We chickened out of the bacon grease

My grandmothers were bakers, one a city gal and the other a mountain matriarch. Grandma Fey matched earrings to her stylish pantsuits and took day trips to Pogue’s Department Store in downtown Cincinnati. Her specialties were peach pie and chocolate cake. Grandma Jay preferred housecoats, hot tea and front porch gossip. Her specialties were walnut rolls and apricot cookies. They shared a fierce love of family, a tendency toward shyness and a fondness for fried food.
Grandma Fey made good ole southern fried chicken. Grandma Jay fried tender veal cutlets. We channeled both of them yesterday when we made ourselves a crispy batch of fried chicken.
I know they’d be a little disdainful of the adjustments we made. Grandma Fey used bacon grease to fry her chicken and Grandma Jay, I’m sure, had no use for Panko bread crumbs.
For Molly and me, though, whose arteries were still recovering from our buttery Thanksgiving, these ingredients proved to be a happy compromise.
In the coming weeks, we’ll share with you some of my grandmothers’ wonderful recipes. For today, though, we’re posting Molly’s soon-to-be-famous fried chicken, which could only have been more delicious with a little bacon grease.

Two Eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup Flour
Salt
Pepper
4 boneless chicken breasts
Canola Oil

Cut chicken breasts in half, season with salt and pepper and pound with a meat tenderizer hammer.
In one bowl, beat eggs with milk. Pour bread crumbs in a second bowl and flour in a third.
Dip chicken in flour, then eggs, then bread crumbs.
Pou about a half inch of canola oil in frying pan and heat on high. Add breaded chicken. Turn heat to medium high and fry chicken approximately five to 8 minutes on each side. Remove from heat and drain chicken pieces on paper towels.

Here are your ingredients. We only used a half box of bread crumbs.

Our favorite part is pounding the chicken with the meat tenderizer hammer. Here Molly is using a garlic press because her older sister borrowed our hammer and we haven’t seen it since.

Whisk the milk into the eggs.

Dunk the floured chicken piece into the egg mixture.

Coat the floured, egged breast in the bread crumbs.

There she sits, ready to be fried.

We suggest completing the breading process before you fry.

It’s canola oil. If you have bacon grease on hand….

This is what they should look like when you flip them.

Here they are, ready from some baked potatoes, crisp salad and corn on the cob