alpharaposa | Adventures in Cooking: Hoppy's Fried Chicken

A while ago, my parent gave me "The All-American Cowboy Cookbook, Home Cooking on the Range". This recipe is from that book. "Hoppy" is short for "Hopalong".

Ingredients:
2 young chickens, 2 1/4 lbs each (I bought some chicken already cut into pieces.)
Salt and pepper
3 strips bacon
3 cups flour (you probably won't actually need this much- I didn't use all of mine.)
1 lb butter
1 1/2 cups whole milk (I actually used 2%)
Parsley

Cut up the chickens. Wash, drain, but don't dry. Season with salt and pepper, then roll in the flour.

Fry the bacon in the pan until you have a nice reserve of fat. Remove the bacon to drain. Add the butter and wait for it to melt. Note: do not let it get too hot! Butter will burn if cooked at too high a temperature. I went up to medium on my electric. If using gas, keep a low flame.

Add chicken pieces. Turn frequently, cooking until well browned. Remove to hot platter.

Add bacon (crumbled) and milk to cooking fat. Stir thoroughly. Let simmer 15 minutes, then pour over chicken. Garnish with the parsley.

I didn't actually manage the gravy part, which is a shame. After I poured the milk in, it looked really, really good after about five minutes, but I was going to wait the whole fifteen. I shouldn't - it broke down at about ten minutes. So, serve the gravy when it looks like good, rich gravy! Don't overcook!

Definitely something to try again sometime. Chicken cooked in butter tastes nothing like chicken cooked in a liquid fat. It's amazing, even without the sauce.