ABigSlice Journal

July 6 : National Fried Chicken Day

Fried chicken, when it’s done well, is one of my favorite dishes. Sometimes I absolutely crave it, calories be damned! Being from the south, I grew up with aunts, uncles, and cousins crowded around the Sunday dinner table feasting on a pile of heavenly fried chicken. So it could very well be that the cravings are not solely a matter of hunger, maybe I am longing for those long past Sunday dinners.

Fried chicken probably came to America with the Scottish immigrants. There was a tradition of frying chicken in fat in Scotland that was unique in the British Isles . The English preferred boiled or baked chicken. But the African slaves took the dish and made the dish their own. Typically they were not allowed many possessions, but they were allowed to keep chickens. On special occasions, the chickens were deep fried and served steaming hot. But what set their dish apart from the Scots was the introduction of spices and herbs which added to the flavor of the chicken. Sunday dinner and fried chicken continue to go hand in hand in the south. And because it is delicious hot or cold, fried chicken has become a picnic and Fourth of July staple.

A little fried chicken trivia:
Kentucky Fried Chicken's consumers eat enough chickens for them to be laid end to end and circle the equator eleven times. The same amount of chickens would also equal the distance from earth to over 50,000 miles past the moon.

Keep reading for a wonderful Southern Fried Chicken recipe, and Tips for Perfect Fried Chicken every time!

Recipe for the Best Southern Fried Chicken

2 cups low-fat buttermilk
Coarse salt
3 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 whole chickens (2-½ to 3 pounds each), each cut into 10 serving pieces (wings, thighs, drumsticks, and 4 breast pieces)
3 cups self-rising flour
2 cups vegetable oil

Serves 8 | Prep time: 30 minutes | Total time: 1 hour

Marinating the chicken in buttermilk makes the meat moist and flavorful. Chicken breasts cook faster than other parts, so fry them separately in the last batch. For fried chicken with less fat and fewer calories, remove the skin before marinating.

1. In each of two 1-gallon resealable plastic bags, combine 1 cup buttermilk, 1/2 tablespoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne, and half the chicken pieces. Shake to coat; refrigerate up to 2 days.

2. In a large, shallow bowl, whisk flour with 2 tablespoons salt and remaining 2 teaspoons cayenne. (This pungent spice is made from ground dried chiles. Used in small quantities, it adds heat to dishes without being overpowering.) Dredge chicken pieces, one at a time, in mixture, shaking off excess.

3. In a 12-inch cast-iron skillet (or other heavy-bottom skillet), heat oil to 350° on a deep-fry thermometer (or until a pinch of flour sizzles when dropped in the oil).

4. Carefully add 1/3 of the chicken. Cook 10 minutes; turn chicken with tongs. Cook until golden brown, juices run clear, and internal temperature is 165°, about 10 minutes more. Transfer to a rack to drain. Season with salt, if desired. Return oil temperature to 350°. Repeat with remaining chicken.

Tips for Perfect Fried Chicken

1. Start with a good cast iron skillet, or an electric model. You want to use something heavy that holds the heat well and will not allow the oil to cool too rapidly as the chicken is added.

2. Marinate the chicken at least two hours in buttermilk, and if possible, overnight. Buttermilk makes the chicken more flavorful, and the acid in the milk tenderizes the meat.

3. Use self-rising flour. It has baking powder and baking soda which will cause the flour to rise somewhat when it comes into contact with the buttermilk. The crust will be crispy and light.

4. To keep things clean, place the flour in a paper bag. Add several pieces of chicken to the bag and shake. Before frying, let the coated chicken rest for about ten minutes on a wire rack. This gives the flour time to rise.

5. Use vegetable shortening and keep the pan hot. Keeping the oil hot causes the water in the chicken to begin boiling almost immediately. The pressure created by the steam trying to escape from the chicken keeps it from absorbing too much oil.

10 Steps to Building Better Sandcastles

1. Decide on the kind of castle you want to make. This doesn’t have to be an elaborate blueprint or rendering. Something as simple as, “I want a big, walled castle with a moat”, or “I want a tower fit for Rapunzel!” Once you have your vision, the work begins.

2. Now you need to pick a suitable spot on the beach. You want to be near the water, but not so near as to lose your creation to the relentless waves. On the other hand, as a kid, some of my favorite beach memories are my cousins and I desperately trying to save the castle from the onslaught. The best time is right after high tide. The water is receeding and you will have plenty of time to create your architectural masterpiece. Once you have found the perfect spot, draw a basic outline on the sand of you castle.

3. Nearby, dig a hole down to the water table. The sand there is dense and moist. The stuff from which the best castles are made. Often as you dig you will go through layers of tiny shells. These are not good to build with, but they are great to drip over the castle in strategic places, walls, roofs, etc.

4. Begin to shovel the wet sand from the hole into the middle of the outline that you have drawn. If you are lucky enough to have a team of architects, one person can be the scooper, and one can pack the sand as it in placed in the outline. Trade off from time to time to give the scooper a break..

5. You need to work as fast as possible. The beach is a windy place and you will notice that the windward side of your castle will begin to dry out rapidly. As it dries out it will begin to blow away.

6. Start in the center of your outline first. If you start with the walls you will constantly be stepping over them to work. If you desire a tower style castle, begin stacking the sand in layers as you would stack pancakes. The sides should be slightly sloping, wider at the bottom, more slender toward the top. Sprinkle water on the sand from time to time. A spray bottle is a great tool to keep the sand moist.

7. Starting at the top begin to shape your castle. Use anything available. Butter knives for walls and roof lines, spoons for windows and doors, forks for interesting texture, plastic molds and buckets are great too. Small sand shovels make wonderful stairways. Start with a ramp, and working from the top down, insert the shovel in vertically about a half inch, and pull it straight out horizontally. Work your way down step by step. Steps always add a certain quality to the overall look!

8. Castles can be any shape or size. Don’t feel pressured to produce Cinderella’s Castle if all you have in you is an Indian burial mound. But also don’t be afraid to go all out. However, if you ever feel that any part of your creation is unstable, do what the architects of old did…buttress it! Add angled supports her and there, it all adds to the gothic feel.

9. Now begin working on the walls. Add entrances on each side for trade and tourism.

10. Finally the moat, the one castle necessity! After all, it must be protected at any cost! A deep surrounding moat is just the ticket and a sure show stopper. Make sure that each of your entrances has a bridge across the moat. Use sticks or shells, or simply build up from the base of the moat to create a path.

Then, stand back and soak in all of the praise from the peasants content to simply walk up and down the beach.

As you can tell, I love making sandcastles and would spend hours and hours working on them. So parents, be aware. Make sure there is enough sunscreen to go around.

Here are some great sandcastle sites for inspiration:
Sandcastle Central
US Open Sandcastle Competition
Sandcastle Building 101

June 21 : The Summer Solstice

June 21 is the official first day of summer – although the temperature outside might convince you otherwise! Summer begins (so we are told) on what is called the summer solstice. A solstice occurs twice a year, June and December. Due to the fact that the earth’s axis of rotation tilts, in June, the northern hemisphere is tilted toward the sun, while in December it is the southern hemisphere that gets the most direct rays.

The word solstice come from the latin noun sol, meaning sun and the verb sistere or to stand still. During a solstice, the hours of daylight for the sun tilted hemisphere, is at its maximum. The sun seems to stand still in the sky. In other words before June 21 the hours of daylight grow, after, they get shorter.

Have you ever looked at a globe and wondered what are those strange lines called the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn? These lines mark the extent of the path of the sun on the respective solstices. This means that if you were standing on the Tropic of Cancer during the summer solstice, the sun would be directly overhead. However, these “tropics” are no longer correctly named. Due to what is called the processions of equinoxes (slight variations that occur between the actual day of the solstice and the calendar) these lines should more correctly be called the Tropic of Taurus and the Tropic of Sagittarius! There’s a little trivia for you!

Ancient agricultural societies built huge structures used in part to determine the solstice. Stonehenge is one such structure. On that day, celebrations featuring dances and bonfires, marked the beginning of summer and more importantly, the growing season. Cultures that depended on a plentiful harvest for survival needed to be sure that when the seed was planted, there would be no more days of frost. The summer solstice meant warmer days ahead, and safe planting.

Of course, most of these celebrations are in our distant past. In fact by the time June 21st rolls around I am usually thinking, “Hasn’t summer already started? Can it get any hotter?” Well, it can and certainly will. So find a cool tree, a nice beverage (see below), and a fan. It’s hot as sin, and not even summer yet!

The Pink Flamingo Smoothie Recipe

ingredients
makes two glasses
1/2 large green apple
1 handfull blueberries
1 peach (skinned)
1 frozen banana
3/4 cup orange juice
1/3 cup grape juice

preparation
Blend all ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth. Pour into 2 chilled glasses. Float three small blueberries as garnish. Best when all ingredients have been chilled before preparation. Result is a blue-flecked, dusty pink beverage.

June 17 : Father's Day

We honored mom back in May with breakfast in bed featuring our delicious Eggs Benedict. So now it is time to pay our respects to dad. For him we needed a dish that was hearty and filling. From our vaults we chose a roasted rack of lamb. (click for recipe) And as an interesting accompaniment, lemon verbena pesto! (see below for recipe)

But first we want to whet your appetite with a little Father's Day trivia.

It is believed that the tradition of Father's Day was started by Sonora Louise Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington. She was simply looking for a way to honor her own dad.

Based on the above fact, it isn't difficult to imagine that the first local Father's Day celebration was also in Spokane on June 19, 1910.

President Woodrow Wilson, in 1916, approved the "idea" of observing an annual Father's Day. But it took eight years and President Calvin Coolidge to make Father's Day a national event.

Still our poor dad's never really had a "date" of their own until 1966. In that year President Lyndon Johnson proclaimed the third Sunday of June as Father's Day.

For the card buying public, Father's Day ranks as the fourth most popular card-sending holiday. Have any idea what the others are? Well wonder no more!

The amount is dollars of cards sold.

1. Christmas : 2 billion
2. Valentine's Day : 188 million
3. Mother's Day : 150 million
4. Father's Day : 103 million
5. Easter : 80 million
6. Halloween : 29 million
7. Thanksgiving : 28 million
8. St. Patrick's Day : 10 million

So, here's to you dad. We may not send you as many cards as mom, but we love you just the same.

Lemon Verbena Pesto Recipe

This pesto is great alongside roasted rack of lamb. But it is also delicious with pasta.

ingredients
1/3 cup walnuts
6 large garlic cloves
2 cups fresh lemon verbena leaves (or herb of your choice, mint would be wonderful)
1 cup fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar

preparation
Finely chop walnuts and garlic in processor. Add 2 cups mint leaves and basil and chop finely. Add oil and vinegar and blend until pesto is smooth

Necktie Napkin Fold

If you want to deck out the Father's Day table in style, then you will need the perfect tablescape. Here are step-by-step instructions for a necktie napkin fold. Just as mention of the fabric choice. If you use traditional napkins, this fold works best with a 24 inch square (at least). Choose a masculine pattern like a stripe or paisley. We went to the fabris store and got a great piece with vintage automobiles. Then we cut our own squares and gave then a quick 1/4 inch hem. (click on the images for a closer view)

A. Begin with an open napkin, pattern side down. Place the napkin on an ironing board, diagonally. Fold the napkin into thirds. First the left side, and then the right. Make sure the overlap is even (and the tip of the tie is centered).

B. As in "A" fold the napkin into thirds again. Keep the folds and the tip of the tie centered.

C. Approximately one-third down the length of the napkin, fold the thin top point to the left and slightly down, so that it looks like drawing "D".

D. Turn the napkin over from side to side.

E. Take the thin point of the napkin and bring it over the main part of the napkin toward the left. This will become the knot of the tie.

F. Fold the point back and into a crease at the back, top part of the tie. This will form a very loose knot.

G. Carefully shape and tighten the knot until you are satisfied. Place a card to dad on top and the man of the house's place is set!