TheScrotish migrantsfrom the southern states of Us had a tradition of deep frying chicken in fat and even before this they used to fry fritters in the middle ages.
The immigrants from Scotland would often labor, live and eat with the indentured Africans and this lead to the Africans adding some new seasonings to the procedure andgeneratingtheir own interpretationof crispy deep-fried chicken.
These Africans later evolved to be thefood preparersin many a Southern American family where crispy deep-fried chicken became a regular staple.
This is said to have come from a guy known as James Boswell who wrote ajournalin 1773 known as “journal of a Tour to the Hebrides”.
In his journal he noted that at meals the locals would eat fricassee of hen which he went on to say “crispy fried chicken or something like that”.
What he in reality heard was the Scottish dish Friars Chicken, not deep-fried chicken but you could say that where it was first named.They also observed that it travelled well inwarmweather conditions in the times before refrigeration was seen everyday so was eaten on almost an every day basis as they travelled to the cotton fields to work.
Since, it has become the south's best choicefor just about any occasion.
The very true origins of crispy deep-fried chicken we will probably never know but the earliest known food for crispy fried chicken in English is stashed in one of the most well-known culinary books of the 18th century by Hannah Glasse known as The Art of culinary Made Plain and Easy.
Her process had a strange name called “To Marinate Chickens” which was first available in 1747. The book was a hit in the United kingdom and more importantly in the US Colonies.
Here is the original mix...
Cut two chickens into pieces; marinate them in vinegar for 3-4 hours with pepper, salt, bay and a few cloves. Make a very thick batter first with ½ pint of wine and flour then 2 eeg yolksa little melted butter and nutmeg. Beat it all together well, dip yourchicken piecesin the batter and fry them in a good deal of hogs lardwhich must boil first before you put your fowl in. Let them be of golden incolour and arrange them on your dish with a garnish of fried parsley. Serve with cut lemon and a superior gravy. These days, we have substituted the hog fat with Rapeseed oil which features nearly zero trans fats and we use a brine of buttermilk and salt to season our chicken throughout. It’s amazing to think how far this process has went worldwide and how different cultures have adopted their own versions.
