my best fried chicken on record

so, fried chicken. always good, less often spectacular. sometimes really gross. if there's one thing i can't stand (and there are many such things) it's soggy, greasy, or flavorless fried chicken. this has been the foremost reason that i don't make fried chicken that often, although the result tends to be 'okay' it has not been much to write home about. well, no more. i have come across a method which produces crispy, flavorful chicken that is neither greasy, soggy, nor dry. we start with 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs. combine one egg, 1/4 cup evaporated milk, and one teaspoon dijon mustard. pat the chicken dry and put in a bowl or plastic bag with the egg mixture. mix 1/2 cup all purpose flour with 1/2 cup whole wheat flour season with garlic salt, black pepper, rubbed sage, paprika, and parsley flakes. don't be afraid of the seasonings either, remember this is the seasoning for the whole batch. put the flour mixture into a shallow dish, and dredge each piece carefully patting flour into all the nooks and crannies, then place them on a tray to rest for a minute. heat about 1/2 cup canola oil in a non stick pan (get your nose out of the air and go with me on this one, please) to a medium high heat. pre heat oven to 350, and prep a baking pan with some slightly crumpled heavy duty foil. the purpose of the foil is to create ridges and pockets, to allow the chicken to drain as it finishes in the oven. if you want to mess around cleaning grease and bits of breading off of a cooling rack you could rig something up with a cooling rack in a roasting pan, i leave it to you. now check your chicken, there are probably spots where the egg has soaked through the flour layer leaving sort of soggy places, gently pat a bit more flour on any such soggy spots you come across, with out knocking the flour off the rest of the piece, it's not necessary to re dredge the whole lot. now fry in small batches until brown on both sides (about 3 minutes per side) removing to the foil lined pan. be sure you don't crowd the pan, the pieces of chicken should not touch, and should be surrounded completely by oil. bake at 350 uncovered for about 30 mins to finish the cooking and drain the oil from the breading. even if you have a method of making fried chicken that you love, i encourage you to try this, there's something different and very tasty about the result, maybe from the evap. or maybe from the mustard, either way it's delicious.

English style beef ribs

i have mentioned that every year my husband and i buy a half a beef from some friends of ours who raise them locally, this year in discussing the cutting method with my butcher he asked me if i wanted the short rib strips or the english style short ribs. i was intrigued. he warned that they were slow cookers, not bbqers and that they might be tough. thus faced with a challenge i really had to order them and see what could be done. can such a cut be purchased from your local butcher or meat counter? you'll have to ask. what they look like is thin broad blades of bone, about 4 inches long with a good amount of meat on them, but also quite a bit of membrane and also fat. here's what i did to make them tender and also delicious: heat crock pot to high, salt and pepper the ribs liberally. throw them in with the fattiest side down. peel a head of garlic. no joke. if it's a particularly large bulb, perhaps 2/3 would do, but you need about 12 cloves or so, crush them with the flat of your knife and add them to the pot. add 1 cup strong coffee, and 1 or 2 cups of water. bring to simmer and turn crock down to low, cook for 6 to 8 hours or until falling apart. the juice will be quite fatty, but really delicious from the significant amount of bone, strain it, skim it and make deletable gravy with it. serve with buttered egg noodles and enjoy!