Southern Fried Chicken Cooking Tips

A Brief And Surprising History Of Southern Fried Chicken

Just saying the words "Southern Fried Chicken" can start your mouth watering. But, there's more to this Southern favorite than the name. As a matter of fact, for the origin of this delicious dish, you'll have to look to Africa before you look to the South.

Historical documents show that tribes in West Africa celebrated at holidays and festivals with foods including fried chicken. They would use readily available palm oil and fry the chickens whole in large pots over open fires.

Plantation owners in Southern America prior to emancipation would have their slaves grow a garden and raise a few chickens for their own use. As the slave ships took mostly West African natives away to the Americas, these slaves often cooked the chicken they raised in the way they had always cooked them; by pan frying them.

Since these West African slaves also worked in many of the plantation kitchens, frying chicken became a natural addition to white southern cuisine. Now, every good Southern cook knows how to cook fried chicken, but this tradition is not exactly a 'southern thing' - it is a West African thing.

In the old days, frying chicken was labor intense. Not only was the heat of the fire oppressive (no central air), but you couldn't exactly walk into a grocery store and buy a packaged chicken all ready to cook. You not only had to raise the chicken, but you had to kill it, pluck it, clean it, and then cook it.

Of course, through time it has become possible to purchase a chicken ready for frying. Also, as it became easier to buy processed chicken, owning a good fried chicken recipe became tradition throughout the South in every socio-economic level. The tradition, and perhaps the competition, grew steadily. All cooks in the South had to learn how to fry chicken.

Pan frying chicken was the most often used technique for much of history, in one way or another. Most cooks will fill a large deep skillet with oil, bring it to a sizzle, and drop in their seasoned or coated chicken and fry, turning often, until crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

The trick is to make sure it's cooked fully inside. Many novice cooks fry the chicken so hard it gets dark brown on the outside and remains bloody on the inside. This is why pan frying a chicken takes practice and skill. In order to prevent the under-cooked insides, some cooks will put the fried chicken in the oven to continue cooking without worrying about it burning in the hot oil.

As Southern Fried Chicken became more popular in restaurants, the idea of deep frying the chicken was born. Since you can only fry a limited amount of chicken in a skillet, the idea of submerging a lot of pieces of chicken in hot oil at one time became very popular. The actual term "deep fry" can only be found in documents dated from the 1930s and on. The commercialization (restaurant style) of fried chicken made this cooking method well known, and popular.

Restaurants also use a method called 'pressure frying' which sears the chicken and seals in the moisture, producing a nicely browned and juicy chicken. Most homes cannot reproduce this method, but it works well for fast food places.

But, long before restaurants were creating fried chicken to boost their income, hard working families were frying up chicken to sell to passengers on trains and to provide food at church holidays and meetings. The popularity of this easy to eat, and delicious, food became more and more popular in the South, and provided many families with income and full tummies.

To say that Southern Fried Chicken is a precise recipe would be misleading. The term encompasses a history of turning a minor bird into a major feast. Using old methods or new, the idea is to gather around a table, or picnic blanket, or even a box, and sink your teeth into a crispy juicy piece of chicken fried to perfection - with love!