field marshall hrádek

I am on a quest to find delicious food. Here is my round up for one of my favorites: fried chicken.

1. Popeye's – Crispy, tasty, and lots of yummy sides. This one takes the throne for now.
2. Ezell's – Similar to KFC's Original Recipe texture but slightly crispier and less greasy, it tastes like something my grandma would cook had I had a grandma from the South.
3. Kentucky Fried Chicken – When it's fresh Original Recipe is actually pretty good. The sides are pretty yummy.
4. Church's – I compared this to a cross between KFC and Popeye's not shining in either's pluses. The sides are tiny and fairly mundane.
5. Albertson's Deli Fried Chicken – You've got a hankerin' or are broke; this will probably satisfy.
6. Frozen fried chicken in a box – The delis are all closed and no restaurants are open. It's hard to cook this stuff to be tasty. Have plenty of hot sauce on hand.
7. Fried chicken at X buffet – Just skip it. It's bad enough you're eating at a buffet.

Apparently Oprah used to have Ezell's flown to her in Chicago. I like KFC's and Popeye's hot sauce and have yet to find a suitable alternative in a bottle I can find at the grocery store.

There's a place in Tacoma that sells fried chicken I'll have to check out. Anyway, this is definitely not something I can eat more than once a month.

This is one of those traditional Czech dishes that take some effort and expertise to perfect. My father came over this weekend and finally agreed to walk me through making the dumplings. I have seen a lot of recipes on the Internet all of which may or may not work. The following recipe is from my family. Kudos to Crystal for encouraging me to visit with my dad. Note that regular flour will not work. It is too fine and will not cook correctly in the water.

• 2 13.5 oz cans Wondra Instant Flour or Robin Hood Best for Blending Flour. It is also known as instantized flour.
• 6 oz milk
• ¾ tablespoon wet, compressed yeast (baker's yeast)
• ¼ heaping teaspoon salt
• ½ cup cubed, dried French bread
• 2 eggs

NOTE: The yeast measurement is kind of iffy. My dad says about ½ of a 2 ounce cube that you usually find at the store. They buy yeast in ½ pound bricks. Anyway, the measurement I give is about what I remember using.

In a large bowl dump an entire package of flour. In the middle of this pile create a little boat (like a gravy boat in mashed potatoes) and crumble into it the yeast. Sprinkle the salt into the flour. Warm the milk and add half of it into the boat and let everything sit for about 10 minutes. We are waiting for the yeast to melt and start activating. As far as the warmness of the milk is, it felt almost hot.

After we wait for the yeast to soften and melt, we add the two eggs and the rest of the milk into the mixture. After a couple stirs the mixture will start to goo; add the cubed French bread.

Now work the mixture into a dough using a wooden spoon. Sprinkle a little flour from the second container every so often. You will continue mixing and adding until using a spoon will become unpractical and switch to using your hands. This is where we start to knead the dough. Eventually the ball of dough will only be very slightly sticky (some recipes will say no longer sticky). This process took us about 10-15 minutes.

Toss the dough into a ball and then cover it with a cheese cloth. Place on the range and turn on the hood light. If you don't have a light turn on the oven to 350°, preheat, and then turn it off. What we're doing with this is creating a little bit of heat to encourage the dough to rise.

Let the dough rise for about an hour. Cut the dough in half and place one of the halves aside. Now work one half into an elongated loaf. Quickly rub a minimal amount of warm water on the loaf as a glue to seal up the cracks and holes in the dough. Once you've worked the loaf to where it's the right loaf shape and the cracks are not deep, sprinkle some flour on your work surface and work the loaf into a smooth and even shape. Repeat for the other half.

In a large pot bring a couple quarts of water to boil. Add some salt to it. When the water is boiling add the loaves to the water and boil for about 20 minutes. Nearing the end of the boil check, using a wooden chopstick, to see if the center is cooked by poking the dumpling loaf. If it comes out without anything stuck to it, the cooking is done. Remove one loaf and immediately cut it in half. Remember, all cutting is done with a thread because a knife will simply crush the loaf.

If after cutting in half there happens to still be some rawness in the middle, place the quarters back into the boiling water and boil for another 2-5 minutes. Use a large wooden spoon or similar and a cutting board or something wide to lift the dumplings out of the water.

You need to cut anything you remove from the boiling water in half right away. Not allowing the steam to escape will cause the dumpling to become mushy inside. Continue cutting the dumpling into one inch slices and place on a serving platter or place into a container.

If you want to store them, place the sliced dumplings into a container and wait until they have cooled and then cover and place into the refrigerator. To reheat you can steam them or microwave them by placing a wet paper towel over them and microwaving them for twenty seconds adding five second increments until they are hot.

You may freeze dumplings like bread but make sure it's already sliced. I'm not sure how long it'd keep but it can't be very long.

Czech dumplings are fantastic with gravies, sauerkraut and drippings from roasts, or chopped up and served as an omelet with a few eggs.

UPDATE: I just made these again and they turned out fantastic. My only complaint is that it is very hard to find baker's yeast. The yield of this recipe is enough dumplings to feed 6 people about 4 dumplings each with a few left over.

This is one of our family's staples. I think we had it about once a month growing up. I finally figured it out after ten years of trial and error.

• 3 cups of white rice
• 1 roast chicken *
• 3 large carrots, peeled
• 4 large celery stalks
• 1 large yellow onion
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 4 chicken bullion cubes
• 1 tablespoon pepper
• ¼ cup Canola oil
• ½ pound sliced bacon
• 2½-3 cups boiling water

You will want to chop the onion, slice the bacon into half inch slices short length wise, slice the carrots, slice the celery, separate the meat from the bone making sure to remove any gristle and bones. Slice it into small pieces. You can leave the skin because usually roast chicken has some tasty seasoning on it.

Preheat the oven to 300° F.

In a large, heavy pot, bring the oil to a medium heat. We will be placing this pot covered into an oven so it needs to be oven safe. Sautê the onions in the oil. In a separate pan fry the bacon to a light crispy brown; not crunchy and hard.

Add the carrots, celery, chicken, rice, salt, pepper, and bullion cubes. You will want to gently stir the mixture until its even. Drain the bacon and add it to the pot. Once things are mixed and hot add the water. Bring this to a boil stirring frequently. Once it starts boiling place the pot covered into the oven for an hour and a half. Fluff it with a fork and put it back into the oven for another half hour to hour.

Serve immediately with a pickle on the side. To reheat place on a pan and heat slowly. You shouldn't need to grease the pan.

A common alteration to this base recipe is to add a cup or lima beans, peas, or corn late in the recipe to keep them from breaking apart and getting mushed.

* A whole roast chicken is a substitute for turkey dinner left overs which ends up to yield about the same amount of meat.

It is a fairly easy dish to make. It may be a little plain but its good every so often. This serves between eight ten.

Coffee has always been a yucky thing for me. Nothing that tastes good and I figured the effects where attained with soda. Jerry showed me some coffee beans which he buys in ten pound bags from Costco and then grinds daily and makes coffee from it. With a little sugar, it was bearable and actually good. Kept me awake for my late drive home. I guess trading soda for coffee is a good trade.

Yeah, all those attempts at drinking coffee Folgers and the like... that was bad news bears.

Finally! I was able to acquire a true icon. The Weber bar-b-que grill! I loved having a gas grill in the interim. It is convenient and all. When it comes down to it, however, it is no replacement. I will keep it for those nights when I wish to have a quick steak. Searing meat over an open flame whether gas or briquette is meat seared over an open flame!

Thanks to Jerry's dad for the Weber. I have bought some beef ribs, briquettes, and lighter fluid for today. A wonderful initiation. Am I crazy sacrificing convenience and speed for flavor? Perhaps. As Jerry pointed out, there is something about the anticipation of lighting the fire and waiting for the grill to be ready for the meat.

After this weekend I plan on doing some chicken now that I know some of Jerry's dad's secrets. The ribs, however, I first sprinkle on both sides a random assortment of spice:

• Old Bay Seasoning
• Paprika
• Pepper
• Garlic salt
• Hot sauce

Then I bake at 250 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour in a preheated oven. After the first hour I cut the pieces and cover them in foil and bake for another hour and a half. By this time the meat should slide off the bones but we aren't done yet! Fire up the grill and when the briquettes are ready throw down all the ribs. You don't want a flame or even a lot of heat. We want to glaze the BBQ sauce. So liberally coat one side and let it grill covered for 10 minutes, turn and repeat. Then remove and enjoy. I know there are a lot of ways to do ribs but this seems to work for me.

Time for another classic recipe from my family's past. This one is loaded with saturated fat but for those that appreciate the old world flavor this is one to jostle those culture feelers. In Czech this is know as Škvarky. The Germans have a similar type of food known as Schmaltz.

• 2 pounds pork fat
• 1 cup water

First, get some fresh pork fat. The label on this package called it pork skin but there was no skin attached to this side of pork belly. It is desirable to not have the skin since you would have to remove and discard it anyway. The color is white and has little to no smell. Rinse it in cold water and let it drain. There may be some pink but definitely no gray or unnatural coloring to the fat. There should be little or no pork meat on this fat. It should be firm to touch. Trim any ink stains from the meat house or any excess meat.

Cut the pork fat into strips one to one and a half inches wide.

Now cube it into the same sized pieces.

Put the pieces into a pot.

Add the water and cook at a medium high heat. You want to stir it to keep it from sticking to the bottom. If there is not enough cooked fat add some water to keep it from sticking.

Stir every fifteen minutes. When the fat starts to cook it will release cooked fat which will eventually fry the cubes. Add some more water until the pieces of fat start turning from white or pinkish to a brown, cooked looking color. Cover. Eventually the cooked fat will increase in volume and the pieces will become crisp. When they become a light golden brown and the frying slows down the cooking is done. You don't want to over cook these pieces.

Take the pot off the burner and let the fat cool a little. You will be pouring it into another container so this part is only to prevent hot spatters. Pour the finished fat into a cooling bowl. Let it cool off slowly. Cooling it fast will cause it to solidify incorrectly. Refrigerate when the fat turns whitish in color.

Spread on true rye bread and sprinkle some salt on it or cook with it.

This family recipe has been around for a couple generations. It is my favorite recipe for potato salad.

• 6 large potatoes
• 3 carrots
• 3 celery stalks
• 1 parsnip
• 2 pickles
• 3 eggs
• 1 apple
• 1 onion
• 1/2 cup of mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon mustard, Dijon
• 1 tablespoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon salt

First boil the potatoes, whole and unpeeled (to keep them from getting mushy), until they are done. I test them by pushing a steak knife through them. If it goes easily, they're done. Be careful not to over cook them. Drain then in a large colander and place it in a cool place. My parents used the basement but I use outside. Do not refrigerate the potatoes to cool them off. The rapid change in temperature causes the potato to crumble in following steps.

Now trim the carrots, celery and parsnip and boil them in a similar fashion. Again, place them into a colander and let them cool. Cooling them slowly is again preferred.

Hard boil the eggs somewhere during all these steps. 10 minutes is right. Cool the eggs and peel them. Set them aside.

You want everything to be room temperature when you start this next part. Basically, we will be cubing everything into quarter inch pieces. Start with the potatoes by peeling them with a parring knife. The skins should be easy to peel off at this point. After you are done peeling them, run them through a french fry cutter. Then cut the "fries" into cubes.

Cube the vegetables into similar shapes. I wish you could use the cutter on these too... but its not recommended. Next, add the peeled and cored apple, cubed in similar fashion.

Add the salt, pepper. Mix with a fork. My mom specified a fork. My guess is that it doesn't mush everything like a spoon would. Now add the diced hard boiled eggs, mayo and mustard. Mix with a fork. Although I like mayonnaise I like to keep it light on recipes such as these. One of my gripes about deli potato salads is that they are mostly mayo and potatoes with a little garnishing to make it look edible.

Serve or chill.

My favorite dish to use this potato salad is a Czech dish called chlebíčky. I will go into that another day.

I found a pretty good recipe for fried chicken online the other day. Of course I had to change it a little. Here is the original recipe I found:

• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup water
• About 1 cup hot red pepper sauce (recommended: Texas Pete)
• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• House seasoning, recipe follows
• 1 (1 to 2 1/2-pound) chicken, cut into pieces
• Oil, for frying, preferably peanut oil

In a medium size bowl, beat the eggs with the water. Add enough hot sauce so the egg mixture is bright orange. In another bowl, combine the flour and pepper. Season the chicken with the house seasoning. Dip the seasoned chicken in the egg, and then coat well in the flour mixture.
Heat the oil to 350 degrees F in a deep pot. Do not fill the pot more than 1/2 full with oil.

Fry the chicken in the oil until brown and crisp. Dark meat takes longer then white meat. It should take dark meat about 13 to 14 minutes, white meat around 8 to 10 minutes.

House Seasoning:

• 1 cup salt
• 1/4 cup black pepper
• 1/4 cup garlic powder

Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Of course, I had to change things a little bit:

About 1 cup hot red pepper sauce (recommended: Texas Pete) - I imagine this was probably a vinigry hot sauce you find at places like Kentucky Fried Chicken or Popeye's typical of Southern cooking. I didn't have any so I used 1 tablespoon of "The Hottest Fucking Hot Sauce" (yes, that is really what it's called).
2 cups self-rising flour - Again, I didn't have any. I used regular white flour. I think the self rising flour would make for a crunchier shell but regular flour seemed to work just fine. Next time I will use the self rising flour and see how it works.
1 teaspoon pepper - I used a tablespoon of pepper and added a tablespoon of salt. The teaspoon didn't seem like enough. I also added the following to the House Seasoning. I didn't make a 6 month batch but the proportions would match the recipe:

• 1/4 cup paprika
• 1/4 cup thyme
• 1/8 cup chilli powder

Everything else in the recipe is pretty much right on. I would emphasize the peanut oil. Peanut oil tastes much better than any other oil I have tried for fried chicken. I used a deep fryer because I have one so that made temperature regulation and the whole frying process easier.

From left to right: the "House Seasoning", the egg with hot sauce, and the flour and pepper mixture.

Frying the chicken itself. I have a pot ready for corn and the mashed potatos are all ready to go. 13 minutes is about right.

The finished fried chicken. It looks amazing.

And the final meal all presented. Corn was cooked a little over 5 minutes. I like it crunchy. The flavor was fantastic. It's important to season. I found previous attempts failed because the flour tasted like, well, flour. The hot sauce wasn't all that hot. I suppose I could add more. It added a very friendly flavor to the whole dish. Next time I will try some boneless chicken strips and perhaps some breasts. Thighs and legs are just so darn cheap. One thing to note is don't use "end of cooking" herbs like parsley. They will turn dark and add a yucky flavor to the chicken (referencing a previous attempt) and powdered onion (same thing. It doesn't taste right). It's a little messy but well worth it if you like homemade fried chicken.

UPDATE: Okay so this fantastic recipe has withstood chicken breast strips. I bought a pack of skinless, boneless chicken breasts and cut them into one inch strips. Salt is a huge factor and I added salt to the flour to make it taste better. The hot sauce adds a pleasent zing to the whole deal not like the restaurant variations that either cook your tongue or fail to impress. Oh and if you really like breading, once you have coated with flour the first time, redipping in the egg mixture and then flour again. This makes the bread exterior thicker and crunchier. I personally love chicken with the skin on. The flavor and crispy of that fried skin is way too good.

I posted a restaurant review in the reviews section. This time it was for Billy McHale's in Federal Way.

We had a great weekend for the 4th of July. It happens to be my sister-in-law's birthday so we hung out Friday with cake and some beer. Saturday we went up to Seattle and walked around Capitol Hill. We drove through Broadway Avenue but the feeling in the air was pretty groggy. It seemed particularly littered and full of people who seemed scary.

We walked up and down Pine and went through a couple shops. There wasn't anything very interesting. The place we were looking forward to to have some dinner opens at 5. The Capitol Club was a flavorful and amazing experience. It was a tad snobby but the atmosphere and food was great. As a matter of fact, the flavors were like ones I had never had before. I had the lamb which was amazing and the salmon was also phenomenal. Yes. It was that good. Its definately a good place for a date. We went there around 5 and spent 2 hours eating and enjoying the moment and food.

I saw War of the Worlds this weekend. It was good. I enjoyed it. I am not sure it'd be worth full price but definately matinee if you are into science fiction. The movie deviates a little from the book but only to add to the effect and reasoning behind the events going on.

I finally found out that my friend in the Air Force is going to Texas for some training and someone off-handed mentioned that he has a blog. I am glad I finally have a way to keep in touch with him and see how he is doing. You may be asking how come its taking so long to find out about a blog if we are friends. I'm not sure.

I have been swinging around thoughts about doing the whole law thing. I keep going back and forth between a few different ideas for my future. Law, engineering, and whatever else. I love working with music. Not sure what to do. I just need to get up and start. That's the hardest part I suppose.