Fried Chicken

  • Date : 01/26/2024

Scottish people brought fried chicken to American....... Do your research, shit crazy to know who fried chicken to the masses. I was very discouraged and almost disappointed in my finding, But I prevailed.......... Hannah Glasse was an English cookery writer (the way they talked back in the day is wild)of the 18th century. Her first cookery book, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, published in 1747, became the best selling recipe book of that century. Her recipe is really basic but for the the time she I will issue a pass. The recipe Chicken (of course) flour,salt, pepper, paprika and oil for frying. Enslaved people could only have chicken & fowl as livestock, so they didn't even eat it unless the chicken or fowl was sick or died. When the slaves did cook the chicken it was very time consuming, because now they had to pluck the feathers, clean both outside and inside of the chicken, break it down into pieces, season it and then marinate over night. Next day, flour the chicken and fry it. Would you be eating chicken everyday if you had to do all of that!!! Chicken has always been a lucrative business, Black people been resourceful, after the Civil War, jobs were far and in between for women especially. So after mastering fried chicken the women seeing the "gospel bird" as wonderful way to make money. In Gordonsville, Virgina the railway  had to 2 major stop in the town and no food being served on the train. So people either brought food with them or had to find something to eat. The weight carriers as the black women were called who served chicken, biscuit and pies to the people through the windows of the train. As usual the government saw what the platform vendors were doing, place rules and regulations in place that put them out of business. In the 50's, fried chicken went a national to an intentional thing. Fried chicken and watermelon was closely connected with racism to me for a long time. Growing up, I don't remember ever seeing other ethnicities eat fried chicken they way black people made it, I damn sure don't remember seeing ethnicities enjoy watermelon the way black people did. I really remember being made fun of for eating either one. I went to  schools with mixed cultured kids growing up in little Italy............... So for a long time I was ashamed to chicken and watermelon. I'm glad to say I'm not ashamed anymore. We as a people need to work on the racial myth making from television and media of all types perpetuating these stereotypes to this day. Historian Michael Tweety said "fried chicken it's a soul food classic, but it's not the whole of African American culinary heritage."