TheScottish immigrantsfrom the southern states of America had a tradition of deep-frying chicken in fat and even further back they used to fry fritters in the middle ages.
The migrants from Scotland would often work, live and eat with the African slaves and this lead to the Africans adding some other seasoning to the procedure andbuildingtheir own interpretationof fried chicken.
These Africans later evolved to be thefood preparersin many a Southern American home where crispy fried chicken became a ordinary staple.
This is said to have come from a man known as James Boswell who wrote ajournalin 1773 known as “record of a Tour to the Hebrides”.
In his journal he noted that at an evening meal the local people would eat fricassee of rooster which he went on to say “deep-fried chicken or something like that”.
What he really heard was the Scottish dish Friars Chicken, not crispy deep-fried chicken but you could say that where it was first named.They also observed that it journeyed well inhottemperatures prior to refrigeration was seen everyday so was consumed on almost an every day basis as they went to the cotton fields to work.
Since, it has become the southern state's top choicefor just about any occasion.
The very true origins of crispy deep-fried chicken we will probably never know but the earliest known procedure for crispy deep-fried chicken in English is obscured in one of the most renowned culinary books of the 18th century by Hannah Glasse called The Art of cookery Made Plain and Easy.
Her dish had a strange name named “To Marinate Chickens” which was first in print in 1747. The book was a hit in the England and more importantly in the Usa Colonies.
Here is the original dish...
Cut two chickens into quarters; 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 thoroughly, dip yourfowlsin the batter and fry them in a excellent deal of pork shorteningwhich must boil first before you put your fowl in. Let them be of light golden incolour and place them on your platter with a garnish of fried parsley. Serve with lemons and a first-class gravy. Now, we have exchanged 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 procedure has walked worldwide and how different cultures have adopted their own versions.
