{"id":39957,"date":"2014-04-29T12:35:41","date_gmt":"2014-04-29T17:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=39957"},"modified":"2021-06-04T15:41:41","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T20:41:41","slug":"make-dinner-tonight-3-southern-comfort-food-recipes-to-slow-down-and-savor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/living\/food-drink\/make-dinner-tonight-3-southern-comfort-food-recipes-to-slow-down-and-savor\/","title":{"rendered":"Make Dinner Tonight: 3 Southern Comfort Food Recipes to Slow Down and Savor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Vintage<\/p>\n

As kids, Momma would always allow my sister Ashley and I to pencil our dinner ideas into a monthly calendar. For her, such a practice created one less thing to think about — no more \u201cwhat\u2019s for dinner\u201d questions. Ashley and I also ensured that pizza and taco night were a weekly occurrence.<\/p>\n

But every now and then, Daddy would catch wind of a meal that didn\u2019t suit his tastes, and that whole “plan” thing went kaput.<\/p>\n

You see, Daddy is a meat-n-potatoes kind of guy. In other words, no frills or hard-to-pronounce dishes; he simply sought the comfort foods of his youth to ease the stress of travel and a busy work week.<\/p>\n

On such evenings, I remember Momma spending a bit more time to make our nightly dinner — standing over the stove watching chickens fry to a golden brown in hot oil contained by a cast-iron skillet that was as old as the Great War.<\/p>\n

Though I resented Daddy for scraping our planned pasta Mediterranean, it was typically just a few bites into Momma\u2019s Southern comfort foods that made such resentment quickly fade — leaving plenty of room for a satisfying food coma, washed down with gulps of sweet tea.<\/p>\n

Nowadays, it seems that I\u2019m always in flux, cooking my wife Callie and I a dinner based on what\u2019s in season, what I\u2019m testing, or what\u2019s on sale at the store. I couldn\u2019t even commit to a weekly meal calendar, as it seems I\u2019ve become a slave to life\u2019s demands, manuscript deadlines, and red-eye flights.<\/p>\n

But sometimes — I put a stop to all that nonsense. I scrap the plans. Work can wait and travel can be rearranged.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s in such moments that you\u2019ll find me in my home kitchen — not whipping up a souffl\u00e9 or putting together a crudit\u00e9 platter. Rather, I\u2019ll be standing over that same hand-me-down skillet, frying up chicken in the tradition of my ancestors, and allowing the following dishes to remind me that dinner tonight is not just a monotonous planned activity — it\u2019s a chance to slow down and enjoy the best of what life has to offer. So, tonight, I\u2019d like to thank Momma for teaching me how to fry the chicken, and Daddy for teaching me how to savor the entire <\/em>flavor.<\/p>\n

Cast-Iron Skillet Fried Chicken <\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"Fried<\/p>\n

There is nothing better than frying chicken in a cast-iron skillet<\/a>. Down south, such a method is the only way to “properly” fry a chicken \u2013 yielding a crispy golden skin, only to give way to moist, tender chicken. My grandfather, a butcher by trade, always said that the best frying chickens were those that weighed in at around 2-3 lbs. Finding a chicken that size is easier said than done nowadays, as most whole chickens are double that size — which certainly raises some concern! So, in this instance, I suggest buying a smaller organic or free range bird — you can taste the results. You guys have been clamoring for my grandmother\u2019s fried chicken recipe for quite a while — which this is not — I\u2019m saving it for my new book<\/a>! Regardless, this is a damn good version that wins approval in any Southern kitchen.<\/p>\n

Ingredients <\/strong><\/p>\n