Basket of fried chicken. Courtesy/Trivia Genius

Trivia Genius News:

The origin of fried chicken has never really been clear to anyone. It has possible antecedents everywhere, from Southeast Asia to Scotland to West Africa.

But the oldest recipe anyone has found for a reasonably understandable fried chicken is from British cookbook author Hannah Glasse’s “The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy”, first published in the 1740s.

In her book, she suggests skinning and cutting up a chicken; covering it in a mixture of egg yolks, flour, and spices; and then frying it.

Although she didn’t call her dish “fried chicken”, her recipe is believed to have influenced subsequent recipes for fried chicken in America.

Today it is generally agreed that modern fried chicken is an American invention that combined the fricassees of European cooking and cooking methods and styles of enslaved African Americans.

Source: First We Feast