Southern Smothered Fried Chicken

Gussy’s recipe was one of Gussy and Ethan’s favorites. They were from the deep south and care of the family children in our early youth. Gussy was the cook but this was Ethan favorite meal. This dish makes its own gravy.

Truly the flavor of the deep south. This is a family favorite and the most requested dish, because everyone loves it. It is also my wife's favorite comfort food. Katherine (my mother) browned the pieces in a fry pan then transferred all to an oven proof casserole with a lid. Turn the chicken once, half way through the cooking cycle. Thicken sauce, at the end, with additional flour with the casserole on a burner. (I use a Dutch oven pan for both operations and less mess.)

Pre-heat oven to 375 F.

1 Free range chicken, whole, cut up (4 1⁄2 pounds) 

1⁄4 pound butter (1 stick)

Flour

Salt

Pepper

Whole milk ( comes half way up on the chicken, before cooking.)

1 cap full of Kitchen Bouquet, (optional),  to darken the appearance 

Cut up bird into pieces, dust each piece in flour*, sauté at 350 F in butter in a large skillet or Dutch oven equipped with a lid until each side is lightly colored. Add pepper and a little salt. Cover chicken at least 1/2 way up with milk and scrape bottom of pan to loosen bits. Reduce heat to simmer. Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, transfer pan or Dutch-oven to a hot oven to bake. After 30 minutes remove chicken, turn chicken pieces over, scrape bottom of pan to prevent sticking. Recover and bake another 30 minutes until chicken is done. Place pan on a burner, remove lid, thicken gravy with additional flour as needed over medium heat (you may want to remove a few pieces of the chicken to a platter while you do this.) The sauce will be thickest once the additional flour has cooked a bit. Test the salt level and correct if needed. If you want to darken the sauce a bit use a half cap full of Kitchen Bouquet (1/4 teaspoon).

Serve over plain steamed rice with fresh green peas.

*I shake the chicken pieces in a zip-loc bag, a few pieces at a time with 3/4 cups of flour.