I remember when they first invented chocolate

I REMEMBER WHEN THEY FIRST INVENTED CHOCOLATE HOW TO

Upon receiving my first copy, I knew that I must learn how to bake something called Hummingbird Cake, which I had never heard of before. Southern Living is a lifestyle magazine that features house and garden plans, information on Southern culture, and more importantly, real Southern recipes. I had been told that it was the Bible for all proper Southern ladies, and I desperately wanted to fit in.

When I moved to the South twenty years ago, the first thing I did was to order a subscription to Southern Living Magazine. Photo Credit: Buttermilk Fried Chicken by Arnold GatilaoВ is used under CC BY 2.0. Music credit: Once Tomorrow (Instrumental Version) by Josh Woodward is used under CC BY 3.0. And remember that no matter how much fried chicken you make, it will never be enough вЂ“ so you might want to make a double batch! That way your fried chicken will be super tender and juicy, even if you serve it cold. I like to brine the chicken pieces for several hours, and then let them soak in buttermilk overnight.

But no matter what side dishes you serve, itвЂ™s the fried chicken that is the shining star in this meal.Д«e sure to plan ahead when you make your fried chicken. Northerners like it with mashed potatoes, corn, and baked beans. In Maryland, fried chicken is always served with gravy. Here in Florida, I always serve okra and tomatoes, collard greens, biscuits, and sweet tea with fried chicken.

I think the regional differences in this dish are the sides that are served with it. That way my house doesnвЂ™t smell like fried chicken for a week.ДЇried chicken is considered to be a Southern dish, but we ate a lot of fried chicken in New England where I grew up. Traditionally, you should cook your fried chicken in a cast iron skillet, but I use an old fashioned electric skillet, because I can control the temperature of the oil, and I plug the skillet in on my screened- in porch. And itвЂ™s really quite easy to make, although it is a little messy. It was only natural that the combination of flour, lard, a chicken, and a heavy pot would be the beginning of todayвЂ™s fried chicken.ДЇried chicken made from scratch is delicious hot, cold, or at room temperature right out of a picnic basket. The economic and caloric necessity of consuming lard led to the popularity of fried foods, and in the 19th century, cast iron became widely available for use in cooking. Lard was used for almost all cooking and was a fundamental component in many common farmhouse foods, like biscuits. Backyard and small-scale hog production provided an inexpensive means of converting waste food into calories, in the form of rendered lard. But it didnвЂ™t begin with the chicken вЂ“ it began with pork. And fried foods came about over that very critical need. But did you know that back in the 18 th and 19 th century, Americans needed extra fat and calories in their diets, just to survive. These days, it seems like everyone is watching their weight, and youвЂ™ll never see fried chicken on any diet plan. Today, every grocery and convenience store sells fried chicken, and all the sides to go with it, but honestly, itвЂ™s not nearly as good as homemade. But somehow, we lost the skill or desire to cook fried chicken, turning to buckets of overly- seasoned KFC. Remember Florence Henderson frying up chicken with вЂњWesson-alityвЂќ back in the 70s and 80s? In those days, homemade fried chicken was one of the most mouth-watering and welcome dishes you could serve to your family and friends. Forty years ago every housewife in America knew how to cook fried chicken.

I remember when they first invented chocolate