It’s funny. You can learn life lessons anytime, anywhere. I happened to learn a very valuable life lesson the other week . . . while cooking chicken?
I was feeling bored with chicken so I thought I would try a new recipe for chicken thighs. It was supposed to be the best fried chicken ever!
I gathered the spices that I needed to season the flour – better than the 7 herbs and spices the colonel uses, the recipe said!
I laid out the dishes – one for the egg and one for the flour. I dipped each chicken thigh into the egg; dredged it in the flour; back into the egg and back into the flour. I felt like a kindergartener at the “play with paste” station. It was a mess but the recipe promised great rewards. So I dipped and dredged and dipped and dredged.
I hauled out the electric skillet and preheated the oil. Not too much, just about a quarter of an inch deep. I had to push back the memory of the story my mom told often about the first time she tried to make French fries as a new wife and almost burned the kitchen down. I have an irrational fear of fire so even not-so-deep frying scares the hell out of me.
But I persevered.
Slowly. The recipe said that the key was to fry slowly at not too high a temperature. I never left the skillets side. I monitored the frying closely; checking and turning and turning and checking. It was working! The chicken was frying to a golden brown and it looked delicious. Mouthwatering. Don’t rush it though. Cook it through.
Finally, after about 30 minutes of prep, 30 minutes of clean up and 30 minutes of s – l – o – w frying, the chicken was done. I couldn’t wait to serve it. I couldn’t wait to take the first crispy bite and when I finally did . . .
. . . it was terrible!
Well, I can’t really even say that it was terrible because, to be terrible, it would have to have a flavour. It had absolutely NO flavour! It looked fantastic but it was boring, tasteless. (I’ve met a few people like that)
There was an hour and a half of my life that I’ll never get back. For nothing.
What’s the moral of the story? Wait for it, we’re not there yet.
I had bought these chicken thighs at Costco so you know I had about 40 left in the freezer. A few days later, I took out another four thighs. I wasn’t even sure what I was going to do with them. I had no plan.
And with no plan, the chicken defrosted in the fridge just waiting it’s turn to be the choice for the evening. I put it off as long as I could but finally we were out of time. It was either cook them or throw them out. And I wasn’t going to throw out perfectly good chicken.
So it was about ten in the evening and, plan or no plan, I pulled the chicken out of the fridge. It was late and I was lazy so I just put some salt and pepper on them, pan fried them for a bit – just until they got brown – put them in a casserole dish and threw them in the oven for 30 minutes.
When they were done, I packed them up and put them in the fridge. I would have them for breakfast tomorrow morning.
Breakfast for dinner is great but dinner for breakfast is even better!
Tomorrow morning came and there was no chicken in the fridge. Where did it go? I was sure I had put it on the second shelf. Maybe someone moved it while looking for something else. I checked every shelf and drawer. I was truly perplexed.
I finally found the dish that I put it in – it was washed and put back into the cupboard. But everyone in the house was still in bed – what happened to the chicken?
Finally, my boyfriend makes his way downstairs and I ask:
I put some chicken in the fridge last night, did you see it?
He said:
“Yeah!
Your daughter and I bumped into each other at the fridge at two o’clock in the morning; she had two pieces and I had two pieces. It was outstanding!
About 5 hours later, when my daughter finally emerged from her room, she corroborated the story and said:
I don’t know what you did mom but you have to make that again!
And there it is. Have you figured out the moral of the story?
Stop trying so hard.
Sometimes all you need to spice up your life is a little salt and pepper!
Note: this story is 100% mine and 100% true!
Join the discussion in the comments below and don’t forget to subscribe now for FREE so you don’t miss a thing! Be the first to receive a notification when there is new stuff to read and share!
