Very First Fried Chicken

Have you ever made fried chicken? I hadn't.

I've made baked, "breaded" chicken and I've made cutlets, which is beef or pork breaded and fried, but I had never made friend chicken. Guess that goes to show how far North I must live. ;)

My sister and I (absurdly) married fellows who share a birthday. Since they only just got married, we agreed we had to do something with the four of us, and settled on cooking dinner at their brand new house.

Growing up, my family's birthday tradition was that my mom would make your favourite meal (or whatever you requested) on your birthday. My sister and I tried to get our husbands to name their favourite meal so we could cook that, but neither would. So I suggested mashed potatoes and cutlets, which was probably the most common birthday meal in our family. Everyone agreed, and my sister and I went out to buy the groceries. We found everything except the cutlets... So we bought chicken fillets instead, and called it good.

I breaded the chicken, and as I was setting them in the frying pan, I realized I was making fried chicken. The two guys then thought it completely absurd that I had never made fried chicken, although I've never even had homemade fried chicken.

Anyways, I was really concerned that making it gluten-free would make it less good, but everyone was amazed at how good it was and insisted they couldn't tell.

I used white rice flour, rather than a GF flour blend, and I bought some rice bread crumbs, both of which I doubted.

I followed my mother's instructions on making cutlets. I mixed some seasoning salt into the flour, then coated the raw chicken in that. Then it got a raw egg bath, before being covered in bread crumbs and dumped in the frying pan. My sister got a fancy-dancy fried chicken frying pan for her wedding, which is extra deep and has a screen lid. I had probably an inch of melted margarine in the pan (forgot to pick up olive oil, might try coconut oil next time), and I fried it until it looked done. I warned everyone to cut into the chicken to check for doneness, because I was too afraid of burning it.

This left us with tender chicken meat, covered in crispy breading, which was tasty, moist, perfectly cooked, and paired with mashed potatoes perfectly. Also, something that my fast-food-deprived-mouth was excited to eat (read: reminded me of a lot of restaurant food I haven't been able to enjoy).

Very simple birthday dinner, but something that I enjoyed cooking and will definitely be making again.