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Fried Chicken: An American Story
A noted food writer celebrates one of America's quintessential contributions to world cuisine, tracing the history of fried chicken in all its manifestations across the country, from the Deep South, to a Jersey Shore hotel, to a Kansas City roadhouse, offering fifteen superlative recipes along the way. 35,000 first printing.
180 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
4 people are currently reading
185 people want to read
About the author
John T. Edge
37 books106 followersJohn T. Edge writes and hosts the Emmy Award–winning television show TrueSouth on the SEC Network, ESPN, Disney, and Hulu. Edge also writes a restaurant column for Garden & Gun. His 2017 book, The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South, was named one of the best books of the year by NPR and Publishers Weekly. Edge serves the University of Mississippi as a teacher, writer-in-residence, and director of the Mississippi Lab. And he serves the University of Georgia as a mentor in their low-residency MFA program in narrative nonfiction. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi, with his wife, the artist Blair Hobbs.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
October 2, 2022
A finger-licking journey to American iconic food!. Who could resist the temptation of a bucket of freshly cooked Fried Chicken? Not me for sure. Imagined the oily crunchiness of the drumsticks made me salivating.
That's a life simple pleasure. A comfort food that brought back many fond memories. It tasted so good back then, that it could do no wrong.
For the author John T. Edge, this book chronicling his year of pilgrimage across the country, sometimes relishing fried chicken 3 times in a day in various local favorites. From the bread crumbs chicken back in Ohio; the cornmeal crusted drumsticks in Seattle; to the Buffalo wings in New York; among others.
Edge dispelled the long held notion, that the Southern region is where the best serving could be found. While he didn't deny the South had a long distinguished history of fried chicken cookery; his observations showed there's no lack of worthy variants from other parts of the country.
He touched the origin of this popular food. Yes, slavery is one of the earliest point of origin. Various immigrants later added up the variety. Like the Barberton Chicken that traced it way back to the old world Serbia. Or, the fiery hot Korean fried chicken. The way it assimilated and become parts of American culinary is worth knowing.
The significance of fried chicken to socio-cultural tapestry is very interesting. Just see how American fried chicken company like KFC, Wendy's, Popeye, successfully became a worldwide phenomenon. Creating a different eating habit to those nations, where their franchise operated. Not necessarily a healthy affair though.
Their dominion in own's turf were challenged, when Guatemalan's Pollo Campero opened its first outlet in 2002. It was so popular among Latin American descents population. Before that, it was sort of customs for foreign workers to pack, boxes of its fried chicken for US bound air flight; if they visited their home countries in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Ecuador and El Salvador. Overwhelmed by its smells onboard, TACA airline to request the company hermetically sealed those fried chicken boxes for international bound passengers midst 90s.
Edge paid homage to legendary cooks who faithfully adhered in preparing this classic dish the good old way. Those iron clad skillets that had been passed several generations, along with cooking techniques. Like Chef Luciano, an Indian born cook whose garlic-marinated Italian fried chicken was so addictive. He told Edge during the interview, that he warned his customers to only consume fried chicken once a week. To no avail of course.
At the end of each chapter, Edge shared recreated recipe inspired by fried chickens he sampled. Inspired recipes? Yes, 15 altogether. Do you innocently thought those eateries willing to be parted with their secret recipes?
My favourite? Mojo-Marinated Fried Chicken. A tangy and spicy Latin favourite. It used lime and orange juice as the main marinade ingredients. I added salt to the flour, because I think Edge forgot to include salt in his recipe. I didn't squeeze an orange on top of the freshly cooked chicken. I want it crispy. In this way, this fried chicken tasted quite close to a limited time offering by KFC (Malaysia) 2 decades ago. I'm glad to be able to eat something similar again.
I'm so sorry if I made you hungry. I have to go and fetch a bucket now.
That's a life simple pleasure. A comfort food that brought back many fond memories. It tasted so good back then, that it could do no wrong.
For the author John T. Edge, this book chronicling his year of pilgrimage across the country, sometimes relishing fried chicken 3 times in a day in various local favorites. From the bread crumbs chicken back in Ohio; the cornmeal crusted drumsticks in Seattle; to the Buffalo wings in New York; among others.
Edge dispelled the long held notion, that the Southern region is where the best serving could be found. While he didn't deny the South had a long distinguished history of fried chicken cookery; his observations showed there's no lack of worthy variants from other parts of the country.
He touched the origin of this popular food. Yes, slavery is one of the earliest point of origin. Various immigrants later added up the variety. Like the Barberton Chicken that traced it way back to the old world Serbia. Or, the fiery hot Korean fried chicken. The way it assimilated and become parts of American culinary is worth knowing.
The significance of fried chicken to socio-cultural tapestry is very interesting. Just see how American fried chicken company like KFC, Wendy's, Popeye, successfully became a worldwide phenomenon. Creating a different eating habit to those nations, where their franchise operated. Not necessarily a healthy affair though.
Their dominion in own's turf were challenged, when Guatemalan's Pollo Campero opened its first outlet in 2002. It was so popular among Latin American descents population. Before that, it was sort of customs for foreign workers to pack, boxes of its fried chicken for US bound air flight; if they visited their home countries in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Ecuador and El Salvador. Overwhelmed by its smells onboard, TACA airline to request the company hermetically sealed those fried chicken boxes for international bound passengers midst 90s.
Edge paid homage to legendary cooks who faithfully adhered in preparing this classic dish the good old way. Those iron clad skillets that had been passed several generations, along with cooking techniques. Like Chef Luciano, an Indian born cook whose garlic-marinated Italian fried chicken was so addictive. He told Edge during the interview, that he warned his customers to only consume fried chicken once a week. To no avail of course.
At the end of each chapter, Edge shared recreated recipe inspired by fried chickens he sampled. Inspired recipes? Yes, 15 altogether. Do you innocently thought those eateries willing to be parted with their secret recipes?
My favourite? Mojo-Marinated Fried Chicken. A tangy and spicy Latin favourite. It used lime and orange juice as the main marinade ingredients. I added salt to the flour, because I think Edge forgot to include salt in his recipe. I didn't squeeze an orange on top of the freshly cooked chicken. I want it crispy. In this way, this fried chicken tasted quite close to a limited time offering by KFC (Malaysia) 2 decades ago. I'm glad to be able to eat something similar again.
I'm so sorry if I made you hungry. I have to go and fetch a bucket now.
August 21, 2017
More of an extended love letter, acclaimed food writer John T. Edge’s Fried Chicken is an insightful, joyous journey around the U.S. to discover the various ways this uniquely American food is prepared and enjoyed. Like so much of great American cuisine, its roots can be found in western Africa. “We know this: the tradition of cooking in deep oil has probable West African antecedents…Perhaps it will suffice to observe that, in the eighteenth century—while cooking for (and sometimes under the direction of) white slaveholders—women of African descent honed a dish we now know as fried chicken. And just leave it at that.”
Edge tells us about the two sisters who fry their chicken in their mother’s ancient cast iron skillet in Cape May, New Jersey’s Chalfonte Hotel. We learn about the lost “waiter-carrier” tradition of Gordonsville, Virginia, an old railroad crossroad where black women would bring their fried chicken to windows of the waiting trains to sell to hungry travelers. He ponders about the variety of chicken and waffles that stretches from the Deep South to Los Angeles. And his ode to Austin Leslie, famed chef of Chez Helene (pronounced shez hell-len)—my favorite restaurant in the 80s in New Orleans that inspired the critically acclaimed, but now forgotten, televisions series Frank’s Place—describes the misunderstood genius he was. (Edge published this book in 2004. The sad postscript on Leslie is that he became a post-Katrina exile in Atlanta and died shortly thereafter of what many attribute to a broken heart.)
We travel vicariously with Edge to Catholic-parish chicken dinners in the Midwest and bars in Buffalo to sample wings. He takes us back in time to Deacon Burton’s Grill, where fried chicken integrated Atlanta while Jim Crow ruled. We get a sense of the competitive Nashville hot chicken scene and the pan-fried chicken and cream gravy of Kansas City—the gravy is for the mashed potatoes, not the chicken. We get a peek into the brining methods of two masters from Georgia and Tennessee.
We are introduced to the various ethnic influences that have inspired tasty variations. The Serbian-inspired breadcrumb crusted Barberton, Ohio chicken that comes from Amish farms (the fried backs of White House Chicken are my crusty, gluttonous favorites) inspires Edge’s most poetic proclamation, “True Barberton chicken must be cooked in lard, for a great crust requires liquid swine.” In the Southwest, a Guatemalan adobo sauce based recipe is growing strong roots. Chicago’s famed Italian garlic-infused version was pioneered by Chef Luciano, who is actually Dave Gupta, a New Delhi Indian who came to the U.S. in 1964. And as a Korean immigrant shuns his roots to run a successful fried chicken joint in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, in Atlanta a Korean-Japanese-American fusion is taking the hipster scene by force.
Edge’s tales are wonderful snippets of American cultural history. Each short chapter includes recipes that he sleuths together—since most of subjects would never part with their secrets. If this book doesn’t make you hungry to get out and find some chicken (no chains please), then you must be a vegetarian. And even then, you might be tempted to switch sides. Now I think have to get over to White House Chicken for a box of backs, drumettes, and a serving of wallpaper paste-like mashed potatoes. Mmmm, mmmm!
Edge tells us about the two sisters who fry their chicken in their mother’s ancient cast iron skillet in Cape May, New Jersey’s Chalfonte Hotel. We learn about the lost “waiter-carrier” tradition of Gordonsville, Virginia, an old railroad crossroad where black women would bring their fried chicken to windows of the waiting trains to sell to hungry travelers. He ponders about the variety of chicken and waffles that stretches from the Deep South to Los Angeles. And his ode to Austin Leslie, famed chef of Chez Helene (pronounced shez hell-len)—my favorite restaurant in the 80s in New Orleans that inspired the critically acclaimed, but now forgotten, televisions series Frank’s Place—describes the misunderstood genius he was. (Edge published this book in 2004. The sad postscript on Leslie is that he became a post-Katrina exile in Atlanta and died shortly thereafter of what many attribute to a broken heart.)
We travel vicariously with Edge to Catholic-parish chicken dinners in the Midwest and bars in Buffalo to sample wings. He takes us back in time to Deacon Burton’s Grill, where fried chicken integrated Atlanta while Jim Crow ruled. We get a sense of the competitive Nashville hot chicken scene and the pan-fried chicken and cream gravy of Kansas City—the gravy is for the mashed potatoes, not the chicken. We get a peek into the brining methods of two masters from Georgia and Tennessee.
We are introduced to the various ethnic influences that have inspired tasty variations. The Serbian-inspired breadcrumb crusted Barberton, Ohio chicken that comes from Amish farms (the fried backs of White House Chicken are my crusty, gluttonous favorites) inspires Edge’s most poetic proclamation, “True Barberton chicken must be cooked in lard, for a great crust requires liquid swine.” In the Southwest, a Guatemalan adobo sauce based recipe is growing strong roots. Chicago’s famed Italian garlic-infused version was pioneered by Chef Luciano, who is actually Dave Gupta, a New Delhi Indian who came to the U.S. in 1964. And as a Korean immigrant shuns his roots to run a successful fried chicken joint in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, in Atlanta a Korean-Japanese-American fusion is taking the hipster scene by force.
Edge’s tales are wonderful snippets of American cultural history. Each short chapter includes recipes that he sleuths together—since most of subjects would never part with their secrets. If this book doesn’t make you hungry to get out and find some chicken (no chains please), then you must be a vegetarian. And even then, you might be tempted to switch sides. Now I think have to get over to White House Chicken for a box of backs, drumettes, and a serving of wallpaper paste-like mashed potatoes. Mmmm, mmmm!
April 26, 2021
I mean, he talks about fried chicken restaurants he's known and loved. How is this man not 400lbs.
Bones Coffee will not stop showing me ads I clicked on it by accident stop showing me skeletons!
Bones Coffee will not stop showing me ads I clicked on it by accident stop showing me skeletons!
December 28, 2022
Less a history than a culinary journey toward a heart attack, John Edge's Fried Chicken takes the reader on a cross-country tour of one of our nation's most iconic foods. Edge, who as the long-time director of the Southern Foodways Alliance certainly has deep fried-cred, travels from New Jersey to Ohio to Los Angeles, sampling recipes and soliciting stories from cooks from a diversity of traditions. It's genial and personable and well-told and the entire thing made me want to reach for a bottle of Lipitor.
Given that I picked this up looking for more of an examination into the history of fried chicken, particularly in regard to its role in Black entrepreneurship during Reconstruction, I should have been disappointed, but Edge is too good a host for me to regret sharing a meal with him even if the menu wasn't quite what I expected. (In fairness, there's a touch of what I was looking for in the chapter on Gordonsville, VA, which discussed the waiter-carriers who had hocked their birds to the passengers on the trains that came through the junction there.)
A word of caution: Read at your own risk, because this will definitely leave you wanting chicken and waffles.
Given that I picked this up looking for more of an examination into the history of fried chicken, particularly in regard to its role in Black entrepreneurship during Reconstruction, I should have been disappointed, but Edge is too good a host for me to regret sharing a meal with him even if the menu wasn't quite what I expected. (In fairness, there's a touch of what I was looking for in the chapter on Gordonsville, VA, which discussed the waiter-carriers who had hocked their birds to the passengers on the trains that came through the junction there.)
A word of caution: Read at your own risk, because this will definitely leave you wanting chicken and waffles.
May 1, 2020
A good read about the history of fried chicken.
March 31, 2013
Fried Chicken is the first in a series by John Edge that explores different American foods. Or at least those foods that Americans claim as their own. And this book combines a little bit of history with cookbook and food travel writing.
Fried Chicken explores all the fried chicken of the regions. Southern to Ohio to New York's chicken wings to out on the west coast in Seattle. In each area, he details the history of the area and fried chicken and then goes on to explore a restaurant or two in the area. He lists out the merits (or downfalls) of each one. And at the end of the section he includes a recipe that's supposed to represent the fried chicken of the area.
This is about food, not people. But there are some people that he focuses on. Mainly the cooks, who all seem to be characters of their own sort. But one thing ties them together, their love of food. And Edge seems to take great love in eating the food he travels all over to try. I especially liked the two ladies who worked at an inn and had for over fifty years, just like their mother before them. They were the most endearing story in the whole book.
As for the readability of the book, I didn't really like it. It was too jumbled for my tastes. I liked the history, the recipes and the reviews of different places, but each chapter was way too short to really get the point across. We were reading about wings in New York when way too soon we were down in Tennessee learning about hot chicken. It was just little snippets of everything mashed together. And while some of it was interesting, it just didn't feel thorough. But it was a quick read.
I'll still read more of the series because I like anything involving food. And there were some neat stories in this one. But I think he could have really made this into something special. Although he did make me want to infuse honey with rosemary.
Fried Chicken: An American Story
Copyright 2004
180 pages
Review by M. Reynard 2013
More of my reviews can be found at www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com
Fried Chicken explores all the fried chicken of the regions. Southern to Ohio to New York's chicken wings to out on the west coast in Seattle. In each area, he details the history of the area and fried chicken and then goes on to explore a restaurant or two in the area. He lists out the merits (or downfalls) of each one. And at the end of the section he includes a recipe that's supposed to represent the fried chicken of the area.
This is about food, not people. But there are some people that he focuses on. Mainly the cooks, who all seem to be characters of their own sort. But one thing ties them together, their love of food. And Edge seems to take great love in eating the food he travels all over to try. I especially liked the two ladies who worked at an inn and had for over fifty years, just like their mother before them. They were the most endearing story in the whole book.
As for the readability of the book, I didn't really like it. It was too jumbled for my tastes. I liked the history, the recipes and the reviews of different places, but each chapter was way too short to really get the point across. We were reading about wings in New York when way too soon we were down in Tennessee learning about hot chicken. It was just little snippets of everything mashed together. And while some of it was interesting, it just didn't feel thorough. But it was a quick read.
I'll still read more of the series because I like anything involving food. And there were some neat stories in this one. But I think he could have really made this into something special. Although he did make me want to infuse honey with rosemary.
Fried Chicken: An American Story
Copyright 2004
180 pages
Review by M. Reynard 2013
More of my reviews can be found at www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com
December 30, 2007
Fried Chicken is the first in a short series of books by John T. Edge exploring iconic American foods (donuts, hamburgers and fries, and apple pie are the other subjects). There are short sketches of distinctive fried chicken cooks and histories of several regional variations, and each chapter ends with a recipe. I was impressed that despite the fact that Edge is the director of the Southern Foodways Alliance that starts the book off with "fried chicken is best served without a side of provincial bluster" and gives equal weight to Guatemalan and New York fried chicken, for example. But most impressive to me was that I made it to page 100 before I took a trip to Popeyes. Love that chicken!
March 13, 2009
John T. Edge weaves a beguiling tapestry of food and culture as he takes us from a Jersey Shore hotel to a Kansas City roadhouse, from the original Buffalo wings to KFC, from Nashville Hot Chicken to haute fried chicken at a genteel Southern inn.
You have to be interested in both food history and reading about fried chicken to like this book. I fit this description and found this little book very enjoyable. Edge has a comfortable, conversational style and provides 15 recipes to go alone with his voyage of discovery. I liked this enough to request the next in this series, "Apple Pie," from the library.
August 17, 2011
I am half way through Edge's series, which is filled with tales of food and Americana. If this book doesn't make you hungry for fried chicken, you must either hate chicken or have a will of iron.
Edge's journey unearths the roots of fried chicken in the South and how many cultures have, coming to the States, put their own spin on things. From Latin American, Italian American to Chicken & Waffles and Honey & Rosemary gilded chicken, each page is more mouthwatering than the last.
Thought provoking with humor and heart, John T. Edge is a writer worth reading for bite after delicious bite.
Edge's journey unearths the roots of fried chicken in the South and how many cultures have, coming to the States, put their own spin on things. From Latin American, Italian American to Chicken & Waffles and Honey & Rosemary gilded chicken, each page is more mouthwatering than the last.
Thought provoking with humor and heart, John T. Edge is a writer worth reading for bite after delicious bite.
December 27, 2014
What a pleasant surprise this was. It looks like a bargain bin book that would just be full of bland descriptions of people who really know how to fry up a chicken. I expected good recipes. The writing is as delicious as I imagine every single recipe listed must be. It even inspired me to try one of the recipes and to forget that I had declared that I would never fry chicken again. I got out my seasoned big iron skillet and made sure the oil was hot and the chicken was dry. It was yummy - no doubt. But frying chicken is just too damn messy. And then you have all that oil that you have to dispose of. Next time I must have fried chicken I will go out.
August 25, 2013
This book has made me CRAVE fried chicken more than I usually do. Lot's of history of fried chicken stories and a bunch of recipes for different types. I was completely unaware of the different types that have apparently enjoyed prominence in the US at various times! Hot chicken, chicken with vinegar and pickles, fried with onions, fried with Asian spices, designed to serve cold, fried in butter... Fascinating and mouth-watering! Also, the recipes look pretty doable and not as labor or time intensive as I'd thought. I will be trying a couple of them.
November 18, 2013
This is a great little ode to fried chicken. A very quick read with a lot of great and actually very simple recipes. Not really much more I could say about this neat little book. I did check this out from our local library and will be looking for a copy to add to our home library. I highly suggest all fried chicken fans give this one a go. There is even a little list at the back for some spots that the author states has great fried chicken (sorry KFC does not make the list).
August 31, 2015
John Edge, a southern boy, sets out to prove that southern fried chicken is the best in the U.S. Part travelogue, part cookbook, Fried Chicken shares Edge's journey through 15 regional variations on the bird. He concludes that great fried chicken is found throughout the U.S. Recipes are included for those who want to fry chicken at home. I would rather eat at the restaurants mentioned and not have the fuss and smell of frying chicken at home.
August 29, 2011
This is one a four part series of books on uniquely American foods written by John Edge of the Southern Foodways Alliance. these are great books for foodies of course but also for fans of the particular foods. All feature great background and recipes.
March 29, 2010
Just want to head out, buy a slew of chickens and a vat of oil and start frying. Awesome fun. Also makes me want to go "study" at the Southern Foodways Alliance. Think I can convince them to let me focus on coconut cake?
June 10, 2012
A fun, warm, informative trip through the world of fried chicken in the US, written with an eye to understanding food in our society. Very quick to read - maybe one or two days. Recommended.
August 3, 2012
Great history, stories, and recipes, but this book is marred by overly-PC editorializing.
March 12, 2013
I loved this book, as I do most of Edge's work. However, he does have some go-to words and phrases that he uses somewhat relentlessly.
February 3, 2015
This book makes me hungry.
February 22, 2008
Really fun roadtrip book about chicken. (from my pre-veg days. I prefere Apple Pie now!)
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews