Now THIS is Fried Chicken

Look at that... THAT is fried chicken. What makes it different than any other fried chicken you ask? Oh let me tell you my dear. THIS is what makes the difference.This marvelous device:

If you don't have a deep fryer, you really are missing out. And they're good for more than just making chicken that looks this good.

I made MUCH more than Dad, LD & I could eat for dinner tonight. I used the "boneless, skinless chicken tenders" that you can find at Costco - They come all cut up and packaged into pouches. I used three pouches (About 30 pieces of Chicken total). Marinaded in Italian dressing for a few hours, then drained it. Coated in flour, dipped in and egg and 1/2 & 1/2 mix and then breaded it in equal parts plain bread crumbs and Parmesan Cheese. A few minutes in the deep fryer and they were prefect.

Add Easy Chicken Gravy, some biscuits and a veggie of your choice (or a salad) and you've got a fairly easy meal. The hardest part was cooking all that chicken! It just took quite a bit of time, but the deep fryer made it painless - literally - no hot oil splattering on me!

Easy Chicken Gravy:
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
1 can chicken broth
A generous splash of heavy cream
parsley

Melt the butter in a sauce pan, add flour and wisk together - it will start to thicken immediately. Add the chicken broth, mix well and then add the cream. If the chicken flavor isn't strong enough you can add a couple teaspoons of chicken bullion. Add a tablespoon or so of dried parsley and stir and simmer till it thickens - should only take a few minutes!

From French Fries, Onion Rings, Mozarella Sticks and Fried Zuchinni to  Donuts, and Oh so much more. Yeah, I know, you can fill a deep pan with oil and achieve very similar results. However, the biggest difference comes when it's time to clean up. The last time I made my Italian Fried Chicken, I fried the pieces in a deep frying pan. It required turning them over mid way through the cooking. And the mess? And smoking oil? Oh goodness, it was something else. And you can't beat a deep fryer for even cooking either.

So let me say this again - if you don't have a deep fryer, you NEED one. I'm not saying cook things in it every day. What I'm saying is that for every 10 times you cook something that CAN be fried another way (such as the oven or stove top etc), please cook that same thing just ONCE in the deep fryer. You'll be glad you did... or maybe you'll hate me for talking you into it.