Southern Style Fried Chicken
Thursday, February 03, 2005 @ 5:01 PM Southern Style Fried Chicken

Cut the chicken into desired pieces and have thoroughly chilled before cooking. Salt and pepper each piece, then carefully roll in flour. Have the frying fat very hot and drop a few pieces into it at a time. After each piece has been turned, lower the heat and cook until golden brown. Drain on brown paper. To make a delicious creamed gravy, you drain off the surplus fat when the chicken is fried, leaving all the crumbs in the frying pan; these must not be burnt. Add a little flour and stir while browning, then add 1/4 cup of hot water and stir until smooth. As this is very thick, thin it to desired thickness of gravy with milk or cream. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.

A perfect Plantation dinner or Southern dinner consists of Fried Chicken, butter beans, spinach ring wiht hard boiled eggs, green salad of mixed vegetables, lemon pie or a cobbler of fresh peaches or berries. Oh yes, don't forget to have plenty of mint for your tea, and no bread could take the place of hot biscuit. Have an extra pound of butter and a dish of preserves.

| Chicken Dumplings - from the Argyle
Wednesday, February 02, 2005 @ 8:27 AM Chicken Dumplings -from the Argyle

Cook a large hen by simmering several hours; remove the hen and cook the dumplings in the liquor by dropping the dough into the simmering stock by spoonfuls, seeing that each drop is entirely covered by the liquid. Then cover tightly with a heavy lid and steam 15 minutes. Remove the bones from the chicken; keep it hot while cooking the dumplings and add just before serving. For Dumplings: mix 2 cup flour, 4 teaspoons of baking powder, 2 tablespoons fat (from cooking chicken), 1 cup milk. Mix by chopping fat into flour and baking powder, then adding milk.

| The Argyle
Tuesday, February 01, 2005 @ 5:36 PM The Argyle Restaurant
I was looking at some of my cooks books trying to decide what I could post next and I cam e across a cookbook I have from 1941 that belonged to my great aunt. It was from a restaurant that was called the Argyle restaurant. The Argyle had a heritage of rich living, even before it became a hotel. Built before the War between the States, it was first the ranch home of Charles Anderson. Southern Colonial in type, it followed the pattern of the old plantation architecture, but it was built as the headqurters of a horse ranch. Its builder hoped to raise horses for the United States cavalry, with a ready market at nearby Fort Sam Houston. A man of means, Anderson entertained lavishly, many of the notables of the period having been guests at what was then known as the Anderson ranch. Robert E. Lee and Albert Sidney Johnaton, both later to attain fame as two immortal leaders of the Lost Cause, were guests there, as were many other early-day army personages. The ranch was sold three more times, then finally was bought by a pioneer family in the 1890s named The O'Gradys who came from Wesport, Ireland, and settled in Boerne, TX. It was the 3rd owners who named it the Argyle because of the rolling hills of the section reminded them of their native hills in Scotland. It was the second generation of the O'Grady's who made the Argyle what it was. Alice O'Grady ("Miss Alice") wrote the cookbook to share her cuisine that was made so famous. Several other famous people stayed there before they moved on to fulfill their destinies. Well that is the basic background for the Argyle. As I mentioned I will be posting recipes from Miss Alice's cookbook. Hope you enjoy them! I also want to note that I will write the recipes just as they are in the cookbook so they will be authentic instead of my regular recipe format.