Fried Chicken Wings and Homemade Fries

My kids SUCK to cook for. Actually if you didn't like to cook, they would be your dream come true children. My son likes plain meat and bread. My daughter, yeah I don't know what she really likes, but she doesn't like meat very much. See my problem? They would be thrilled to have frozen pizza or chicken nuggets every night. Me not to much;)

So, this is my compromise and a meal that they actually ask for. A meal that reminds me of being a kid. My Dad was from the south and LOVED his fried foods. Lucky for us, my Mom was the master at frying chicken. Don't be scared, it's not hard and you don't need anything fancy to fry them in, although a deep cast iron pan works best. If you don't have one, soup kettle would probably be your best bet becaause you need something that is deep enough to hold the grease and your food.

You'll need a package of chicken wings, salt and pepper, Crisco and a couple of potatoes, regular and sweet.
Cut your chicken wings in half and cut off that extra wing thing. If you don't have kitchen shears, the best kitchen invention EVER in my opinion, you can use a knife. But, I'd go buy yourself a pair if I were you and ONLY use them for food. OR you can leave them whole, it doesn't matter to me, I'm just making them so my kids are happy and cutting them in half makes them happy.
Here's your chicken all rinsed and patted dry. Sprinkle (not pour) generously with salt and pepper, flip the chicken over and repeat.
Here's the Crisco. I took a picture so you know that I mean the solid stuff and not oil. Oil breaks down when you're cooking and the chicken can get greasy. It's also easier for clean up because when it cools, it gets hard and you can easily scrape it from the pan. You are gonna want about an inch and half in your pan when it's melted so the wings are half covered when you throw them in. In my deep pan, it's about 1/3 a container. I don't use a thermometer so I can't tell you "the temp", I can tell you that my knob is on 8 and when the grease is melted, you can start to smell it ever so slightly probably about 3 minutes after it's melted, it's hot enough. Throw a fry in and if it bounces to the top, your grease is hot enough. Or if you put ONE wing in and it starts to sizzle fast, it's ready. If it's not hot enough, just wait a couple of minutes...that wing will taste fine, it just absorbed some extra grease. A friend told me once to throw a match in and if it's hot enough it will light? Haven't tried it but thought I'd mention it.
You can flour chicken anyway you want, sometimes I put it on a plate but tonight I used a ziploc. I put a cup of flour and a few teaspoons of salt in the bag. I threw in some wings and gave it a shake. Make sure they are well coated but give them a shake as you take them out to get off the excess, you don't want clumpy flour in the pan or on the wings.
I'm an equal opportunity fry girl and because you need to make multiple batches it's ok to mix it up. So here are sweet potatos peeled and sliced fairly thin, regular potatoes sliced thin and one that I left the skin on and sliced thin like thick potato chips. Make sure they are similar in thickness because they need to cook evenly. God forbid we have some mushy fries and some burnt ones.
Here's the chicken frying. DON'T crowd the pan, make sure each wing has it's own place to cook. I'll be honest and tell you that I have a bit too much Crisco in the pan, for best cooking..the wings should not be completely covered. They still turn out ok, you just have to watch them a bit more. You're going to cook them for about 4 minutes and then flip and cook another 4. They should be golden brown when they come out. I'll be honest and tell you that I'm always concerned that chicken isn't cook and err on the side of cooking them too long because it just makes them crunchier.
Here they are fresh out of the hot grease. Put them on paper towels to drain and immediately sprinkle with salt. Start your next batch. DON'T cover them, the crust will get soggy. Wings taste fine even when they aren't piping hot.
Here are the fries in the pan. DON'T crowd your pan, you want them to cook evenly. Stir them around until they are golden. Probably takes about 4-5 minutes, I've honestly never timed it but you all know what cooked fries look like. Sweet potato ones take a bit longer. Drain on paper towels, sprinkle generously with salt.
Dinner is served as the batches of fries come out. They each get a few and then on to the next batch and throwing them on the table as they come out. Mom usually gets to sit down as they are finishing up but they don't mind hanging and chatting because they just had their favorite dinner.