#Soulfood Inspired Sunday! @Phamished Phried Chicken, Corn Bread, Peas, Potato + Gravy...Enough for 2 or 10 ;)

I've been waiting for AGES to be able to use a catchy alliteration hashtag so was super psyched I could use this #soulfood Sunday one! I have to give props to @gringalicious as I had always wanted to try making fried chicken (+ waffles) but seeing her post on this a while ago really inspired me so thanks!

PPC - Phamished Phried Chicken

Is that a really bad and #dadjoke worthy alliteration? #sorrynotsorry

There is something about fried chicken that is so extremely satisfying if you can master it. It sounds simple but there's a couple of really key things I found we had to do to avoid simple mistakes like undercooking / overcooking the chicken, getting the right crumb ratio, seasoning and flavour etc. I'll take you guys through these tips as we step through the feast making process

This post is slightly different as I was cooking with a friend and we made a TON of food so it was a little haphazard in the kitchen and a little less organised than I usually am - so not a straight recipe just a few techniques we used and lots of photos!

TIP ALWAYS buy the best produce you can, especially when it comes to the protein you're using. I bought Free Range chicken from a butcher and the chicken was moist, succulent and you could tell it was fresh. I've used supermarket chicken before and it's generally pretty good but I can tell the difference when using Free Range!

Ain't a Southern Comfort feast without CORNBREAD

This was our first go at making cornbread and I think they turned out wonderfully!! The crunchy top was to die for and we added a bit of sugar to ours (I know it's not traditional) but it made it super yummy and moreish.

(Yes we couldn't resist and had to try one!)

Mr. Mac & Cheese

Again, another staple that we had to cook. I used my cast iron skillet as it is so easy to work with and can easily go straight from the stove to the oven.

We used panko breadcrumbs with butter to top the mac and cheese so it added a lovely crunchy texture.

Frying the bird

This was probably the cleanest shot we could get of the frying process. I actually had a bit of a production line set up with my chicken - plain flour - batter - seasoned flour. I coated the chicken thoroughly in each step but then shook off any excess.

FAIL STORY - So we initially fried it in the tall silver stockpot you see above but it actually overflowed all over my stove and we could also only fry 2 pieces at a time!! We calculated we'd be frying for 90 minutes at this rate so we did a slightly dangerous manoeuvre and poured all the hot oil into a more shallow pan. I did the deed and luckily didn't spill a drop!

End Result?

Some damn fine PHRIED chicken if you ask me!! We were so pleased with our efforts as we're not chefs and I had heard making fried chicken had its difficulties but we were able to make it work!

The buffet made by 2 for 10...

(We were starving at this point so already got into the mac & cheese).

As you can see we made WAY too much food for TWO girls to eat. We comfortable had enough to feed 6 people I reckon.

Our beautiful cornbread...which you will notice half is missing as we kept snacking on it during cooking =P

Chicken and our mashed potato and gravy.

MY PLATE! A little of everything and wow we were so full and had a ton of leftovers.

Overall I'd say it was our most successful cook to date and now we've decided to make it a monthly/fortnightly thing where we have a 'themed' cooking day...stay tuned for our next one!!

@phamished xx