down in the dumps? fry your dinner!

my place of employment currently has me down in the dumps. i love my job. the problem is i am sick and tired of getting paid nothing to do it. there are numerous factors at play here (and this is not the venue in which to discuss them) so instead i will discuss the thing that brings me out of the dumps -
fried chicken! and i'm not talking about that impostor KFC crap.
i'm talking about the real thing!

i had a couple of chicken breasts in my freezer so i took one out after work and defrosted in a bit. the key is to soak your chicken in buttermilk. i don't know why that is key but it is. usually you want to soak it overnight up to 24 hours but i didn't have that kinda time. i got about 2 hours of soaking in. while my breast was soaking (heehee) i mixed up a little spice rub. another key - don't season the flour. flour is for dredging only. season the actual piece of chicken. this spice mix was some sea salt, garlic powder, paprika and cayenne pepper.




once that is all taken care of you want to melt some crisco. this is another key. vegetable oil can just piss right off. melt yourself down some crisco and fry in that. try it. you will never stop thanking me for that tip!




also important - a good cast iron skillet. thank you grandma for giving me this well seasoned gem. it is a beauty and i LOVE it. melt the crisco slowly over low heat. once it is all melted turn the heat up a little and heat up the oil to about 325 degrees - not hotter! also, if you're doing a bunch of chicken you want the oil to come up about 1/3 of the way in the pan. since i was cooking for one i opted to waste less crisco and ended up having to cook the chicken longer.

a side dish? i decided to throw some potatoes right into the crisco with the chicken. sizzly and delicious.



now i could lie to you and say i whipped up some kind of healthy vegetable or a side salad to go along with this fine fried meal but that would be a lie. salads don't get people outta the dumps. fried chicken and potatoes get people outta the dumps. i put my sanity in crisco's hands.


yum. yum. yum. fired goodness. fried happiness. a lil' piece of fried sanity. i decided to pair this meal with a stella artois since my good friend gentle ben brought a 12-pack over the other day and left a few in the fridge for me.


thank you crisco.
my paychecks still suck but at least i have enough money to buy
the fixin's for fried chicken.