OK so you all know me. I'm white and Tony is black so what I'm about to ask isn't going to surprise you.

Tony's favourite foods are fried chicken and sweet potato pie. Easy I hear you say, well, it isn't for me!!! I told Tony I was going to ask when I was in Chester if anyone had any good recipes. Those of you who know Chester will appreciate the laugh he had over that. I won't tell you what he said, not on this thread anyway. The nicest thing was 'They'll know for sure you're ghetto so best keep your mouth closed.'

So, ladies, can you help out this ignorant English woman and let me have some recipes for both sweet potato pie and fried chicken so that I can make sure I'm an expert at cooking them by the time Tony comes home. I managed to find a recipe for the pie when I was last over but I don't know how authentic it is, but I just made one and I have to say I'm in love!!!!

Rose

Well, sweet potato pie that my family makes is just like pumpkin pie. And depending on what part of the country he and his family come from, the recipes vary for fried chicken. My friend from Georgia deep fries her fried chicken and in the south, they use more pepper than in other parts of the country while here in Oregon, they even "oven fry" chicken to cut down on the fat. Maybe it would be good to do a search on specific regional recipes on the internet to get some better ideas of what he'd be most used to.

Pumpkin pie isn't even made over here and neither is fried chicken so, I'm still none the wiser but I'm sure someone will put me out of my misery soon. And Tony's Chicago born and bred but he was raised by his grandmother who was from Alabama. Doesn't fried chicken have to be coated with something before it's fried? See, I told you I was ignorant. Now, if Tony's favourite food was curry I'd have no problem because that's what I cook most of the time. I can see he's going to have to change his food habits once he gets home.

Rose

Rose,

Since he's from Chicago (my hometown too), he is probably dreaming of Popeye's, Brown's (if they still have those), or Kentucky Fried Chicken! LOL. I'll see what I can dig up for you :)

Thanks so much, I did mention KFC because we have them here but he said it was slightly different to that. These things mean so much when they've been locked away for so long. I'd love to be able to tell him I can make it.

Rose

Hi Rose, I live in Indiana in fact on the outskirts of Chicago, this is how I fry chicken , I wash and clean chicken very well, then I season it with seasoning salt, pepper or you can use chicken seasoning! I flour it to coat it so that it has a good crust, usually put in a plastic bag or brown paper bag , shake it up, put chicken in a skillet of grease lol (corn oil) and turn it till it browns on both sides. Make sure it cooks now! Somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes. Walla! Fried Chicken!
PS Don't have the oil to high(about medium flame)

I like KFC's boneless chicken wings!

But some people make a batter and batter it, I think. My Granny used to just roll it in seasoned flour mixed with crushed crackers or corn flakes but I think she dipped it in milk or egg first to make the dry stuff stick.

If you can buy pureed pumpkin, usually there's a recipe on the label for how to make pumpkin pie. That's if it's an American brand you're buying. Also, there are good recipes if you do an internet search to get these recipes.

The home cooking he's thinking of is without a doubt the "from scratch" kind of cooking us older folks are used to doing. I always say I cook "by ear". LOL I don't usually use recipes, but I'm a good cook.

We have a lot of black ladies from the Chicago area that I'm sure can help out here! My dad makes a batter to dip the chicken in. He had catsup and paprika in a flour mixture. I seldom fry foods and my black kids crave it. So sometimes I get KFC. I took my 18 yr old to a black restaurant as a treat once. Also, I've bought greens for him to make a couple times. I love curry!! they do not! They love shrimp stir fry however.

Someone - Thanks for that. I'll have to try it out although I don't fry anything myself, I'm allergic to oils. I'll try it on my sister.

toi - I'm with you, cooking everything from scratch so Tony's going to be OK there but I have looked around for pumpkin pulp and, although I found some that had been imported, it onlt said how to make pie using the tinned pulp. That still left me in the dark about how to make the sweet potato pie.

I'm sure I'll get an answer here sooner or later.

Thanks everyone.

Rose

Rose, I absolutely suck at frying chicken. And it's so yummy, too, but I gave up on it years ago and now just depend on restaurants who serve it. Here in Columbus, I have not yet found good fried chicken. But back in Illinois where I'm from, they have a lot of tavern food places that specialize in fried chicken, like Gil's in Hanna City. It's a touchy thing to fix because you want to fry it in hot enough oil to crisp the skin, but then you have to slow it down (some finish it off in the oven) to cook the chicken through but still keeping that skin crisp and lovely. I don't care for sweet potato pie or pumpkin pie but there is a woman here in Columbus who claims to be the Queen of Sweet Potato Pie, and I'll try to find her recipe. Will you move to England with Tony when he gets out?

Hopefully we'll live in England but his past record could be a problem, but I'll fight for the right to have my husband live with me. That's another reason we have to get married, to bring him over here with me. Otherwise we'll live in Spain, which isn't too far away from family and friends, and I'm sure they'll all be visiting for a cheap holiday in the sun!! Plus, as I suffer from S.A.D. it may well do me good to live over there, but with a few medical problems I have I really don't want to move away from our health service.

I'm looking forward to trying out the recipes I get.

Happy New Year to you all

Rose

Rose.... I will definitely PM you a recipe--- You know I am a white girl too... but I have been cooking for black men for awhile now... ;) And BOTH my chicken and sweet potatoe pie have passed the test of JD's entire family.... :D

JDs, many thanks. Now, if you wanted to know West Indian cooking I can do that from chicken, rice and peas to curried goat, just haven't a clue when it comes to black American.

Look forward to trying them out, but I'll have to be careful as I've put on some weight that I have to get off before I visit in March, no more chocolates for me!!

Rose

Rose... I think those chocolates you brought are still hangin' out on my thighs!! ;) LOL!! I couldn't resist them!!
I had to take a break from being good on my diet for the holidays, but am back on the wagon now!! :D

Okay, Rose. Check this out what I found regarding sweet potato pie and its origins:

http://www.floras-hideout.com/recipes/


http://faziarizvi.net/blog.pl/day/20031006.html

Christopher Columbus brought sweet potatoes back to Spain on his first voyage to the Americas. They quickly spread in popularity and IT WAS THE ENGLISH WHO GAVE US SWEET POTATO PIE.

Here are some other great links:

http://www.cookbooks.com/001125.htm
http://members.aol.com/SPVine/cafe5.htm
http://www.thegutsygourmet.net/soul.html
http://southernfood.about.com/cs/chickenrecipes/a/fried_chicken_2.htm
http://southernfood.about.com/cs/chickenrecipes/a/fried_chicken.htm
http://www.luvshades.com/toothpicks/toothpicks9.htm
http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/eatingout/eating_s/sylviasrebes.htm
http://www.chitterlings.com/fchicken.html
http://www.chef-recipes.com/southern_fried_chicken.htm
http://www.chef-recipes.com/kentucky_fried.htm
http://www.recipesource.com/baked-goods/desserts/pies/01/rec0154.html

j

Rose -

Here is the recipe for Popeye's Fried Chicken - it is famous in Chicago and I'm sure he'll love it! :)

6 C Vegetable Oil
2/3 C all-purpose flour
1 T. salt
2 T. white pepper
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. paprika
3 eggs
1 frying chicken with skin, cut-up

1. Heat the oil over medium heat in a deep fryer or in a wide, deep pan on the stove.

2. In a shallow bowl, combine the flour, salt, peppers, and paprika.

3. Break eggs into a separate shallow bowl and beat until well-blended.

4. Check the oil by dropping a pinch of flour mixture . If the oil bubbles rapidly around the flour, it is the right temperature.

5. Dip each piece of chicken into the eggs, then coat generously with the flour mixture. Drop each piece into the hot oil and fry for 15 to 25 minutes or until it is a dark golden brown.

6. Remove the chicken to paper towels or a rack to drain.

Makes 8 pieces.

Note: You really need to use the white pepper to get the right taste to this chicken recipe.

Thanks everyone for the recipes and ideas. I'm going to enjoy myself one cold, wet afternoon as I love to cook.

We may have given you sweet potato pie but we certainly don't have it here, or pumpkin pie. The sweet potatoes I buy are imported from the US. But then, there's a lot of things you have that we gave you , like Thanksgiving. We don't celebrate that but it was the English performing genocide on the natives that started the tradition. We do have a lot to answer for in this country and I'm often ashamed of what we did in the past.

Rose.