Fried Chicken by John T. Edge

Fried Chicken Reviews

• 
  Greg Brozeit

  More of an extended love letter, acclaimed food writer John T. Edge’s Fried Chicken is an insightful, joyous journey around the U.S. to discover the various ways this uniquely American food is prepared and enjoyed. Like so much of great American cuisine, its roots can be found in western Africa. “We know this: the tradition of cooking in deep oil has probable West African antecedents…Perhaps it will suffice to observe that, in the eighteenth century—while cooking for (and sometimes under the direction of) white slaveholders—women of African descent honed a dish we now know as fried chicken. And just leave it at that.”
  
  Edge tells us about the two sisters who fry their chicken in their mother’s ancient cast iron skillet in Cape May, New Jersey’s Chalfonte Hotel. We learn about the lost “waiter-carrier” tradition of Gordonsville, Virginia, an old railroad crossroad where black women would bring their fried chicken to windows of the waiting trains to sell to hungry travelers. He ponders about the variety of chicken and waffles that stretches from the Deep South to Los Angeles. And his ode to Austin Leslie, famed chef of Chez Helene (pronounced shez hell-len)—my favorite restaurant in the 80s in New Orleans that inspired the critically acclaimed, but now forgotten, televisions series Frank’s Place—describes the misunderstood genius he was. (Edge published this book in 2004. The sad postscript on Leslie is that he became a post-Katrina exile in Atlanta and died shortly thereafter of what many attribute to a broken heart.)
  
  We travel vicariously with Edge to Catholic-parish chicken dinners in the Midwest and bars in Buffalo to sample wings. He takes us back in time to Deacon Burton’s Grill, where fried chicken integrated Atlanta while Jim Crow ruled. We get a sense of the competitive Nashville hot chicken scene and the pan-fried chicken and cream gravy of Kansas City—the gravy is for the mashed potatoes, not the chicken. We get a peek into the brining methods of two masters from Georgia and Tennessee.
  
  We are introduced to the various ethnic influences that have inspired tasty variations. The Serbian-inspired breadcrumb crusted Barberton, Ohio chicken that comes from Amish farms (the fried backs of White House Chicken are my crusty, gluttonous favorites) inspires Edge’s most poetic proclamation, “True Barberton chicken must be cooked in lard, for a great crust requires liquid swine.” In the Southwest, a Guatemalan adobo sauce based recipe is growing strong roots. Chicago’s famed Italian garlic-infused version was pioneered by Chef Luciano, who is actually Dave Gupta, a New Delhi Indian who came to the U.S. in 1964. And as a Korean immigrant shuns his roots to run a successful fried chicken joint in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, in Atlanta a Korean-Japanese-American fusion is taking the hipster scene by force.
  
  Edge’s tales are wonderful snippets of American cultural history. Each short chapter includes recipes that he sleuths together—since most of subjects would never part with their secrets. If this book doesn’t make you hungry to get out and find some chicken (no chains please), then you must be a vegetarian. And even then, you might be tempted to switch sides. Now I think have to get over to White House Chicken for a box of backs, drumettes, and a serving of wallpaper paste-like mashed potatoes. Mmmm, mmmm!
• 
  Katherine

  I mean, he talks about fried chicken restaurants he's known and loved. How is this man not 400lbs.
  
  Bones Coffee will not stop showing me ads I clicked on it by accident stop showing me skeletons!
• 
  Jennifer

  Less a history than a culinary journey toward a heart attack, John Edge's Fried Chicken takes the reader on a cross-country tour of one of our nation's most iconic foods. Edge, who as the long-time director of the Southern Foodways Alliance certainly has deep fried-cred, travels from New Jersey to Ohio to Los Angeles, sampling recipes and soliciting stories from cooks from a diversity of traditions. It's genial and personable and well-told and the entire thing made me want to reach for a bottle of Lipitor.
  
  Given that I picked this up looking for more of an examination into the history of fried chicken, particularly in regard to its role in Black entrepreneurship during Reconstruction, I should have been disappointed, but Edge is too good a host for me to regret sharing a meal with him even if the menu wasn't quite what I expected. (In fairness, there's a touch of what I was looking for in the chapter on Gordonsville, VA, which discussed the waiter-carriers who had hocked their birds to the passengers on the trains that came through the junction there.)
  
  A word of caution: Read at your own risk, because this will definitely leave you wanting chicken and waffles.
• 
  Melissa

  Fried Chicken is the first in a series by John Edge that explores different American foods. Or at least those foods that Americans claim as their own. And this book combines a little bit of history with cookbook and food travel writing.
  
  Fried Chicken explores all the fried chicken of the regions. Southern to Ohio to New York's chicken wings to out on the west coast in Seattle. In each area, he details the history of the area and fried chicken and then goes on to explore a restaurant or two in the area. He lists out the merits (or downfalls) of each one. And at the end of the section he includes a recipe that's supposed to represent the fried chicken of the area.
  
  This is about food, not people. But there are some people that he focuses on. Mainly the cooks, who all seem to be characters of their own sort. But one thing ties them together, their love of food. And Edge seems to take great love in eating the food he travels all over to try. I especially liked the two ladies who worked at an inn and had for over fifty years, just like their mother before them. They were the most endearing story in the whole book.
  
  As for the readability of the book, I didn't really like it. It was too jumbled for my tastes. I liked the history, the recipes and the reviews of different places, but each chapter was way too short to really get the point across. We were reading about wings in New York when way too soon we were down in Tennessee learning about hot chicken. It was just little snippets of everything mashed together. And while some of it was interesting, it just didn't feel thorough. But it was a quick read.
  
  I'll still read more of the series because I like anything involving food. And there were some neat stories in this one. But I think he could have really made this into something special. Although he did make me want to infuse honey with rosemary.
  
  Fried Chicken: An American Story
  Copyright 2004
  180 pages
  
  Review by M. Reynard 2013
  
  More of my reviews can be found at
  www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com
• 
  Fuzzy Gerdes

  
  Fried Chicken is the first in a short series of books by
  John T. Edge exploring iconic American foods (
  donuts,
  hamburgers and fries, and
  apple pie are the other subjects). There are short sketches of distinctive fried chicken cooks and histories of several regional variations, and each chapter ends with a recipe. I was impressed that despite the fact that Edge is the director of the
  Southern Foodways Alliance that starts the book off with "fried chicken is best served without a side of provincial bluster" and gives equal weight to Guatemalan and New York fried chicken, for example. But most impressive to me was that I made it to page 100 before I took a trip to
  Popeyes. Love that chicken!
• 
  Julie Davis

  John T. Edge weaves a beguiling tapestry of food and culture as he takes us from a Jersey Shore hotel to a Kansas City roadhouse, from the original Buffalo wings to KFC, from Nashville Hot Chicken to haute fried chicken at a genteel Southern inn.

  
  
  You have to be interested in both food history and reading about fried chicken to like this book. I fit this description and found this little book very enjoyable. Edge has a comfortable, conversational style and provides 15 recipes to go alone with his voyage of discovery. I liked this enough to request the next in this series, "Apple Pie," from the library.
• 
  Letta Raven

  I am half way through Edge's series, which is filled with tales of food and Americana. If this book doesn't make you hungry for fried chicken, you must either hate chicken or have a will of iron.
  
  Edge's journey unearths the roots of fried chicken in the South and how many cultures have, coming to the States, put their own spin on things. From Latin American, Italian American to Chicken & Waffles and Honey & Rosemary gilded chicken, each page is more mouthwatering than the last.
  
  Thought provoking with humor and heart, John T. Edge is a writer worth reading for bite after delicious bite.
• 
  Melody

  What a pleasant surprise this was. It looks like a bargain bin book that would just be full of bland descriptions of people who really know how to fry up a chicken. I expected good recipes. The writing is as delicious as I imagine every single recipe listed must be. It even inspired me to try one of the recipes and to forget that I had declared that I would never fry chicken again. I got out my seasoned big iron skillet and made sure the oil was hot and the chicken was dry. It was yummy - no doubt. But frying chicken is just too damn messy. And then you have all that oil that you have to dispose of. Next time I must have fried chicken I will go out.
• 
  Jill

  This book has made me CRAVE fried chicken more than I usually do. Lot's of history of fried chicken stories and a bunch of recipes for different types. I was completely unaware of the different types that have apparently enjoyed prominence in the US at various times! Hot chicken, chicken with vinegar and pickles, fried with onions, fried with Asian spices, designed to serve cold, fried in butter... Fascinating and mouth-watering! Also, the recipes look pretty doable and not as labor or time intensive as I'd thought. I will be trying a couple of them.
• 
  Robert

  This is a great little ode to fried chicken. A very quick read with a lot of great and actually very simple recipes. Not really much more I could say about this neat little book. I did check this out from our local library and will be looking for a copy to add to our home library. I highly suggest all fried chicken fans give this one a go. There is even a little list at the back for some spots that the author states has great fried chicken (sorry KFC does not make the list).
• 
  Theresa Jehlik

  John Edge, a southern boy, sets out to prove that southern fried chicken is the best in the U.S. Part travelogue, part cookbook, Fried Chicken shares Edge's journey through 15 regional variations on the bird. He concludes that great fried chicken is found throughout the U.S. Recipes are included for those who want to fry chicken at home. I would rather eat at the restaurants mentioned and not have the fuss and smell of frying chicken at home.
• 
  Rick Segers

  This is one a four part series of books on uniquely American foods written by John Edge of the Southern Foodways Alliance. these are great books for foodies of course but also for fans of the particular foods. All feature great background and recipes.
• 
  Jennie

  Just want to head out, buy a slew of chickens and a vat of oil and start frying. Awesome fun. Also makes me want to go "study" at the Southern Foodways Alliance. Think I can convince them to let me focus on coconut cake?
• 
  Andre Hermanto

  This book makes me hungry.
• 
  Katie

  Really fun roadtrip book about chicken. (from my pre-veg days. I prefere Apple Pie now!)