STOP Buying KFC! The $7 Sunday Chicken Dinner That Feeds Six

Half of what most of us were taught about frying chicken is backwards: egg wash that lifts off like a turtle's back, wet flour that floats loose like a lily pad, and smoking-hot grease that browns the outside but leaves the thigh pink at the bone. Mamaw June learned better at her Mama's elbow in a coal-mining holler in eastern Kentucky in the 1950s, beside the same wire cake rack Daddy bent in 1953. Seven rules fix it, from a buttermilk soak and a fifteen-minute rest on the rack to one inch of grease at 325 degrees and dark meat first. The real secret is the sound, a loud spattering sizzle that eases to a fine crackle like rain on a tin roof, and that change is when to turn it, with the lid left on till then. A seven-dollar fryer cut up at home makes Sunday fried chicken, pan gravy from the brown bits and a pot of broth, while a bucket for the same table costs about $728 to $1,092 more a year. THE RECIPES Skillet Fried Chicken Ingredients: 1 whole chicken, cut in 8 pieces 1 cup buttermilk 2 cups flour 2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon paprika (optional) About 6 cups lard or oil (1 inch deep) Steps: 1. Do not rinse the chicken. Turn the pieces in buttermilk and soak in the icebox 30 minutes or overnight. 2. Shake two pieces at a time in a paper sack with the flour, salt, pepper and paprika. 3. Rest on a rack 15 minutes, till the flour turns tacky and darker in spots. 4. Heat 1 inch of lard or oil in a 12-inch cast-iron skillet on medium-high, then hold at 325°F on medium. A pinch of flour should sizzle steady and float. 5. Lay the pieces in skin side down, thighs and drumsticks first, a finger's width apart. If they would touch, fry two batches, dark meat first. 6. Lid on. Turn each piece once when the loud sizzle drops to a fine crackle, about 7 to 8 minutes a side, till it reads 165°F in the thickest part away from the bone. 7. Drain on a rack over a sheet pan, salt lightly while hot, and leave it uncovered. Refrigerate within 2 hours, or 1 if it is hot out. 8. Strain the cooled grease through a coffee filter into a jar to fry again. Cost today: about $7 for the bird, and it feeds six with gravy and biscuits. Same-Skillet Chicken Gravy Ingredients: 4 tablespoons frying fat, with the brown bits 4 tablespoons flour 2 cups milk Salt and plenty of black pepper Steps: 1. Pour off all but 4 tablespoons of fat from the chicken skillet and keep the brown bits. 2. Stir in the flour and cook 2 minutes on medium, till it smells nutty. 3. Whisk in the milk a little at a time and simmer till it coats a spoon. Salt to taste and pepper it plenty. Cost today: the drippings are free; the rest is flour and milk from the pantry. Bone-Bag Broth Ingredients: Back, neck and wingtips, saved in a freezer bag marked bones Water to cover Steps: 1. When the bone bag fills, cover the bones with water in a pot. 2. Simmer low. Use the broth with the leftover meat for the next supper. Cost today: free, from the same $7 bird. CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 0:13 Why Frying Advice Goes Wrong 0:47 Family Recipes and Mistakes 1:26 Three Kitchens Explained 2:09 Seven Rules Overview 2:54 Meet Mamaw June 3:37 Buttermilk Soak 5:25 Setting the Coating 6:53 Grease Temperature and Depth 8:31 Dark Meat and Crowding 9:30 Listening Instead of Peeking 11:34 Drain It on a Rack, Not Paper 12:46 Making Gravy in the Skillet 13:44 Frying the Chicken Step by Step 15:44 Cutting Up Chicken to Save 17:33 What the Bucket Really Costs 18:13 Where to Start