FRIED FOURTH

Ever since I bought it I've been wanting to try some recipes from "The Gift of Southern Cooking," a highly recommended book of Southern recipes and July 4th seemed the time to do it.

First of course, if it's July 4th, that means that Takeru Kobayashi must be competing at Nathan's Famous' Hot Dog Eating Contest Tuesday in Coney Island. As I've said before, I'm a sucker for this stuff so before we set out for our own celebration we sat down to watch the master-eaters. For the first time in the three years since I started watching the competition it was actually a close race. Joey Chestnut, a challenger to title-holder Takeru Kobayashi (previous record was 53 & 1/2 hot dogs) actually led the contest for a little while and ended up finishing at 52 dogs and buns to Kobayashi's new world record of 53 and 3/4 dogs in 12 minutes.

It was the 6th straight victory for Kobayashi (pictured at left). While the initial tally of 54 (Deadspin discusses the final ruling and includes more pictures--man is Kobayashi cut) was eventually revised down to 53 & 3/4, it was still amazing to watch him at work, even more so with a real race on his hands. Anyway, I'm sure there are more ESPN commercials for Kobayashi come. The Black Widow, a petite Asian woman, came in third. Amazing.

After watching the contest on television we left Brooklyn for Long Island. For the past several years we'd been watching the fireworks on our next-door neighbors' rooftop (we used to live in the building-- long story) but we decided this year to get out of Brooklyn and use my folks' house, pool and eight-burner stove (I dream of this thing) out on Long Island.

Above, the closest pan to the farthest, apple-cherry filling for fried pies, tomato gravy to accompany fried chicken and a pot of vegetable oil for fries. Left, a few unhealthy snacks while I cooked.

Southern Pan-Fried Chicken

3-pound chicken, cut in 8 pieces, brined for 8-12 hours
1 Quart Buttermilk
1 Pound Lard
1 Stick Unsalted Butter
1/2 Cup Country-Ham Pieces
1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Fresh-Ground Black Pepper

Drain brined chicken, rinse brining bowl and return chicken then cover with buttermilk and refrigerate 8-12 hours. Drain on rack and discard buttermilk.

Put lard, butter and country ham into heavy skillet or frying pan. Cook over low heat 30-45 minutes, skimming until butter stops foaming and ham browns. Remove ham and just before frying increase to medium-high and heat fat to 335F.

Prepare dredge, blending flour, cornstarch, salt and pepper in shallow bowl or on wax paper. Dredge chicken through mixture and slip skin side down into heated fat. Cook 8-10 minutes on each side til chicken is golden brown and cooked through. Drain and serve.

To accompany the fried chicken I made a Tomato Gravy, also from "The Gift of Southern Cooking."

Tomato Gravy

2 Tablespoons bacon fat
1 Cup Finely Diced Onion
2 Large Cloves Garlic, Finely Minced
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 1/2 Teaspoons Dried Thyme
1 Tablespoon All-Purpose Flour
1 Pound Tomato, fresh/canned, peeled, seeded and chopped
1/2 Cup Milk
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream

Heat bacon-fat in skillet, add diced onion and saute over medium-high heat for five minutes, stirring. Add garlic, 1 teaspoon of salt, fresh pepper, thyme and cook for five minutes. Sprinkle flour over and cook, stirring for two minutes. Stir in chopped tomato and remaining salt and cook 5 more minutes. Slowly stir in milk and heavy cream and simmer for five minutes. Taste seasoning and adjust. Serve hot.

Two sides I made were regular french fries and then avocado fries. The avocado fries were inspired by a Food Stuff item by Florence Fabricant in The Times a ways back but I simplified it. Her recipe follows:

Halve, pit and peel them and slice into sticks about 1/2-inch thick. Dust them with flour, then dip them into buttermilk, and then into a mixture of half flour, half panko (coarse Japanese breadcrumbs) seasoned to taste with chili powder. Quickly deep-fry them in corn oil until they are just lightly browned. Serve at once with ketchup that you have seasoned to taste with chipotle powder or chipotle purée.

I'm sure they're tasty but I just sliced, peeled and fried the wedges then salted them. They ended up being crisp on the outside and delightfully creamy inside. Even when they cooled down later and weren't quite as crisp on the outside they were still a pleasant alternative.

I cheated twice today: once by buying store-bought cole-slaw (I didn't have the heart to bring the mandoline or to chiffonade) and doctored it up with more vinegar and finely chopped jalapenos; the second time by buying pre-made pie dough.

I peeled some apples, chopped them and tossed them in some lemon juice, sugar and water with fresh, pitted cherries for filling, filled the pre-made dough and fried up the pies. They were a hit with some vanilla ice cream (left).

The tomato gravy and the avocado chips were big hits as were the pies. The chicken was okay but I need to work at preparing it again keeping in mind some things I need on frying and lard.

Lastly, we drank Central Park Iced Teas, a standby-recipe sworn-to-satisfy by a friend who is a Central Park fanatic. Recipe to come...

Erin's Central Park Iced Tea

4 Parts Fresh-Brewed Iced Tea (black teas w/peach or mango flavor are best)
1 Part Peach Nectar
1 Part Captain Morgan Rum
1 Part Gosling's Black Seal Rum
Peach Schnapps to taste

Brew the tea fresh, mix ingredients and serve over ice. Enjoy with friends in park on hot summer day but be careful, it goes down pretty easy...