Dedicated to my Mama...Mommy...Mother! 1927-2015

I am back blogging after my extended absence. It has been awhile and like everyone else..."Life Happens". I hope to get back into the swing of things with this post. I've missed blogging and sharing recipes with you.

My sister was going through my Mother's things that were in her possession when Mother passed away. She came across some recipes and sent them to me. I'm so excited to share them with you.

Mother was a collector of recipes. She loved to cook and read her cookbooks. She had a wall full of cookbooks. She would sit and read recipes for hours on end. Occasionally she would say, "Doesn't that sound good?" I find myself saying the same thing while reading recipes. I am so proud that she passed her love for cooking and food to me, otherwise life would be boring eating the same foods over and over. 

She encouraged me to try new recipes. Taught me that it was okay to alter a recipe by substituting, adding to and taking way from it to make it my own. I was taught that a recipe was only a road map. You could veer away from it a little to make it my own creation.

She taught me that baking was like a science project. You have to have certain combinations to make it work. I was taught the difference in 1Cup of All Purpose Flour as apposed to 1 Cup of Sifted All Purpose Flour. She taught me the difference between Baking Powder and Baking Soda, which have different chemical reactions to the recipe. I learned so much from her.

As a collector of recipes she was never afraid to ask for a recipe regardless if it were a close friend, at a church pot luck, a restaurant, or an elegant dinner party. She would write a recipe on whatever she could find as shown in the picture below of her having written the Fired Chicken Recipe on the back of her check register. She would save all of those scraps of paper and place them in a box or plastic bag. If she needed that recipe she knew exactly where it was and what she had written it on.

Southern Fried Chicken Crunchy Crust

Flour Mixture:

1 cup All Purpose Flour

1/4 tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking Powder

(I add additional spices to this mixture such as pepper, garlic powder, poultry seasoning, etc.)

Egg Mixture:

1 cup Water

1 Egg

1/4 cup Cornstartch

In a Cast Iron Skillet or Dutch Oven heat up oil/shortening to medium heat. Dredge Chicken in Flour Mixture. Dip in Egg Mixture. Add Chicken to hot oil. Coated chicken should sizzle when it hits the oil.  Turn Chicken half way through frying. Breasts should cook 8 - 12 minutes on each side and Dark Meat 6 - 10 minutes. I always start with the breasts and add the dark meat after to white has been in for a few minutes, that way all of the meat is hot when taken out.

This is the most delicious cruncy chicken ever.

Thank you Mother for all of the loving guidance and patience as I learned to cook with you. Everytime I cook I think of you! You are always with me.