Fried Day

How about this? Yesterday was National Fried Chicken Day, and I didn't get one greeting card in the mail wishing me a happy NFC Day!

Chicken-fried steak

I don't know whose idea it was to salute America's Favorite Dinner with its own special day, but it was a good idea. Why do I say it's our favorite dinner? Because fried chicken is so good, it's even the best way to serve steak! It's sort of confusing, but if you take a hunk of cube steak and fry it up as if it were chicken, you've got something tasty right there.

There are several methods for having great fried chicken for dinner.  It all starts with pieces of chicken - breast, leg, thigh and wing - breaded or floured, and then cooked: in a pan with an inch or two of oil, in a deep fryer in which the pieces go for one last swim, or done up in a pressure cooker.

But the fastest and easiest, and probably tastiest way is to get into the Studebaker and ride over to see Colonel Sanders or Popeye or Baltimore County's own amazing Friendly Farm - all places to get fried chicken cooked by someone else, and quite well, too.

On his way to Popeye's

In the Olde Worlde, English people baked chicken, or boiled it, which is why you've never seen a chain called "Andy Capp's Boiled Chicken." It was the Scottish who heated up some cooking oil and tossed in some chicken. This revolutionized the world, especially after some clever Scot invented tongs to get the chicken out of the oil and onto his plate, thereby avoiding the dreaded "burned finger syndrome."  

Because of this, we are able to forgive Scotland for bagpipes and golf.

I hope your Fried Chicken Day was tasty and crispy and slathered in hot sauce!