Themigrants from Scotlandfrom the southern states of Us had a custom of deep frying poultry in lard and even previously they used to fry fritters in the middle ages. The migrants from Scotland would often labor, live and eat with the African Americans and this lead to the Africans adding some extra seasonings to the recipe andproducingtheir own versionof crispy fried chicken. These Africans later became thefood preparersin many a Southern American household where crispy deep-fried chicken became a ordinary staple. They also learned that it journeyed well inhotconditions before refrigeration was everyday so was eaten on almost an every day basis as they went to the cotton fields to work. Since then it has become the region’s top choicefor just about any occasion.
This is said to have come from a gentleman known as James Boswell who wrote alogin 1773 named “record of a Tour to the Hebrides”. In his record he noted that at mealtime the locals would eat fricassee of hen which he went on to say “crispy fried chicken or something like that”. What he actually heard was the Scottish dish Friars Chicken, not fried chicken but you could say that where it was first named.
The very true origins of fried chicken we will probably never know but the earliest known formula for crispy deep-fried chicken in English is obscured in one of the most well-known cookery books of the 18th century by Hannah Glasse named The Art of cooking Made Plain and Easy. Her procedure had a strange name named “To Marinate Chickens” which was first available in 1747. The book was a hit in the United kingdom and more importantly in the US Colonies.
Here is the original food...
Joint two chickens into quarters; marinate them in vinegar for 3-4 hours with pepper, salt, bay and a few cloves. Make a very thick batter first with ½ pint of wine and flour then 2 eeg yolkssome melted butter and nutmeg. Beat it all together very well, dip yourfowlsin the batter and fry them in a good deal of pork shorteningwhich must boil first before you put your fowl in. Let them be of bronze incolour and set them on your dish with a garnish of fried parsley. Serve with lemons and a high-quality gravy. Today, we have substituted the hog fat with Rapeseed oil which contains nearly zero trans fats and we use a brine of buttermilk and salt to season our chicken throughout. It’s amazing to think how far this food has walked worldwide and how different cultures have adopted their own versions.
