Fried chicken

This is an ordinary American dinner. 

A whole chicken is cut into 10 pieces. The two breasts are cut into two pieces each, and the thigh is separated from the leg. The wings are kept whole because, what?, do you think it is hot wings operation over here? The back and the neck are frozen for chicken stock later, along with all the bones as the pieces are consumed. 

Two cups of flour and generous seasoning are added to paper grocery bag, salt, white pepper, red cayenne pepper, Mexican oregano which is stronger than Greek oregano. The chicken pieces are tossed in the flour, drenched in plain milk, then returned to the flour for a second toss. There was very little flour wasted. I didn't measure it, but if I did, it would have been about half a cup. The chicken pieces are deep-fried in vegetable oil at 300℉ / 175 ℃ in two batches, dark pieces first. I am reusing 1 quart of oil, and for storage I do not want to go over that amount. The temperature is a bit on the low side for deep-frying purposes because time is needed for the internal temperature of the meat to reach 165℉ / 74 ℃. The temperature of the oil will drop by at least 20℉ / 12 ℃ so to anticipate that drop, if you happen to have a reliable thermometer, start out at 320℉ / 160 ℃ then cut the heat down when the oil temperature stabilizes. 

The chicken is rather large for an ordinary grocery store chicken. 

I've become more skillful at cutting these whole chickens. I learned to cut through the tendons at the major joint bones instead of hacking through bone like a Medieval brute. The trick is to locate the sweet spot where the blade can pass through with ease. It's fun! 

A single potato was cooked in the microwave, partly cooled and then peeled. The whole potato was pushed through a ricer into a bowl. Heated butter and milk was added to the riced potato then mixed.

A pat of butter with a tablespoon of cooking oil used for the chicken was heated with a rounded tablespoon of flour along with my favorite seasoning including 1/2 teaspoon Masala curry to form a flavorful roux. Cold commercial chicken broth and milk was whisked into the roux to desired thickness. 

You know what? Yesterday I looked closely at photo of a KFC meal with a bucket of chicken in the background and paper cups of side slaw and mashed potatoes, and paper cups with caps and straws sticking through, and a plasticized paper plate with pieces of chicken in the foreground. It was a poor photograph to begin with, grainy riddled with JPG artifacts. The photograph had obviously been carelessly handed. I studied the photograph. It made me sad. It forced a recall of the taste, and the taste is salt. Contrary to popular belief, the first ten of their 11 secret herbs and spices are not salt. For the heck of it, and out of sheer meanness and ridicule, here are the KFC secret special mix of herbs and spices which you can safely avoid:

2 tablespoons Accent (mostly MSG)

2 tablespoons paprika

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon onion salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground sage

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried marjoram

Notice two types of salt, three if you count the MSG in Accent. Two types of chile powders, one they call chili, who knows what that is exactly, probably cayenne, the other paprika which is the Hungarian, Croatian, Serbian word for 'pepper' referring to capsicum. So chili powder and paprika are two versions of the same thing. Dried basil is virtually worthless. Basil is spectacular when it is fresh but it looses everything of value when it is dried. Similarly, marjoram is mild and sweet. I wouldn't give 2¢ for this list of herbs and spices. <French accent> Go away, or I shall mock it a second time. </French accent>