Van Aken

Good buddy of mine, Norman Van Aken, is rather erudite for a chef. (I hearing him laughing as we speak, but sorry, having worked with tons of chefs for more than two decades, I’ll allow that their talent is largely in the kitchen – not at a keyboard. Yes, there are exceptions…but it’s not the norm.)

I got caught up in the story he posted on his blog, about fried chicken, Thomas Wolfe, and traveling to the South.

At the end, he posts a recipe for a fried chicken salad. Looks good, and it’s a tasty fried chicken going on there, but it’s not my mom’s.

Fried chicken once a week

Van Aken writes about not eating fried chicken as a child; it wasn’t in his mom’s repertoire.

My household was the exact opposite. When all else failed, eat something fried, and chicken or steak worked equally well. Itwas a staple as in every other Southern household across L.A., ( Lower Alabama), where she grew up. Actually, it was Pensacola, but that part of the state should be annexed over to Alabama, for its affinity to Dixie.

Butterbeans and biscuits

I digress. We ate fried chicken with a plate of biscuits, another plate of sliced ripe tomatoes, and either fried corn, or yellow squash fried with onions, or those fat butterbeans that Norman quotes from the Wolfe story. Fat limas, actually, until summer when we would bring home from Pensacola a freezer full of field peas, and speckled gray butterbeans shared from my Aunt Eleanor’s garden. These were gunmetal gray on the outside, and green on the inside. Aunt Eleanor picked them young – they were a pain to shell. They were so delicious, cooked with a little bacon and a heavy hand of salt – my mother’s trademark – they were well worth the effort.

We’d have mashed potatoes sometimes, but my mother favored rice with chicken. She didn’t bother with gravy for it; we had buttered rice – cooked rather sticky, as I recall. “Rice is nasty — you have to wash it,” she’d say. Within an inch of its life, of course. She always made enough for leftovers to make rice pudding for my father. (I cannot stand the texture of that one dish – it’s likely the only food other than canned fish, or beef liver I won’t eat.)

The Chicken Frying Rules

There are rules to frying a chicken. Use a whole fryer that you cut up yourself. You should have 9 pieces: 2 pieces of breast ; 2 drumsticks; 2 wings; 2 thighs; 1 back. Don’t argue. (Keep the gizzards and liver for a night when you eat fried chicken livers with grits and gravy.)

 Use an iron skillet chicken fryer – it’s 14 inches across and deeper than normal. Don’t argue. Well, OK: You may use one of those Sunbeam electric frying pans from the ’60s. The trick is to maintain an even temperature on the oil (360F.  is ideal). Don’t overcrowd the pan. Don’t be in a rush to turn the chicken, either, once you have it in the pan; let it brown nicely. Use peanut or vegetable oil or a little bacon fat mixed with vegetable oil. Never olive oil and never butter.

Southern fried chicken

• 1 fryer, skin on, cut into pieces
• Milk or buttermilk, 2 or 3 cups
• 1 egg, beaten into the milk
• All-purpose flour, seasoned with salt and black pepper
• Optional: a pinch each of cayenne or garlic powder
• Vegetable or peanut oil for frying

Rinse and pat-dry the chicken. Heat 1 inch of vegetable oil in a 14-inch cast-iron chicken fryer over medium-high heat. If using an electric skillet, set it to 360 degrees.

Pour milk or buttermilk with beaten egg over the chicken in a large bowl. Turn pieces well. Lift pieces of chicken, draining milk back into bowl. Dredge each piece in flour, knocking excess off on side of bowl. Put flour-dredged chicken pieces on a baking sheet, separately.

When oil is hot, dredge chicken again in flour, knocking off excess, a piece at a time. Put chicken into hot oil. Do not crowd the pan; four or five pieces at a time will fit in a 14-inch skillet.

Allow chicken to fry for at least 3 minutes before turning with tongs If oil seems too hot, adjust heat under pan, or move pan off the burner for about 45 seconds. Turn chicken, and continue to fry until nicely browned on all sides.

Remove chicken to newspaper or paper toweling to drain well – do not cover, however, or chicken will steam, making the crust soggy.

If you are making several batches, heat the oven to 200 degrees and place the cooked, drained chicken on a foil-lined baking pan in the oven, uncovered, to keep warm.

Continue to cook until all chicken is cooked; serve with hot, buttered mashed potatoes, and butterbeans or fried corn or fried squash and onions, with hot buttermilk biscuits.

Serves 4 to 8.

by Nancy Byal, columnist

You may just be starting to rev up for baking cookies this holiday season. But my GadgetGals partner Jan Hazard and I got into the cookie baking spirit extra early this year. Since August, we figure we’ve baked more than 100 dozen cookies between the two of us.

A new online cookie cookbook

Why so many cookies? It was all done to create 20 festive recipes for a new e-cookbook called GadgetGals Holiday Cookies Cookbook.

We tested, revised, and retested the recipes until they met the terrific taste and easy prep criteria that we and cookie bakers everywhere expect of great recipes. Which added up to 100+ dozen cookies. Our family and friends were very happy tasters! (To preview and download the book, go to the GadgetGals web site.)

Bake like a pro: use tools to speed the process

As much as we love to bake cookies, we are as insistent as anyone that the process take as little time and effort as possible. And as the GadgetGals, we are always in search of tools that make the job easier and more fun. These three finds have become indispensable in our kitchens. And they are very affordable, too.

1. No-scrape mixer paddle – spatulas not needed

Since most cookie doughs are extra stiff and require thorough beating, we advise using a good-quality stand mixer. Another essential buy is this amazing mixer paddle, brand name Beater Blade, that is used with tilt-head and bowl-lift stand mixers such as KitchenAid, Cuisinart, Viking, and Kenwood. Its flexible “wings” scrape the sides of the mixer bowl as the mixer continuously beats, essentially eliminating the need to stop the machine to scrape with a spatula.

• Beater Blade: Retails for $25 to $30. www.beaterblade.com

2. Spring-loaded cookie scoops – one-handed ease 

Small “ice cream” scoops, available in small 2-teaspoon to large 3-tablespoon sizes, do the fastest and best job of shaping drop cookie dough into even-sized cookies. Ones with cushioned, ergonomically shaped handles, such as Oxo brand, are easy to squeeze.

• Oxo Cookie Scoop: Retails for $15 each. www.oxo.com

3. Serrated plastic knife: Cut right in the pan

Ideal for cutting bar cookies that have been baked in a nonstick or foil-lined pan, this knife won’t scratch the pan. No gooey build-up on the knife as you cut either. It’s often called a lettuce or salad knife because it also cuts lettuce without the greens’ edges turning brown. We’re especially prone to the holiday red color and low price ($3) of the Zyliss Salad Cut Knife.

Serrated plastic knife, $3, www.zylissusa.com

* * *

Read more from the GadgetGals on their web site: kitchengadgetgals.com

We share three of our favorites, each costing $10 or less.
by GadgetGals Nan and Jan

Our friends and family think we live exciting lives as the GadgetGals. For instance, whenever we tell them we’re going to the annual Housewares Show to check out what’s new in kitchenware, they get this envious wide-eyed look or give us a “wish-I-could-go” response.

Well, we’ve got news for them – and for you. Stalking the Housewares Show at Chicago’s expansive McCormick Place convention center is exciting and fun….and also a heck of a lot of work. The first thing each of us packs in our suitcase is a couple pair of comfortable shoes. This year, there were more than 2000 exhibitors, many displaying hundreds of different products.

A lot of footwork

Do the math in terms of miles walked (15 or more), manufacturers reps and PR people interviewed (hundreds), and new products tried, prodded, assembled and disassembled, and maybe you get some idea that there’s more to this than just a bit of fun.

We’re not complaining, mind you. The fact is we love mining and editing through what’s being touted as the newest and hottest in cookware. Our task is to identify the products that really deliver on their promise to consumers (so we can report on them for you) and separate them out from those that, in our opinion, need work.

Going green

So what are some trends we saw? Lots of “green” or eco-friendly. All kinds of drinking equipment and gear for water, coffee, tea, alchoholic beverages. Clever single-use to multipurpose tools.

Affordability was on our minds and also those of manufacturers, considering these tough times. Here are three of our favorites you can buy for $10 or less.

• Ginger Magic
  

  Oxo Good Grips ginger peeler

  If you’re a frequent fresh gingerroot user like us (sorry, the bottled kind just doesn’t do it for us), you know how frustrating it can be to get that thin peel off. OXO Good Grips, inventors of the mango seeder, comes to the rescue. Looking a bit like a short, chubby bottle opener, their new compact Ginger Peeler scrapes off the bitter ginger peel, even from small corners and crevices, slick as anything and always Oxo-comfortable to hold. Available at www.oxo.com for $7.

• Eco-Grilling
  

  Outset Verde tongs

  No surprise, eco-friendly is a hot trend in kitchenware today. Your best bets are products that not only use sustainable or recycled materials but that are also recyclable themselves so they won’t clog up landfills when you’re done with them. Case in point: the Verde Series of tools from grillware specialists Outset are made from 100 percent sustainable materials (bamboo, hemp, and recycled stainless steel), and the packaging is recyclable too. Sleek, handsome in design and grill-chef friendly, the spatula, locking tongs, fork, and grill brush make great gifts for Easter or Father’s Day. Even better, each retails for under $10. Available at Amazon, here’s the Verde stainless-steel locking tongs with bamboo handle.

Baking Tools That Whip Up Fun

• 

  Head Chef tools

  We fell in love with Head Chefs whimsical “people” silicone tools when they were first introduced last year. Their tag line “It’s OK To Play With Your Food!” quickly sends the message that these clever tools will turn kids on to cooking. Heck with the kids. We think they’re just as cool for grown-ups (us included) who want to bring fun as well as function to our cooking. Now Fiesta Products, makers of the tools, are keeping the playtime going with eight new baking tools, from measuring cup and sifter to icing spreader and pastry brush. Comfortable to hold in your hand, each vibrant colored body is made of 100 percent durable silicone, with bendable arms and legs and suction-cup feet that enable the tool to stand on its own. Can’t you just see two or three of these brightly colored tools dancing on your countertop? All are dishwasher safe.: Sifter, icing spreader, whisk, measuring cup, spatula, pastry brush, spoon and turner retail for $10 each. Measuring spoon, child’s fork and spoon are $7 each. Available now at Amazon — here’s the Fiesta Head Chefs Silicone Pastry Brush.

  (The Gadget Gals, Nancy Byal and Jan Hazard-Turner, appear here monthly, but write about kitchenwares at their web site, KitchenGadgetGals.com)