Kitchen Meets Culinary Clutz

Crispy Chicken Strips

It's chicken night on the South Shore and sometimes I like to shake things up a bit instead of sticking with the same 'ol roasted and barbecue recipes. I've never been a fan of frying meat. Doing so has always landed me in a rather unfriendly predicament, Me vs. Grease Fire.

Let me share with you one of those stories before getting to my recipe. . .

It all began one brisk fall afternoon in Central Oregon. I was about 15 years old. The butcher had come around to our ranch just days earlier to slaughter our two pigs. Their names were Cinnamon and um... well now, I've forgotten the name of the second pig. I'll just call him Red.


They were cute pigs when they were alive and looked just like the two pigs pictured above. So the butcher dun them in days earlier and since Mama spoiled them so much with Cob & Molasses they yielded the most tender hams, chops and bacon I've ever tasted in my life!

Mama and Daddy had been gone to town the day of my unfortunate encounter with the grease fire. My lit'l sissy and I were bored and had pulled out the picture boxes from Mama's room and sat down with pictures scattered across her bed as we flipped from one picture to the next, laughing and reminiscing about the good 'ol days when we lived in San Francisco.

Time was passing swiftly and it was nearing supper time. Sissy and I were feeling famished and our parents had not come home yet. While digging through the refrigerator we found a package of bacon wrapped tight in butcher paper. I immediately made up my mind that I was hungry and I wanted to fry us up some bacon.

So sissy ran to the dish room where Mama kept all the pots and pans hung on the wall. She grabbed me a small frying pan since we only wanted 2 strips of bacon each so as not to spoil our dinner. I turned on the skillet, threw 4 pieces of bacon in the pan and walked away to Mama's room to continue looking through the picture boxes. Heck, who pays attention to bacon anyways? I figured it just fries up on its own with no help, and besides we were busy.

About 15 minutes pass by and we begin to hear loud crackling sounds coming from the kitchen. As we entered the kitchen the grease in the pan decided to *POOF* into flames! I froze into a state of shock and  my sister pushed me into the dish room to grab something to put out the fire. As I stared at all the metal pot lids, trying to remember why I should grab one, Sissy shoved a large stock pot filled with water into my chest and yells, "here, put out the fire!" At this point I snap back into reality, forget all senses, and run back into the kitchen to splash the water onto the fire. . . "Whoops!" The small frying pan filled with flames grew into a kitchen ceiling engulfed in billowing flames after the grease splattered up the wall and onto the ceiling. What had I done? Why did I not just grab a pot lid to smother the flames? How could I be so careless?

All these thoughts flooded into my head as I stared up at the flames eating away at the paint on the ceiling. Thankfully my parents came home just in time to put out the fire and save the kitchen. I remember crying in my father's arms that day as he held me tight against his chest.

We were never disciplined for setting the house ablaze, but I assure you that my sis and I sure did learn our lesson.

With my track record of starting kitchen fires I've steered clear of messing with fried foods.  Nowadays if I'm going to fry anything, it's with my DeLonghi Deep Fryer, or if using the stove-top, I make sure I've got a pan lid nearby so I can smother any grease fires.
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With the help of some friends who've given me tips on frying chicken I've come up with this recipe for Crispy Chicken Strips. (One of these days I'll gain enough courage to fry me up some drumsticks and thighs. Until then, I'll stick with boneless chicken breast strips.

Enjoy!