Wartime Wednesdays: 20th Anniversary Edition - Fried Chicken & Corn Bread

Fried Chicken

 

"To Clean Giblets

Cut the fat and membrane from the gizzard. Make a gash in the thickest part, cutting to, but not through the inner lining. Remove the inner sac and throw it away. Carefully separate the gall bladder from the liver and cut off any part of the liver that has a greenish color. Remove arteries and veins from the top of the heart and squeeze out clots of blood." 

  The Victory Binding of the American Woman's Cook Book; Wartime Edition---published 1943

 

Yummy! (shudders)

I picked this recipe because who doesn't love fried chicken (don't answer; I don't want to know)?

The book offered two recipes; the second a more conventional 'dip into fritter batter' version, but I was curious about the first. 

Cut two small chickens into 4-6 pieces, then dip (quickly!) into cold water, the sprinkle with salt & pepper before rolling in flour. 

Saute in fat (no specification) until browned on both sides.  Drain & keep warm while making the accompanying gravy (I did not).

 

It made for a nice, slightly crisp chicken. Again, fairly low effort & ingredients, decent results.

 

In lieu of gravy (the men in this house do not like it), I made 

 

Southern Corn Bread

I personally prefer a slightly sweeter corn bread, but this one is solid.

About as plain as you can get - white corn meal (yes, white), salt & shortening get mixed with scaled milk. Then goes in baking powder & a beaten egg yolk.
Finally, An egg white, stiffly beaten, gets folded in. 

All that goes in a greased pan & baked hot (400 F) about twenty minutes.

If you toast the pieces & slather with butter & jelly, it's kind of amazing.

Oh!  There's also the  'Sprinkle with diced bacon before baking' option. 

(This is a re/cross-post from my Tumblr, for Misfit Day.)


You didn’t think I’d let the day go by without another culinary creation, did you??

(Truth: I have three more, but my camera has been behaving badly and I either can’t take photos - as in, it won’t turn on - or because it won’t turn on, I can’t upload anything. It’s frustrating, for obvious reasons and the fact the darn thing’s only a few months old! So, with any luck I’ll have a few more treats to share with you tomorrow. If I can coax the darn thing into working again.)


Behold! The Charlie Chicken Sandwich of Awesome!!

I wanted to come up with a sandwich of ridiculousness (kind of like the Outrageous Burgers Turhan’s Bey Company and I like to make), using the sort of components Charlie might assemble from a diner’s menu.

So, I give you this surprisingly well-balanced (flavor-wise), messy-as-all-get-out (seriously, don’t wear anything nice or make this for a first date and make sure you have a stack of napkins handy) and definitely not calorie-friendly concoction.

Ok.

Start with a layer of (deep-fried) onion rings. Add (this is a brilliant little recipe/hack I learned about last year and had been dying to try out) cheese sticks - but not just ANY cheese sticks! string cheese that has been rolled up in egg roll wrappers and quickly fried! Genius. You get self-contained, crunch and wow, so much easier than battering/coating and less mess- I layered three across.

Next, and I really and truly wish the color hadn’t faded, chicken tenders that have marinated in buttermilk for an hour or so and then dredged in a mixture of rice flour and CRUSHED ANDY CAPP HOT FRIES.


YES.


The color was the same as Charlie’s hair. It was meant to be.

Fry ‘em.

Two slices of melt-y cheese, I used organic ‘orange’ and a Pepperjack.

Bacon. Super-crispy and lots of it.

BARBECUE POTATO CHIPS.

(not pictured here because this was the omnivore version and he won’t eat them - spear/slices of bread and butter pickles*)

Lettuce (for this I like to use Bibb or Boston), nice slice of tomato (we’re finally getting into tomato season!) and a hearty slathering of mayo.

All on a squishy roll.

Smoosh to eat. Laugh at the mess but make lots of “mmmmmm!’ noises.

Happy Misfit Day!




*I made a vegetarian version for NinjaSpyBoy and me - Gardein (and several other companies) makes decent faux ‘tenders’ that hold up to just about any cooking preparation, and of course you can get veggie bacon from companies like Morningstar Farms. All are becoming more and more available in mainstream grocery stores. I’m sure a vegan recipe could be worked up, but we’re ovo-lacto, and that’s not my area of ‘expertise’, but I can point you in the direction of places like VeganEssentials, who carry vegan alternatives for just about everything.