#MEwx Above freezing again, sun and a recipe for Southern Fried Chicken

Good morning Augusta

A direct, real-time feed from my personal weather station is available for you

here.

This morning it's cloudy with a chance of snow showers and  a chance for rain showers this afternoon with highs in the mid 30s. Northeast winds will be around 10 mph.

Tonight we'll have cloudy skies with snow showers mainly during evening hours. Snow accumulation around an inch with lows in the upper 20s. Northeast winds around 10 mph.

The readings from my weather instruments are:

Our outdoor temperature is 37.8°F, the humidity is 99%, the dew point is 37.6°F and our wind chill is 34.5°F. 

The wind direction is North Northwest between 3.6 MPH and 4.9 MPH.

The Relative pressure is 30.02, the Absolute pressure is 29.82 and rising with a weather graphic indicating sun.

Visibility is 10.0 Miles with mostly cloudy skies to 300 ft and overcast skies to 800 ft.

The UV rating is 0 out of 16, The moon is 30.6% illuminated, the moon phase is waxing crescent, Sunrise is 6:23 am↑ 84° East, Sunset is 7:04 pm↑ 277° West, Moonrise is 9:45 am↑ 59° Northeast, Moonset is 12:23 am↑ 300° Northwest and we'll have 12 hours 42 minutes of daylight today.  

We received 0.44 inches of rain / snow here over the past 24 hours.

The RAW METAR readings from Augusta's airport are:

METAR KAUG 301053Z AUTO 02005KT 3/4SM -SN BR BKN003 OVC008 00/00 A3009 RMK AO2 SNB53 SLP195 P0000 I1000 T00000000

If you are a Southerner (as I am) and you love real, genuine Southern Fried Chicken (not that stuff they sell up here that they call "Southern Fried Chicken"), then you'll love this one. Yes, it's commercialized a little bit as you can tell from it's source, but hey, it came off the internet, what do you want? A fresh steaming delivery from the "Cornered Fried Chicken" shop back down home?

Southern Fried Chicken

2 cut up fryer chickens in 16 pieces

4 1/4 cups buttermilk

5 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons seasoned salt, such as Lawry's

2 teaspoons paprika

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons ground dried thyme

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, plus more for seasoning

1/4 cup milk

Canola or vegetable oil, for frying

Directions

Thoroughly rinse the chicken, then cover all the pieces with 4 cups buttermilk and soak in the fridge overnight or up to 24 hours. When you're ready to fry the chicken, remove the bowl from the fridge and let it sit on the counter for 30 minutes, just to take off the chill.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 360 degrees F and mix up the breading. Place the flour, seasoned salt, paprika, pepper, thyme and cayenne (extra cayenne if you like heat) in a very large bowl. Stir together well.

In a small bowl, combine the 1/4 cup buttermilk and the milk. Pour the milk mixture into the flour and, with a fork, gradually mix until there are little lumps throughout. This will adhere to the chicken and make for a crispier breading. If necessary, add a little more flour or milk to the bowl in order to make it slightly lumpy.

Heat 1 1/2 to 2 inches of oil in a deep skillet over medium high heat until a thermometer reaches 365 degrees F. Lower the heat slightly, if necessary, to keep the oil from getting hotter.  Working in batches, thoroughly coat each chicken piece with the breading, pressing extra breading onto the chicken if necessary. Place the breaded

pieces on a plate. Add the chicken to the oil 3 or 4 pieces at a time. Make sure they aren't sticking together, then cover the pan and fry for 5 to 7 minutes, checking occasionally to make sure the chicken isn't getting too brown. Turn the pieces over, cover again, and cook 3 to 5 minutes more. All the while, monitor the temperature of the oil to make sure the chicken doesn't burn.

Place the chicken on a baking sheet and continue frying the rest of the chicken. When all the chicken has been fried, remove the wings and legs to a plate and keep covered. These should be cooked all the way through by now but always check, if any pink juice or meat is visible. If so, return to the hot oil for another minute or so until fully cooked. Leave the thighs and breasts on the baking sheet.

Bake the thighs and breasts for 15 minutes to finish the cooking process.  Sometimes I'll cut into the thicker part of one of the larger pieces, just to make sure the chicken is cooked through. If any pink juice or meat is visible, the chicken needs to continue cooking in the oven.

This Recipe is courtesy of Ree Drummond