Stroud's Gravy

I'm from Oklahoma, and our food tastes similar to Strouds, but I would prefer to cook any day over going out to eat. The trick is using Crisco. Use a large cooking spoon full of Crisco for about 4-5 pieces of chicken. You need to bread your chicken. Just put 2 eggs in a bowel, and flour in another bowel. First dip your chicken in the egg, then dip it in the four. Season the chicken, then put it in the hot Crisco oil. Fry your chicken, then use the rest of the oil to make your gravy. Once your chicken is out, sprinkle flour in the hot oil, enough to thicken the oil. WHen the flour looks like it is melted into the oil, it might be a little thick, start pouring milk in. I fill the pan about 2/3 full of milk. I cook in a large frying pan/skillet. You usually poor the milk to the consistency that you prefer your gravy, so start out smaller amount of milk, and if it is too thick, gradually add more milk. I salt and pepper the gravy while I am cooking it. For your first time, you might want to salt and pepper after it is thick. Don't use regular oil for making gravy. If you want true country gravy, use Crisco! Oh, and cook it on Medium heat. Hope this helps.

Good Morning C., Sorry I do not know what Stroud's gravy is. Here is a site for Fried chicken..

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Deep-South-Fried-Chicken/Det...
When I fry chicken I just use flour salt & Pepper, Coat it well and place in electirc skillet on med heat, takes about 30 minutes to completely cook, turning every few minutes to brown evenly. Some people dip in egg milk then flour to make it a little more crispy. You want enough oil to cover about 1 or 2 inches up the side of your skillet. Wait until it is hot to put your chicken pieces in.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Simple-Chicken-Gravy/Detail....

What I do to make gravy is after frying the chicken leave about 1/4 c. of the drippings in the pan, stir in 3 tbs flour to start, add more flour to absorb the drippings, keep stiring, salt & pepper. Pour in milk ( maybe a Cup to start) a little at a time and stir, add more milk if it gets to thick. After it gets to the consistancy you want reduce heat to slow simmer for about 10 minutes. Stir occassionaly. I am doing this from memory, hope it comes out ok . My mom taught me this way to make gravy but its been a while..

Here are some recipe sites I use sometimes.

All Recipes
http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Main.aspx

One of my fav's cause its fun
Hillbillyhousewife
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/index1.htm

God Bless hope you find something you like
K. Nana of 5
PS God Bless your Hubby for his courage and honor to serve as a Firefighter..

Hi C.,

I don't know about the gravy but I do have a fried chicken recipe for you.

I soak my chicken pieces in water with salt. I don't know how much salt because I just eyeball it. Until the water is cloudy maybe 1/4-1/2 cup? But I soak it either overnight or soak it in the morning to cook at night. This makes sure that the chicken has flavor all the way through. When you are ready to cook them, dry the chicken well and I just use salt, pepper and flour. Pour about an inch of oil into a hot pan and wait until the the oil gets hot before you put the chicken in. When you put the chicken in you have to cover the pan. This will speed up the cooking time because the steam will cook the inside of the chicken. Your chicken will be moist on the inside and crispy on the outside. Turn the chicken over once when it turns to a golden brown. Yummy!! This is not the healthest fried chicken but it is good! Good luck!!!

D.

strouds uses soybean oil, large cast iron fryer 16 inch diameter, 3 inches deep, salt and pepper and flour only, fry chicken 7-8 minutes per side or until golden brown, when done remove chicken and allow to drain, drain the oil from the skillet thru a strainer , replace the cracklins and flour remains to the skillet with one cup of the strained soy bean oil, slowly heat this mixture in the skillet, do not allow it to turn into a dark rue, slowly add up to one cup whole milk and up to two cups of flour, stirring continuosly, bring to a brisk simmer while stirring and reducing, enjoy over freshly made scratch mashed potatoes

I agree about the Crisco for frying, I've used other shortenings and for whatever reason Crisco is the best.

Also use a good cast iron pan, I found some good deals at the thrift store and garage sales.

Once you put the chicken in the hot grease, leave it till you see it turning brown, moving it around too much will cause the breading to fall off. If your grease isn't hot enough you will end up with a soggy breading and a greasier chicken.

You need to use the grease that is left from frying the chicken. I agree that you need to use Crisco, it turns out best for me. When you bread the chicken (I use self-rising flour and a milk egg mixture going from dry mix to wet mix then back to dry) drop some of the extra into the mix and leave in the grease when you make the gravy, this is what makes the crunchy lumps. After the chicken fries, estimate how much liquid is still in the pan and add as much regular (not Self-rising) flour as you think the estimated oil is (in other words equal amounts of oil and flour. Stir, Stir, Stir as you're adding flour, it will be really thick, let this brown a little. Then add milk a little at a time stirring constantly until the gravy is the consistency you desire, then heat until the gravy is hot, you M. have to keep adding milk because it will constantly thicken. The gravy I make usually isn't as brown, but tastes just as good, I think I'm afraid of burning the flour mixture and don't brown this as well as I should. Salt and pepper to taste, this should be close to Stroud's. The big thing is to keep stirring so there isn't a big build up of stuff thickening on the bottom, this could cause lumps.

I am not familiar with that restraunt but I always have luck finding recipes for well know retraunts at Kopykat recipes...lots of luck!
B.

Strouds pan fries in cast iron pans. I'd highly recommend using a good nicely seasoned cast iron pan for frying the chicken. Strouds also mostly just uses flour, they don't have a thick batter for the chicken. The fried chicken recipe below sounds great but fry the chicken in PEANUT OIL and at medium temperature until golden brown. Drain most of the oil until the brown bits are still left in the pan and a small amount of oil, add about 2-3 tablespoons flour and on low heat slowly cook the flour stirring constantly. The mixture should be like a thick paste, not too lumpy. Cook for a few minutes until a light brown, then add a cup of WHOLE milk and whisk. Keep adding milk until you get the right consistancy and whisk until warm and bubbly. Add salt and pepper to taste.