Grandma was right: New Jersey talk host says lard makes the best fried chicken

In our effort to create some of the tastiest and healthiest foods at home, there was no way to skip fired chicken.

For years, the so-called "health" experts frowned on fried foods and convinced people that fats and meats are bad and should be avoided in favor of vegetables and tofu. Ridiculous.

Thankfully, many people are waking up to the recipes perfected by our grandparents before Big Food and Big Pharma started overprocessing our food supply.

In our home many years ago, we stopped buying any product with high-fructose corn syrup, which is essentially pre-digested corn, and in the past few years, we have stopped buying any product with seed oils or enriched/fortified ingredients.

We are back to basics, and feeling strong, healthy and having some of the most delicious food possible.

How to make crispy, healthy fried chicken at home

Over the weekend, Jodi tackled fried chicken. Using a recipe from :The Pioneer Woman" she substituted lard for the recipe's seed oil, cut the chicken into 10 pieces instead of eight and used a stove-top deep pot to fry the chicken then finished the cooking process in the oven.

The lard was about 2 inches deep and she heated it to 325 degrees. 5-7 minutes cooking two pieces at a time.

Then all pieces on a drain rack on a baking sheet into the oven for about 20 minutes at 350.

Once the chicken had an internal temperature of 170, it's done. The chick was crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside and not even a hint of grease.

Check out the recipe here. Enjoy!

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own.

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