>  ML> In a moment of brainfart, I wondered what
>  ML> you were doing living in a hadron collider.
> Pure lazyness on my part.  Lake Havasu City Arizona (LHC) as compared to Havasu
> Lake California, which is straight west across the lake and for those who care,
> the nearest casino.  Looking at the map it looks like I was pretty close to the

I was at the biggest California casino a few
weeks back - Pechanga (I hadn't heard of it
before); it's almost exactly the same size
as the Wynn/Encore, the largest Vegas complex
just under 200Ksf for the both combined. It's 
hard to imagine facilities of that size 
dedicated to the ruination of humanity. but
other than the twinned scents of greed and 
despair, and the noise, I didn't mind it too 
much - the food court had gigantic fried 
chicken thighs fof $3.27.

> other LHC a few years back.

The closest I ever got to there was Lyon,
a couple hundred klicks off.

>  ML> We tried that yesterday. For some reason,
>  ML> Costco had Choice strips for $8, a buck
> Unfortunately the nearest Costco is in Henderson Nevada, which is exactly 150
> miles from my door.  I'll be there on December 14 and considered buying bulk
> meats but decided it's 2+ hours in the trunk to get it back here and I don't
> have a cooler.  I have to take the car in for a recall in Henderson (airbags

If you renew your AARP for two years, 
they send you an insulated cooler for 
free. They just sent Lilli a notice of 
the offer, but she already has a bag.

> and sunroof), they're shuttling me over to the Costco and I have an appointment
> to be tested for a new set of hearing aids.  I'll have to drive back a week or
> so later to get them after they're ordered.

Lilli has bad things to say about the
optical shop; of course that doesn't
necessarily carry over to the audiology
department, but it may be indicative.

> BTW, the car mechanic here in LHC has a shop rate of $120/hr.  Which is more
> than the guy in Anchorage charges.

That's a bunch. So he can afford to send 
the kids to Princeton so they can make 
half as much.

> Today I have to chop up the package of chorizo in the freezer.  I buy those
> little packages in the plastic tube, freeze them, chop them into 1.5-2" chunks
> and suckie bag them.  Here's your next freezing challenge.  Take the 8" wide
> bag and put a seam from top to bottom in the middle.  That way you can do 2 of
> those chunks with the same amount of baggage linearly.  I do this for small
> amounts of things used for flavoring like duxelles, tomato paste, celery, and
> green peppers.

Clever idea. That would mean bypassing the
cutter to make the middle seam, which is
something I'm not ready to learn to do yet.

Fried Chicken with Gravy
categories: southern, main
servings: 4

1 (3 to 3 1/2 lb) broiler-fryer, cut up for frying
2 ts salt
1/4 ts black pepper
3/4 c unsifted all-purpose flour
oil for frying or lard, if you can get it
- (Mrs. McCollum used lard)
1 Tb water
h - Gravy
4 Tb skillet drippings
1/3 c unsifted all-purpose flour
2 c water or milk, if you prefer milk gravy (the McCollums don't)
1/2 ts salt, or to taste
1/8 ts black pepper, or to taste

Arrange the pieces of chicken, not touching and 
one layer deep, in a shallow baking dish or 
nonreactive pan. Sprinkle with the salt, cover, 
and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to fry the chicken, drain off all 
accumulated juices and pat the chicken dry on 
several thicknesses of paper toweling. Sprinkle 
the chicken with the pepper, then dredge by 
shaking a few pieces at a time in the flour in 
a plastic zipper bag. As you remove the chicken 
from the dredging flour, shake off the excess.

Pour the oil into a large iron skillet to 1" deep, 
set over moderate heat, and as soon as steam 
begins to rise from the oil, add the pieces of 
chicken, skin side down. Fry slowly for 30 min, 
keeping the heat at moderate or moderately low 
so that the chicken doesn't overbrown; turn and 
fry 30 min more. Add 1 Tb water (the oil will 
spit and sputter), cover the skillet, and let 
stand until the spitting stops.

Remove the chicken to several thicknesses of paper 
toweling to drain, arranging so the pieces don't 
touch one another. Also lay a sheet of paper 
toweling on top.

For the gravy: Pour the oil and drippings from 
the skillet, then spoon 4 Tb of them back into 
the skillet. Blend in the flour, and cook and 
stir over moderately low heat for 5 min tol a 
nice rich brown. Whisk in the water, salt, and 
pepper, then cook, whisking constantly, for 
about 5 min until thickened, smooth, and no 
raw starch taste lingers. Taste for salt and 
pepper and adjust as needed. Pour the gravy 
into a heated gravy boat.

Pile the chicken onto a heated platter and serve. 
Pass the gravy along with a basket of fresh-baked 
biscuits . 

Garnet McCollum via Jean Anderson, A Love Affair with 
Southern Cooking ... so one might serve it with a 
chilled Burgundy and call it poule Anderson.
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