Grandma's Improved Southern Fried Chicken

1 frying chicken pieces, washed & cleaned (“guts” removed)
2 cups all-purpose flour
seasoning salt
freshly ground black pepper
Italian seasoning
Red pepper flakes
parsley
minced onion
minced garlic

In a large bowl, combine the flour and other ingredients to taste. I just sprinkle the amount of each I desired onto the flour then mix it up. Thouroughly coat each chicken piece with the flour mixture.

Preheat about 1-2 inches of cooking oil in a large skillet or deep fryer. (I use an electric deep skillet that works perfectly for frying chicken - a deep fryer also works beautifully. I set the temperature to 350 degrees. My grandmother always used a cast iron skillet on top of the stove but they’re such a pain to clean.)

When a few drops of cold water added to the oil sizzles, put coated chicken into the skillet or deep fryer. Fry on each side until golden brown.

I always put the cooked chicken into a large aluminum foil roasting pan then put into a 350 degree oven with a lid for about 10 minutes to be sure that the chicken is cooked throughly.

I serve the chicken with a large pan full of my creamy mashed potatoes (I peel then cook large Idaho potatoes in enough water to cover, boil until fork tender, drain, add 1 pint of whipping cream, 1 stick of butter or margarine, a sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper, mash the potatoes until creamy & serve), and a pan full of boiled broccoli florets which I cook just until tender (not soggy), drain then pour my creamy cheese sauce on top (1 or 2 cup bag of shredded Italian cheese & 1/2 - 1 pint of whipping cream that I cook stirring constantly until cheese dissolves & is creamy). My large family really loves this meal which is probably one of their favorites.

Incidentally, my husband & I love peppers, onions & mushrooms while our 17 children & 7 grandchildren claim that they don’t like peppers, onions & mushrooms, I get sneaky occasionally & add them to the flour mixture when our children & grandchildren aren’t looking - (finely chop a few green, yellow, red bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, habanero peppers, onions, any kind of mushrooms, then add them to the flour mixture.)

Because our children & grandchildren don’t know that there are peppers, onions & mushrooms in the coating mixture on the chicken, they gobble it down & there are no leftovers. After they’ve all made pigs of themselves, the look on their faces when I tell them what little “secret” ingredients I added to the flour mixture that I coated the chicken pieces with is hillarious.

The added ingredients to traditional southern fried chicken coating really adds to the flavor. We all think that you’ll enjoy this too.

NOTE: Yes, this is a “high cholesterol” meal that doctors would frown upon but my husband & I are of the opinion that we’re all going to die someday regardless of what we eat so we might as well die happy - eating food that we enjoy rather than food that doctors recommend that we may not enjoy the flavor of.

17 children !!! Oh my goodness! You’re a good woman!