Fried chicken is a staple of St. Louis cuisine. The impact of the dish goes much deeper than the debate over which local restaurant serves the best fried chicken.
“Fried chicken is so glorious, it stands on its own,” said scholar Adrian Miller, the James Beard Award-winning author of “Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time.”
Fried chicken originated as a “once in a while dish,” said Miller. This “old school” style, utilizing deep-fat frying, was seen as a mark of wealth. Then came Kentucky Fried Chicken.
“We think about Colonel Sanders as probably the face of doing this, but he came up with a method of cooking a whole bunch of chickens at one time, using pressure cooking,” Miller explained. “You see fried chicken then mushrooming into chains, and that's why it's all over the place. Because it's something that you can now make quickly, it's delicious and it's beloved.”
Miller said he fell in love early with his mother’s fried chicken. She used an egg batter to attain the “crispy deliciousness” of a fast food dish.
“Growing up in a black church in Denver, Colorado, typically, we would have food-related events after church. Fried chicken was usually served there. … And so when I think about fried chicken in those contexts, I think about nostalgia, a loved one making this food so amazingly, and then also the connection that I had with my church community.”
On Wednesday's St. Louis’ on the Air, Adrian Miller shared his insight on the long, diverse history of fried chicken — which stretches beyond America to numerous countries, from Guatemala to China.
“One of the most popular is Korean fried chicken,” he noted, “which actually has two variations. One is the double fried, really crispy approach, and the other is with the sticky, sweet sauce approach.”
He continued, “We have the ability to experience fried chicken from so many different cultures. It shows the diversification … as well as the internationalization of the U.S. in terms of our palate. I think right now, American diners are so much more open to taste from around the world than they have been in the past. And I think it's glorious.”
To hear the full conversation with author and “Soul Food Scholar” Adrian Miller, and a preview of Friday’s roundtable “STL Chicken Fight,” listen to “St. Louis on the Air” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube, or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. The production intern is Darrious Varner. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
