Hey, Fried Chicken Fans!
Previous Celebrity at Summer Camp, Zac Brown, says in a famous song of his, “You know I like my chicken fried.” I think this line speaks for most folks when it comes to our preference of how to make chicken, after all, there’s a day dedicated to this method of poultry preparation. Yesterday was National Fried Chicken Day.
There’s something about biting through that crispy outer layer of breading and into a juicy mouthful of chicken that will always leave you wanting more. People have been frying things (like eggs, potatoes, fritters, and, of course, meats) for a very long time—at least as early as the 1st Century, yet some evidence points as far back as 9000 years ago.
Due to a lack of cooking equipment, only some cultures were able to fry foods. Many cultures had no means of extracting oil, nor did they have a vessel that could hold the oil under such extreme heat. In fact, it’s theorized that frying foods was first born along with the invention of pottery. Pottery pieces provided a container for hot oil in which to fry different foods.
As time marched on, technologies advanced frying methods and made resources that had been hard to acquire now easy to obtain. Fried foods quickly grew in popularity across the whole world and fried chicken became a fast favorite (with fried potatoes—French fries—a close second).
There’s typically a level of fear that goes along with preparing fried chicken. It can be messy, unsuccessful, and (dealing with extremely hot oil) potentially dangerous. Still there have always been people throughout time who are unafraid to rise to the task. Harland Sanders was one. But you probably know him better as the Colonel.
To make money in the desperate times of the Great Depression, Colonel Sanders started selling fried chicken from his roadside restaurant, located in Corbin, Kentucky. In 1952, Sanders opened the first KFC franchise which would quickly sweep the country, offering an alternative to the already accustomed hamburger.
It’s never too late to celebrate so go grab some fried chicken for yourself today to celebrate National Fried Chicken Day. And thanks for reading.
- John