Waiting For Fried Foods To Be Good For Us Again!

by Bill Russo - the Amazon Kindle Author 
of Jimmy Catfish, Swamp Tales, The Creature From the Bridgewater Triangle & others.  

Waiting for the Fried Foods To Be Good For Me!

When I was a child the Doctor said eggs were good for me, eat one or two every day. As I reached middle age, the medical community changed their tune and told me not to eat eggs. As I passed into old age, thankfully I was told once again, that eggs were good for me and I could eat one or two every day.

Coffee too, went from being recommended by medicos to being cursed by them. Now, a recent report says it's good for you, in moderation.

If my Doctor asks me, "Do you drink coffee?"

"I try to drink three to six cups a day," I tell her.

"That's a good amount," she responds, "but don't go over six."

Being a lover of fried chicken, I'm praying for news that the medical community will once again recommend that we eat fried foods.

Be honest now. Is there anything better than Fried Chicken, Fried Potatoes, Fried Clams, Fried Fish, Fried Onion Rings, and Fried Eggs?

The answer of course is yes. What's better than Fried Chicken, is Fried Chicken with gravy and mashed potatoes.  

Though I think gravy is savory, I intend to refer only to frying. 

 In advance of the New England Journal of Medicine's report that frying is once again good for us: here's a few frying tips for you.

In simplest terms, frying is the cooking of food by immersion in hot fat.

Legal Note and Disclaimer: HOT FAT IS DANGEROUS. BE CAREFUL. (I'm sure you knew that but I included it in case some fool gets burned trying to fry something and some other fool (an attorney, perhaps) takes it in his head to sue me. If there were to happen, then I can say, "I warned him that hot fat is dangerous. It's on him.)

Now let's get out of the legal fire and back into the frying pan. When you are frying fish or meat, it is best to take the food out of the fridge and keep it on the counter until the chill is gone. A half hour is good. You will hear some modern television chefs tell you that this is not needed. But my Mama told me it is and I will be you anything that my Mom's cooking was better than the TV guy.

As soon as the food has fried, remove it from the fat and drain it on a wire rack - not on the paper towels, which would create steam and make your food soggy.

How to get a great batter coating on chicken and fish? That is the question.

It's all about the egging and crumbing. You can use bread crumbs from the super market, or finely crumbled crackers, or you can even use stale bread broken into tiny pieces and spiced with your choice of salts, peppers and herbs.

This next part is really important. Take notes. Break your eggs into a shallow bowl and beat them slightly with a fork. You don't want to throttle them to a froth, a gentle thrashing will do. Next, add two tablespoons of liquid per egg. You could use water for this step, but milk was recommended by my Mom who became the greatest cook in the known world after my Grandmother passed, who was the greatest cook in the known world of the late 1800s and early 1900s.

(Note. These ladies were not awarded the title by Betty Crocker, Julia Child or Paula Deen - but by me. So the award is arbitrary but I think, well deserved.)

Take the fish or meat that is to be fried and pat it dry with paper towels. Get it as dry as possible. Spread your breadcrumbs out on a board or sufficiently large platter. Next, put the food in the crumbs and lightly crumb it all over. Place the lightly crumbed food in the egg mix and make sure it is fully egged. Then place it back in the crumbs and roll it until it is fully crumbed.

Variation on the theme. Many people use flour for the first step instead of crumbs. The procedure is the same. Flour it, egg it and then crumb it.

Fry your food in vegetable oil. Cook all food to an internal temperature of 165. You need to get a meat thermometer to make sure your food is cooked all the way through. Chicken takes a good 10 minutes or more on each side.

Here's a few more tips from my late Mom and Nona (Italian for Grandmother)

BOILING WATER IS BOILING WATER.

Though it sounds silly, it must be said. Water boiling slowly is just as hot as water roiling about in your pot like an Atlantic Northeaster. It's the same temperature. Slowly boiling water will do the same work as a roil boil and it's safer and cheaper. This is especially true for pasta. Bring it to a roil boil but then turn the heat down to a slow and steady boil. Keep in mind, I did not say simmer. Simmering is great for lentils, rice and such but you will need the slow boil to get great pasta.

STEWING: This probably is not done as much as Mom and Nona used to do it. But stewing is ideal for the cheaper and tougher cuts of meat. You simmer lovers will be happy on this one, because that's how you stew! Keep the temperature slightly below a slow boil and cook the food a long, long time. Make sure that the food is always covered by at least a half inch of water. It doesn't really have to be that much, but you do not want the water to evaporate and leave any of the meat high and dry.

Braising. In this method of cooking, drippings are melted, or vegetable oil is placed, in the kettle and a bed of mixed vegetables, fine herbs and seasoning is added. The article being cooked is placed on this bed of vegetables. Moisture is added and the meat cooked until tender at a low temperature. The last half hour of cooking the cover is removed, so that the meat may brown richly.

In broiling and grilling, the object is first to sear the surface over as quickly as possible, to retain the rich juices, then turn constantly until the food is richly browned. Pan-broiling is cooking the article in a greased, hissing-hot, cast-iron skillet, turning often and drawing off the fat as it dries out.

Finally we have Sauteing. This is practically the same as pan-broiling, except that the fat is allowed to remain in the skillet. The article is cooked in a small amount of fat, browning the food on one side and then turning and browning on the other side.

Good luck with your cooking and if you are like me, you'll keep on eating the fried chicken, fried clams and fried eggs while awaiting the news from the medical community, that it's once again okay to eat fried foods.