean salad.

I didn't get out to shop til shortly after noon, but it was still okay, since the full-bore maniacs were already in their tailgate slots, and the merely crazed were just starting to arrive. Inside Publix, it was a surreal experience. The parking lot was packed, waves of people were converging on the entrance, and a bit of a struggle to claim a cart. However once inside, most of the store seemed deserted! Especially around the outer edges, where the fresh stuff has to be kept cold: vegetables, fish, meat, dairy. Empty! Freezer aisle: deserted! Canned goods, all the rest of it: Nada. However, take a look at the deli counter: the line wound around and around, back and forth. The Chips/Snacks/Soft Drink aisle was similarly jammed. Could be worse: I suspect that since this particular Publix was not open last season, it hasn't been discovered yet by the repeat offenders. Will be interesting to see what it's like next year.

And by the way: the paper reports that guaranteed primo tailgating spots can now be yours for a mere $15,000 (plus an annual $250 service charge). Of course, to even be eligible to buy one, you have a to be a Gator donor of a Certain Level. Can anyone doubt there is some serious craziness going on here, and it could be considered a predatory cult?

The sleepy wasps that live inside my computer have been sporadically waking up the past few days. There is one doing it's thing now, buzzing groggily for a few seconds, then snoozing a bit longer. It's tolerable now, but who knows for how long.

Mom, I thought we'd been in 1984 for these past weeks' entries-- now it's suddenly the beginning of 1984 again?? Surely this

2.I.84 !!!! 67 ½ Kg !!!! Mittwoch

was meant to be 2.I.85?? Or have we circled back to the beginning of the previous year? I'm easily confused.

Time for bed now. Seems like every waking moment was taken up with doing Stuff. Besides shopping and cooking, I sheparded three loads of wash all the way through while watching various football TV coverage. (Not the Gators, as this game is strictly Pay-Per-View-- yet another way to milk every dime out of gator fandom.) No time at all to read.

Oh. For dinner I made "Microwaved Fish and Asparagus with Tarragon Mustard Sauce" from the 15-Minute Low-Carb Recipes book, which I love. Used tilapia, and we all thought it was great, and very easy. Had with leftover Mexican slaw and a prefab Asian salad. I especially appreciated not having to add any heat to the kitchen-- another blistering hot day here. Someday soon the weather is supposed to relent a bit. I'm not holding my breath, though.