Fried chicken’s a greasy, deliciously indulgent comfort food enjoyed all over the world. But did you know that the ultimate soul food originated in our own backyard — where Scottish chicken-frying methods were combined with West African seasoning traditions — to create what is now one of the world’s favorite guilty pleasures? Fried chicken was an expensive delicacy up until World War II, but thanks to mass production techniques, we’re now able to indulge ourselves on the cheap in almost any city in the world. So on July 6, we get out our buckets ‘o’ chicken and napkins, because it’s National Fried Chicken Day.
American fried chicken is considered the best, but Americans weren’t the first to do it. Europeans were already frying chickens back in the Middle Ages, but it was the Scottish immigrants to the U.S. who brought with them their tradition of deep-frying chicken in fat. Their preferred style of eating fried chicken was with no seasoning so their recipe was slightly bland. African slaves of the Scottish immigrants adopted the fried chicken recipe, often adding more spices as their own unique touch in the way fried chicken was cooked. This dish became a staple in many Southern-American households when African slaves became cooks there.
One basis of this theory is from James Boswell’s journal titled “Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides.” In 1773, he wrote about eating fricassee of fowl for dinner, served by the locals — “fried chicken or something like that.”
The earliest known recipe for fried chicken was written by Hannah Glasse in the 18th century in her cookbook titled “The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy.” Her recipe was strangely named ‘To Marinate Chickens,’ and its first publication was in 1747.
The history of fried chicken wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the king of fried chicken himself, Colonel Harland David Sanders. After doing a range of jobs, he came up with the genius idea of cooking fried chicken fast using a blend of seasoning and a pressure cooker. When he first started selling the dish at his restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky, it wasn’t an instant success. At the age of 65, he hit the road selling his fried chicken under the name “Kentucky Fried Chicken.” As part of his business, he adopted the title of colonel. By 1964, when he sold his company, there were 600 KFC franchises all over the country.
Fried chicken continues to spark the interest of food lovers and consumers. In 2019, Popeye’s launched their fried chicken sandwich, which caused a huge sensation. The craze and hype for the chicken sandwich continue until the present, with an ongoing ‘chicken war’ between competing franchises.
