Mayhaw Man

"Bagel like qualities" Definition please.

Turkey Pecans Sweet Potatoes and of course this.

I have always been taught that the addtion of water makes it easier to work with and will prevent you from getting "eggy taste" on your food. It does the job better than pure egg, as well, as you get better coverage on the food unless you are using a ton of eggs to make a deep enough dip. I regularly add stuff to it, hot sauce, etc. for a little different flavor depending on what I am making. I have used eggs with nothing else but Crystal Hot Sauce for the wash on shrimp, lots of times. It really zings things up nicely. In my college/post college restaurant days I was the kitchen manager at Mike Anderson's Seafood in Baton Rouge for about 5 years. We made our egg wash (in giant tubs) pretty much the same way and I can safely say that, for as far as high production seafood goes, that is the finest, most controlled fying I have ever seen and if it's good enough for Mike, it's good enough for me. He was a tough boss, but he was a nut about food quality and presentation. Dean is going with the Lil Varmints to MA's today, so perhaps he can give you a report on the accuracy of my statement as to their food quality. He is on dial up though, so it might be next week before he gets to it.

Maggie, If they are going to be there on Friday, for lunch, they should go ahead and make reservations for Commanders Palace. It is the best lunch dining deal on the planet. Seriously good food and seriously cut rate prices. It is lovely, a great Friday to go (if they don't have any experience with large groups of men in seersucker and white bucks this would be a good opportunity for them-you don't see that much anywhere but New Orleans) as it is a popular "fmily lunch day" and the crowd is pretty great. Beautiful surroundings, great service, world class food, Twenty Five cent Martinis, what more could you ask. Everyone should go there once. This is a good chance. And they should, when the waiter says to them, as soon as they sit down, "will any of you be ordering bread pudding for dessert?" say yes. There should be no real thought to this. Just yes. And the French Quarter Easter Parade is worth a look. It's pretty fun and just seeing Chris Owens in the daytime is enough to make you appreciate the abilities of modern day plastic surgery. SHe is 75 if she is a day. Edited to say that some of the hotels have really good deals on Easter Lunch. I think that there is a listing somewhere with menus. I will have a look tonight.

You don't need to wash it for the recipe that Rachel is referring to. And like Marlene, I have no idea why either. I just know it works.

The egg wash, for any kind of frying, will adhere better and you will get much better results if it is COLD! Maybe some food scientist can step in here and explain this, but it is absolutely true. When I am frying production style, like I did on Friday night, I will throw some ice into the wash if it starts to warm up. And as far as double dipping goes, 2 light coats is the way to go. Trying to really crust on the flour will make the surface brittle and uneven and cause the crust to fall away as the chicken is moved around during frying (which you want to keep to a minimum anyway).

Ok, so today I went to New Orleans to watch Mardi Gras Indians at the Annual St Joseph's Day Super Sunday Celebration in Central City, New Orleans, La (aka The Hood). Anyway, while observing many, many men who looked something like this: I happened to run into this sign at the corner of Lasalle and Washington Ave, across the street from AC Davis (Shakespeare Park). It made me think of my chicken frying friends on eGullet. I had a great day. There were people on the street set up and selling barbeque of all manner, boiled crawfish, red beans and rice, jambalaya, fried chicken, tamales, and all kinds of pie by the slice (I had a great fried apple pie, one of the best I have had in a while). As usual, the indians (who are loosely organized at best, outside of their own tribes,) were running a bit late so there was plenty of time to sample and shoot the breeze with the neighborhood folks. It was a fine afternoon in New Orleans. Oh yeah, and then I went and met my pal Varmint and The Lil Varmints (who are charming, funny, and well behaved. We should all be so lucky-the kids, I mean, Dean was Dean, not so much you can do about that).

You know, I like big thighs, including chicken thighs. But I suppose that's all a matter of personal taste. Instead of this wrestling match with big thighs, why not practice with some legs? They are really cheap, neatly designed to have the same amount of meat all round, and they are, in my opinion, the best part of the bird. We always make extra ones to have around for cold chicken the next day or so. Personally, I don't think that the buttermilk thing is such a big deal, but the general theory of brining is. My brother brines his chicken, occasionally, in Crystal Wing Sauce. A couple of hours in this and you end up with a piquant, but not really hot, marinated chicken part. It's delicious like this. Any kind of stuff will do, as long as you like the flavor. So, the point here is to experiment. You know?

Electric skillets, big ones with plenty of btus, work great. An underpowered one sucks. If you have one that you probably got when your grandmother died and your stingy sister didn't want after she got all of the enamel ware and cool Betty Furness stuff, and the skillet was all that was left you are all set. The jokes on your sister. It's hard to find those heavy duty ones anymore. Much the same situation as with roaster ovens of old and the cheesy ones that they sell at Tarmart. Those skillets recover pretty quickly and as long as they are not overloaded, they keep the heat where you want it. Mizducky, I could be wrong but I am thinking that thermometer probably was registering low as it needs to be in the grease a couple of inches to get a good reading, but it also can't be TOUCHIng the bottom, that's just as bad. DOn't give up, it's all about learning and frankly, I would have sat right down with you and chowed down. I kind of like the overdone bits.

I was just thinking that it would be a fine experiment for one of those avant garde guys like Grant Aschatz or Ferran Adria. Foam of fried chicken is something that I could probably get into. Fried Yardbird Sorbet. Lollipops of Fried Chicken (sort of a rediculous take on chicken on a stick, maybe ). Someone should write them a letter telling them of this brilliant new idea for their secret kitchens. Edited to say that today's take was pretty reasonable. My wife found some black and white transfer ware that she collects, and my youngest borrowed money from his big loan sharking brother and bought a really nice Fender bass. He is a fairly accomplished cello player, and a decent pianist, but is trying to branch out a bit (oh joy. Bach to rock. Imagine how happy I am). I found, at the only sale I went to, a bunch of cheap records (those are large vinyl discs with a hole in the middle that, when put on a device called a turntable, play sounds that are etched into them via a needle like device) that I really didn't need and won't listen to and to some degree, already have. I bought them all. You can't have too many records. There was one that was worth having though, an original Johnny Cash Live at San Quentin-a great record and an even better snapshot in time of one of my musical heros.

I am sitting here with my laptop unable to stand. I am filled with fried chicken goodness to the point of foundering. I am a human ship run aground on a delicious, rocky coast of crusty fried chicken. I am about to pop. Normally, I am not a glutton, but after all of this fried chicken talk I had a big, big hunger tonight for the noble bird. I took some photos, but I seem to have left my camera cord at work, so that will have to wait til Sunday when I go to the city to meet my pal Varmint and all of the Lil Varmints. Anyway, the stuff turned out great. Here's the scoop on tonight's yardbird frydown. I got home from work about 6 and my wife, the lovely Mrs. Mayhaw, already had a giant pan of chicken sitting in the soaking solution. There was a whole cut up fryer, 18 legs and 10 thighs. It might sound like I am about to open a small outlet for Popeye's, but the real purpose was to feed a group of boys who had gathered at my house in preperation for a big event that takes place in my little town once a year-The Abita Springs All Town Garage Sale! (Also mentioned here in something that I wrote last year about this time)The boys are gathering in order to get on their bikes and go out early in the morning looking for bargains (or junk to clutter up their rooms, whichever comes first) that we can keep around for a year and then dump at next year's sale (we only sell every other year, it's a ton of work and my house is a wreck right now). I quickly set to work, as they were all screaming for food like angry, hungry baby birds, except that some of these kids are bigger than I am (including my 15 year old who is 6'4" and still going, apparently) and they are not to be trifled with when hungry. I set up the fry rig outside (I have enough outdoor cooking equipment to run a party of a 100 folks with no real effort-I do, after all, live in South Louisiana-it's what we do) and made up my egg wash and flour mix. Tonight I spiced the flour and the egg wash up a bit more than I usually do, as the boys were all demanding "hot" chicken (this is, after all, the land of Popeye's). The egg wash consisted of two eggs, a 1/4 cup of Tiger Sauce and a cup of water. The flour had random amounts (meaning the right amount, but I didn't measure ) of salt, black pepper, cayenne, garlic powder, and some hot paprika from Penzey's. Pay attention here kids, this is the payoff for you "cold fryers" who have patiently read this rambling tale........I heated the peanut oil in my chicken fryer (mentioned above in several posts, I got the magnalite chicken fryer when I got married and I really like it-it has fried a ton of bird in the last 21 years-it's just the right size).....now for the frying........ I heated the oil to to 375 ( I use a glass candy thermometer as they are accurate as hell and cheap if they break) and while it was coming up the last couple of degrees I rolled the chicken in the egg wash and went straight to the flour (incidentally, I use a very large volume of flour-it goes better, doesn't clump up, and is much faster than rolling and rolling-you get a much better and more solid coverage). After a solid, but not too heavy, coating of flour I went into the oil at about 375F. I first fried 8 thighs. After the last thigh had dropped my oil had dropped to about 345F, but as I was using a burner that was built from the burner out of a fast recovery industrial hot water heater, it didn't take too long to get it back to 350F . At that point I turned down the heat a bit to maintain 350 and fried for ten minutes on one side (oil depth basically covered the chicken a little over halfway up the sides of the thighs) and ten on the other. It went into a paper bag lined with paper towels and I coated the next batch as the temp came back up to 375F. And then I did it again, and again,k and again. All the while I was careful to keep the oil between 340 and 360. The deal here is that if your oil gets too cold, you are going to get greasy, greasy chicken and if you let it get too hot, you will just burn the grease and ruin the whole thing. So the key here, to me, is temp control. If you have a cooktop that has a big bazillion btu burner you can do this pretty well inside, but I find it's easier to just use the industrial gear. I should mention here that at the request of a couple of the boys, most of whom have been eating my food all of their lives, I "double dipped" a batch of legs to make a seriously crusty batch. I don't like it this way so much, but they love it. These are the same kids who will fight over "crunchy rolls" at the sushi joint. They just like fried dough. I could probably fry drywall and as long as the crust was right, they would eat it and ask for more. Anyway, the sides included baked potatoes, peas, and biscuits (Mary B's frozen hockey pucks, I love those things, they are pretty good and really quick). The boys mowed through the stuff like Sherman went through Georgia. It is a good idea to stand clear until they have filled their plates and headed off to the table. Those kids will run you down. There was, however, plenty of fried chicken goodness left, and I was able to eat as much as I could stand. It was actually alot of fun and the whole thing took about an hour and a half from the time I walked in the door until the first urchin grabbed the first leg. They need to let me into Kitchen Stadium to take on a few of those clowns. I'm ready for the big leagues. Those judges on Iron Chef are not any tougher than those boys. They let me know pretty quickly when my efforts aren't up to their incredibly high standards. All in all it was a pretty fun night. .

Try this. It works great with really good canned tomatoes (good italian plums come to mind) and sliced frozen okra.

Nah, the okra in the market right now looks like garbage. I am PLANTING okra this weekend as the danger of frost is pretty much over with this far South. Soon there will be fresh pods everywhere.

I am frying chicken tomorrow. Biscuits too. Even though my family makes giant fun of me, I will make sure to take nerdy food pics of the whole process. ALong with the chicken I am having lady peas (last pound in the freezer-June/July can't come soon enough), cheese grits and some chess pie for dessert. That, my friends, is as Southern as it gets.

As several people have mentioned where to buy coffee online from people who actually know something about coffee, I would like to put in a mention for Java Club. They have a huge variety, a cool website (disclosure, I work for the company that runs their site, but other than that I have nothing to do with them-so this is NOT shameless promotion-it's just that I would not otherwise know about them-BUT it is a cool site ), and they roast their coffee in little tiny amounts, pretty much to order. They also get into coffee speak that is so far over my head that they might as well be talking nuclear physics. But it does make a fine cup and the reason that I mention them is that you can buy in small amounts (sample bags, basically) and try a number of different things for tasting purposes instead of dripping big bucks for a pound or two of something you find out that you do not like.

I might fry some this week. I have been getting home from work too late and too tired, but maybe Friday night would be fun. And as for my children, I do the same thing that my mom did for us growing up-I fry, everytime, one fryer (cut it up myself from a whole one, cheaper and better that way) and a mixture of extra legs and thighs. I get the livers (sometimes I buy them and do them on their own, talk about cheap satisfaction) and my wife, the bone cruncher, gets gizzards and necks. Not much goes to waste. I like frying chicken during the week occasionally, lots of it, as it makes a great lunch at work.

Note to all neophyte chicken fryers: Cold fried chicken is one of the superior late night treats of all times. It is to be eaten while standing and leaning over the kitchen sink so the crust does not explode all over the place and leave evidence that you were doing some late night snacking. For some reason it's even better if you are standing around barefoot in your nightclothes . I'll be back later with more helpful hints.

I wonder if there's some way to make okra-crusted fried chicken... Use maybe 50% dried okra flour. Just a thought. ← This is the kind of thing that my fledgling organization (I am the only member, so far-contact me for membership info and address to forward your nominal membership fees) The Okra Lovers Society, would be willing to support in terms of research. It's forward, open minded thinking like yours that is, daily, making this world a better place to live. We, here at the OLS, salute you and wish you the best in your future experiments in the growing field of Okra usage.

Ah, I'm taking this one as a direct challenge. Coming up sometime this week or early next: Low-Carb Fried Chicken, Three (or more ) ways. ← Yeah? Whatever. I stand by my premise that some things just aren't right, and that's the way that it is. I am sure that there are other opinions out there. It's just that I think they are wrong and I am right.

You think? Low carb fried chicken is not only wrong, but it's just wrong to even think about. There are so many problems in the world, culinary and otherwise. Why waste time and energy on this one. Some things just aren't meant to be.

Actually, in redneck parlance, cooter has a sexual connotation that has nothing to do with turtles. Now, for something completely different:' The brewery will take you about an hour to get to from the airport. It's an interesting tour with unlimited free beer. How can you beat that. Zea, in Metairie, is on your way in from the Airport on Veterans Blvd (right down from my office). The food is good and the beer is better. A very nice guy set up all of the brewing equipment and helped develop the recipes. A really nice guy. I reccomend Zea. THose sodas are really good as well. Flavorful and out of hand levels of carbonation. Gordon Biersch is across the street from the Casino. They have, IMO, the best beer of any chain out there. Nice place. Crescent City Brewhouse has pretty good food and one really, really good beer and sometimes more than one (they rotate them out). I really like their Red Stallion. Wolfram Kohler, their brewmaster, is a great guy and a Weinstaphen trained brewer and worked all over the world before settling in New Orleans and redoing the old Steinburg Fur building, at an incredible cost, to open the brewpub. Free music every night as well. It's in the Quarter on Decatur. Conveniently located right across from the old Jax Brewery site (now a shopping center). Hope this helps.

Diet Barq's-the supreme sugar free beverage. And Ronnie, that caffeine sugar free stuff scares me. What's in it? Without the active ingredients it sounds like a descriptive name for "brown water".

Until I see a guy with a compressor and some wood in his truck (a guy who is NOT me) I will not bring it back up. That thread should be active by the end of the month. I am tired of camping out. THere has been lots of progress made, but almost none of it is in the kitchen. But I have a swell new laundry room, the framing of a nice pantry, and I will soon have a fabulous new roof over my head. Life got a bit complicated this winter on the home front, but we are back in full attack mode. Hopefully the kitchen will start coming together around April 1.

I use a moderately deep dutch oven all the time. It works great. Kind of an oval shape. I think I have a photo of it in the blog that I did last year. On the other hand, a little grease will keep your appliances shiny. So there is an upside to a bit of splatter.

Some way he always does. He just grabs up a big handful and shoves it in his pie hole (although in his case "bbq hole is probably more accurate). It's a pretty scary sight. When dining with Dean, one needs to keep all hands clear of his plate lest they be chomped off. I am very pleased that the cabinets turned out so well. Now I can get on with ordering mine, as I was waiting to get Dean's opinion. THe best part is that I can save shipping, as I can drive up there in about 3.5 hours and I have access to a truck to carry them back in. Can't wait to see the photos.