Part II: Visiting Martha’s Vineyard

 

When Labor Day approached, our rhubarb started waving its goodbyes and the fall leaf pie decoration starting trumping the flower. Then, as the mornings got chillier and the air started smelling bonfire-y, my ticking summer adventure clock reached midnight and I returned home from the Vineyard. My body was all of a sudden tired of checking for ticks every night and screamed, “gimme air conditioning and my bed at home!!” While I was sad to leave, I’m so happy to be home with my family and friends.

Now that I’m back and missing all my places, I must tell you about visiting the rest of the island. The good thing is, it’s still a great time to go visit the Vineyard given that the tourists are mostly gone but the weather will be nice. So, if you read this and have some extra vacay days, visit ye ole Vineyahd! Last time, we talked pastrami sammies,  a lil fishing village and my favorite breakfast spots. Today I want to share Edgartown, Katama and OB with you.

For all you ath-a-letes or outside-junkies…

My number-one activity for you to do as a family or group is to bike State Beach. Because I didn’t have a car, it was a bit harder to figure out transportation to and from each town when people came to visit. I figured out you could make a whole day activity out of biking from Vineyard Haven to Edgartown by going on the State Beach route. If you have a car, it is a 7 mile drive, but the scenic bike route ends up being closer to 8-9 miles.

If you’re willing to take the longer route, I’m telling you it’s a great 1-2 hour adventure depending upon how many times you stop and enjoy the views. Starting in Vineyard Haven, you can bike over Beach road, flanked by water on both sides and even a small beach (Eastville) if you’re interested. When my soul sistah Christine came to visit, we explored a new path and biked the East Chop loop around to Oak Bluffs’ town center.

This East Chop loop is a great way for you to feel completely obsessed with finding some way to live in one of these beachfront cottages with by far the prettiest sunset you may ever see on the East coast. That being said, proceed with caution. Zillow stalking is a REAL problem. Once you get into Oak Bluffs, you’ll see sooo many people and wonder how this much of civilization managed to cram onto an island with no stoplights and enough parking for about 1/10 of its visitors.

Stop at Nancy’s, have a cocktail to ease those tight glutes, or visit the Donut shop in the little town square for some delicciouuuusss donuts or apple fritters. As you continue along through OB and get to State Beach, you get to pass one of those fancy golf courses and then stumble upon the “Jaws Bridge.” I’m telling you, I still have not seen Jaws so I’m not sure where this actually shows up in the movie, but apparently it’s a thing. For most adrenaline-seekers, jumping off the Jaws Bridge is a MUST for all summer residents. If you ask me the MUSTS for a summer resident, eating a donut from Back Door donuts is much more important than visiting this bridge.

Here’s Mom on the other side of the Jaws Bridge

Riding along State Beach might be my absolute favorite thing about Martha’s Vineyard, to be honest with you. On one side, you see blue waters and beach for miles. On the other side, a serene lagoon with inlet-nestled homes offers calmer waters for kayakers, windsurfers, and slower boats. Also, according to my Google search as of 2 seconds ago, the rumor (that I started) that one of the houses lining State Beach was in Wedding Crashers is completely false. Ugh, failed the tour guide test

Anyways, if you think you’ve felt the letters V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N slowly start to form a different aura around your being when you go to the beach, you haven’t felt anything yet. Get on your bike, get up to State Beach, and get on this bike ride. It’s freeing, beautiful, serene, sunny, just warm enough, and there are sweets and ice cream at the end of your ride.

I like to end the bike ride in classic Edgartown. As much as I didn’t want to like Edgartown, with its expensive restaurants, art galleries, and manicured homes, I couldn’t stop coming back. Though the air is a bit haughty, Edgartown is what you came to Martha’s Vineyard to see. You came to see those shingled houses, white painted fences, waterfront views, blue blazers, and Vineyard Vines pastels. And here it is 🙂

 

When the bike ride is over, it’s off to Rosewater market, the cutest lil deli shop with all those cutesy cards you want to write your bestie along with lunch and expensive seltzer water. When my sister and I came here, we had some delicious BBQ and brussels sprouts. With Spencer, it was a massive strawberry cupcake. And Christine and I had a classic cold brew. When you’re ready for ice cream, I’m a tried and true Scoops girl, right across from the Seafood Shanty. Don’t make the same mistake as The Mitchell men and myself – we visited Scoops before END OF JUNE and apparently in Martha’s Vineyard it’s not ice cream time until END OF JUNE??? Bring your ice cream up to the second-floor dock that overlooks the Chappy ferry. Laugh at the ferry that carries literally 3 cars about 100 yards from Edgartown to Chappaquidick. Then, sit, and breathe. Close your eyes and listen to the breeze. To the sounds of boats entering the harbor, kids running for ice cream, and smile REALLY BIG. Sitting here on my bed back at home, I feel like the image of the those boats dotting the harbor in Chappy is one carved so permanently in my mind. My dad even did his pushup challenge up on the dock!!

 

An afternoon in Edgartown requires a walk down Water Street to look at all the white houses, shiny red painted doors, Mercedes Benzs, and to peek in at the intricately carved staircases inside these homes. If you’re lucky, you might hit happy hour when one of these houses with the lush green grass backyards is hosting a cocktail party. Hint: follow a chic older lady who is hooking arms with a dapper older man, blue-blazer or polo clad strolling up Water Street…Either way, if you’ve got your bathing suit, you can go relax for a bit down by the Edgartown lighthouse. My sweet momma and I went down here after a long afternoon of biking. It’s amazing that with all the touristyness of Edgartown, going down by the lighthouse feels almost remote. It’s a nice quiet place to take your Rosewater sammy or a couple drinks to watch the sun go down

 

(view above is looking back to water street from the Edgartown dock)

Don’t think I forgot about dinner. All of you who have been to MV to visit me know that there’s only one place I ever want to go…..The Port Hunter. My dearest friend Raquel introduced me to this place. After our first round of drinks and dinner, I brought all my visitors there!! I must say, it worked out well for the baker’s schedule – we liked to be in bed by 9, so we would get there right when it opened for dinner (5:30 or 6). Getting to the Port Hunter early is essential, since there is a line out the door before it even opens.

I highly recommend sitting at the bar, drinking their cucumber-y lime cocktail or this spicy margarita that has Mezcal !!! There’s absolutely no question that you have to get the fried brussels sprouts with buffalo sauce and blue cheese dip. YUP, THAT IS a thing. Other great dishes include this harissa grilled chicky sammich that Christine enjoyed, their calamari, whole roasted fish, seafood chowder, fish tacos, and the chicken livers. And don’t forget why Raquel and I went there in the first place….for the FRIES!! My mom and I had a lovely girls night with Raquel and also ordered this amazing roasted chicken all loaded with herbs. Ugh, I could go back there every night, fresh off work from the bakery, loaded with french fries and in bed at 9. An IDEAL summer night 🙂

Goodness, I thought I was going to get all my recommendations out to you but looks like I’m going to have to extend this share-an-entire-summer-in-a-few-internet-writing-bursts a bit more!!

Here are a few more snaps from when I walked through this fancy tennis/polo-y club neighborhood and imagined my future life as a person with a very manicured lawn:

 

 

 

Island visitor guide from one newbie to another, part I

Hello August-tanned-and-ready-for-school-supplies-shopping babes! It’s my midweek day off and I’m on the tail end of having a week of visitors here. I almost don’t even know what to do with myself without waking up to thoughts of “which breakfast place shall we go to?” or “which beach will provide max relaxation to this visitor???” I want to share my take on having visitors when you yourself are technically still somewhat of a visitor. This island has enough to do , but sometimes it’s hard to gauge which activities one visitor might like as compared to another.

When you live on an island and don’t have a car, transportation and figuring out transportation becomes in and of itself part of the adventure 🙂 I have loved that my family and friends that visited have embraced this little saying that my wise soccer coach preached….”The journey is the reward” (Dad are you CRYING with joy that I just used this phrase?) in some of our transportation adventures. It can also be difficult to find inexpensive things to do on an island where it costs $6 for a pound of tomatoes from a farm stand and a whopping $3 for an avocado at some grocery stores. Here’s my take on visits to Martha’s Vineyard. Please note that the perspective here is from a food-obsessed, sweets-loving, stationary-store-craved, fan of the sun. I have some specifics for people with different tastes and must-visits for everyone in your crew. This is just part I!!

First stop – the necessary breakfast joint:

It doesn’t get more important than this if you ask me. I am SO pumped for a good breakfast place and as it so happens, so are some of the close people in my life!! I have to say that visiting the Art Cliff Diner in Vineyard Haven is an absolute must for breakfast. The catch is, you HAVE to get there before 8 am to beat the line, and sometimes the owners decide to close for the day whenever they feel like it. It’s one of those places where you get giddy looking at the menu options and the feeling of indecision takes over as you see the amazingness of the Specials board. I love that there is the hustley-bustley noise of coffee-pour, moving dishes, and sizzling bacon, and that every single thing that comes out of that kitchen has you thinking, “ugh, I should have ordered THAT piece of heaven.”

So far, I have eaten the blueberry pancakes and the Green Monster (pictured below). My mother had a delicious omelette when she came and my boyfriend had this big ole brioche BLT (pictured below).

The green monster, soooo yummy/crispy/cheesy

The patriotic BLT (had to be snapchatted, of course)

Okay, so if you’re not going to Art Cliff, here’s other breakfast suggestions

If you want a place with easy parking, good service, healthy options, and you’re in Tisbury…..Little House

If you are staying in Edgartown/Katama, want a nice view, like rolling fields and don’t mind waiting……Right Fork Diner. There’s an airfield here where you can watch people take biplane rides.

Other places I’m dying to try…Dock Street Coffee Shop, Lucky Hanks, 7a’s breakfast menu, Linda Jeans, and Biscuits.

A trip to West Tisbury

I have managed to bring a few different guests to “downtown” West Tisbury, a teeny little town thingy with a town hall, general store, art gallery, food, and conveniently the location of our Wednesday and Saturday markets. I think that if you’re staying down island you may wonder what you can spend an afternoon doing down here, but there’s a good bit to explore if you like to wander. It’s not difficult to get to by bus, or you can visit via moped!!

For everyone….

The West Tis Farmer’s Market!! I have loved getting to show my visitors our adorbs Pie Chicks booth at the farmer’s market at the Grange Hall in West Tis. In addition to showing them our beautiful pies and buying a scone, it’s always fun to show people the other farm stands and listen to the band play. It’s a small market, but we have diverse stands. There’s a woman who sells egg rolls, a dairy farm that makes it’s own lassis,  a number of produce farmers, and beeauuuutiful flower options. You must come pick up a Pie Chicks pie for your dinner guests, or have a scone or piece of pie right then and there! If you’re headed to the beach, pick up some granola or pie bites (little cinnamon-sugar crusted pie-crust pieces) to snack on.

Where to go next in West Tis…

For your New Yorker father or any meat-loving, sandwich appreciator….

The Liz Lemon at 7a foods. 7a is a delicious little sandwich deli in West Tisbury where I took both my dad and my boyfriend. They have this sandwich called the Liz Lemon which has housemade pastrami, turkey, Russian dressing, and slaw with potato chips on top!! As soon as I took a bite of this sammie, I knew I had to bring dad. Also buy an iced cocoa hazelnut coffee…sooooo good.

For the art-lover….

The Field Gallery. There’s this open gallery across from 7a where they have interesting sculptures and beautiful paintings from local artists. I am not the most knowledgeable about art, but I loved reading the little bios about each of the artists and seeing paintings of places on island I hadn’t seen. My mom loved this place.

For exploring…

If you’re already up in this neck of the woods, I recommend heading out to Great Rock Bight for a beach visit, or taking the bus down to Menemsha. I brought two groups of visitors to Great Rock because I love it’s remote, naturey feel and the less populated beach. The hard part is, the parking is really limited, so either bike here if you’re staying close or try to take the bus. Spencer and I took a moped (apparently frowned upon by locals) which is also a viable option. If you have no car, biking or walking around Middle Road in West Tisbury is also incredibly beautiful. The windy road is lined with quaint, quiet farms with stone fence-bordery-things, sunflowers, and trees. Then you can just walk back to town whenever you feel like it and catch a bus back.

A moped adventure through West Tis

My sister and cousin visiting at Great Rock 🙂

And then there’s Menemsha….the cutest little fishing village where you feel like wearing a worn-out sweater, cuddling up on the beach and saying hello to the fishies with a warm cup of chowda on a cloudy day. Well, if you’re a girl. If you’re a guy, my take is that you’re thinking, ” I feel very Ernest Hemingway and want to get away from the world, buy a beat-up boat, and fish here until the end of eternity”

This town is really small, but there’s two great fish markets where you can get great lobster rolls and fresh fish as well as a few places to eat. You can also peek into some of the boats docked here and dream about which boat you’d want for yourself. If you feel like spending the whole day down here, there’s a nice beach which apparently has the best sunset in town!

 

Phew, I thought I could write about all my visiting spots in one post, but I’m going to have to split this up!! Here’s some pics from my journeys in the meantime…

Sleepy lil beach in Menemsha

The Menemsha docks

The Galley (below) is a lil beach shack where you can get soft serve and burgers

Menemsha on a sunny day!

 

 

Getting to know Martha’s Vineyard

 

First weekend in MV…my backyard!

If there’s one thing I would recommend before spending 3 months in a new place, it’s to truly understand where in the world you are actually going before you get there. By this I mean, let’s say you’re spending time on an island, maybe figure out that there’s no way to get there other than boat before you arrive.

I can say that in my starry-eyed, butter-desiring quest for adventure, I literally thought I’d be skipping over a bridge with my suitcase in hand, singing Fraulein Maria style of course,  straight from the plane in Boston to MV,

In reality, Martha’s Vineyard is quite a secluded island, which is 2 hours by bus plus 45 minutes by ferry if you come from Boston. There’s an airport on the island which actually has good flight deals locally, but for the most part, you’re getting here by boat. While it can be frustrating since I’m used to jumping in the car to get somewhere, it’s a pretty cool feeling to arrive to the island on a boat, seeing all the sailboats out in the Vineyard Haven harbor at their moorings (new word I learned, such an island girl right?) and getting welcomed by the beautiful shingled houses lining the shore.

The people here love the distance from “real America,” deciding to forego stoplights and street lamps for roundabouts and really dark, bumpy roads at night. I have to say, the lack of streetlights in most areas can be pretty scary for getting home at night, but the stars out here are absolutely incredible. It’s interesting to live in a vacation town, where most activity happens 2 months out of the year. When I ask the locals about being here in the off-season, they all really love the slow pace, picking up new hobbies, driving with no traffic, and appreciating the wildlife around them. I’m leaving here in September, but I often wonder if I would be “good” at relaxing in the quiet of the off-season island, or if it would be lonely.

When I arrived mid-June, I was surprised to find out that June isn’t even high season for MV. In the south, Memorial Day sparks the beginning of summer, but up here, kids don’t even get out of school until end of June. Just as an example, when Spencer and his dad came to visit in the later half of June, the BEST ice cream place wasn’t even open yet!!! How can this even be a place to vacation without its best post-beach treat place open!?

Adjusting to my new schedule wasn’t terribly difficult, but I did have some growing pains adjusting to a much more physical job. Waking up early for the 6:30 am clock-in was not too hard, but biking to work when you have no upper body strength IS in fact incredibly difficult at 6 am. One strange thing I haven’t gotten used to is observing ALL THE PEOPLE out and about at the RIPE hour of 6:15 am. Weekday or weekend, whenever I bike to work, the parking spots are full in front of Mocha Motts, our coffee place, and people are strolling around Main street. A) I get that waking up early on vacation is nice, but really, 6 am? and B) one more time, SIX AM??

When I don’t get a ride to work, biking or walking is my main mode of transportation. I wind through this little back road, sometimes waiting for a wild turkey to cross the road, and trying to get my body to wake up to bake! It took probably a month or so for my back and my arms to be able to lift our big mixer bowl full of pie dough and transfer to mixing bowls. I’m still working on not throwing out my back picking up the large sacks of flour!!

The day I really knew this experience instilled real change in me happened two days ago. For all of you people out there who have had to deal with me asking waiters if they have almond or soy milk when ordering coffee or granola/oatmeal when out to eat, I’m sorry. Since I’ve been working at Pie Chicks, I’ve been using our extra whole milk in my coffee or in my granola as a mid-morning (lol midmorning is like 8 am at a bakery) snack. The other day, I remembered to bring my almond milk in to work, and within tasting my first bite of granola with almond milk, I knew the baker in me was fully formed (potentially exaggerating here a bit). I’m here to say that whole milk is best milk. To all of you out there thinking “are you kidding me that’s like drinking heavy cream”, hate to break it to you babe, but you.are.wrong. You need to come out to the Vineyard, buy some Pie Chick’s granola and pour a healthy serving of whole milk over the top.

I’m off to go pick flowers at Morning Glory farm, hit up Net Result to get fresh seafood for my dinner tonight, and clean the house!! #dayoff

Here’s a few more snapshots in the meantime!

Another view of Taste the Vineyard….we were strategically placed right behind a cutie serving amazzinnnggg ceviche samples. Sooo good. I’ve never seen so much Vineyard Vines clothing in my life!! We served our Salted Toffee and Chocolate chip cookies, along with Blueberry, Apple Peach, Strawberry Rhubarb and Gluten Free pies 🙂

A meal of epic proportions…Spencer and Mr. Mitchell came to visit and we had a feast at Seafood Shanty in Edgartown. It was absolutely necessary to have two lobster rolls and an entire fried seafood platter. Keep in mind we had Backdoor donuts after this…

West chop is approximately 2 miles from my house. How pretty is this view? There is this tennis club/summer camp/country club looking thing at the lookout, and I think I once interrupted a wedding while biking through here in my bathing suit

Hello road to work! This is the woodsy gnome-filled (just kidding) road to the kitchen!

Some pretty views of the outside of my church. It’s no coincidence that it’s within walking distance of my house! (Grandma, another reason you should be reading my blog….I AM going to Mass up here 🙂 )

 

Mornings I love. A slice of pie and a cup of coffee, whilst watching the Food Network

Beetsmesumma on the Vineyard

Hello from Martha’s Vineyard, summer babes! I’m currently donning a bright yellow rain slicker, waiting for the sailboat captain to get to the right spot for our lobster fishing adventure today. Just kidding, that’s just how I imagined my Martha’s Vineyard experience before coming up here.

So, why am I 1,000 miles from home on an island off the coast of Massachusetts? To bake ALL the pies, scones, cookies, and granola for 3 months straight, obviously! I wanted to do it all day everyday to learn more about baking and get to know the scoop on working/owning a kitchen. I’m a little delayed in telling you about this because I had to make sure I had some good experiences to share. Here I am, almost 6 weeks into my summer adventure, having the time of my life.

I live  in a house with three other women, right on the lagoon where we have a motley crew of animal friends. Looking out my back window, I can observe a swan family, several ducks, an occasional deer, our two cats, and our 14 year old dog Bubba. The most frequented family to our yard is a group of WILD TURKEYS. YES, TURKEYS. The other day, I came home with my bike and almost ran into the lil turkey chicas darting around our yard!! It’s so bizarre walking down the road and confronting a large turkey. Takes geese crossing to a whole new level.

I’m working at this amazing wholesale bakery called (cue fun girly The Cranberries or Sara Evans song) ….”Pie Chicks.” There’s seven chicks this summer. Our days start at 6:30 am on a normal day, usually to the sounds of John Mayer or Bruce Springsteen Spotify playlists. If you visit Martha’s Vineyard, you can find our pies at local grocery stores, farm stands, restaurants, and the West Tisbury farmers market. Every day, I’m in there, baking and doing a whooollleee lot of cleaning.

This island is incredibly gorgeous, and much more rural than I anticipated. In addition to sandy beaches and calm waters, there are many farms to explore, artisans to get to know, and hiking trails. My house has a CSA share at a farm where you can pick your own flowers !!!!

There’s so many things I have to tell you about this place and adventure and all the people and swanlings and pies.

I’ll start with a few snapshots. Last week, one of my tasks at work was to walk around with a frozen piece of key lime pie on a popsicle stick, eating it in the sun while trying to figure out how long someone could walk around outside before it would melt. #workworkworkworkwork ?!? I also was able to visit the West Tisbury farmers market a few weeks ago and I’m still wondering why in the world I did not buy a lassi from Mermaid Farm. We’ve been getting all sorts of fresh fruits delivered for our fresh fruit tarts with lemon pastry cream. One of the most fun parts of the day is watching these things come together, as our pastry chefs slice up plums, nectarines, strawberries, or peaches and carefully make pretty spirals on the gorgeous tarts.

Okay, with that glimpse in mind, here are some pics of MV!!!

Here is a pic of the little swanling who lives somewhere near the lagoon? He used to come through our backyard a lot but maybe we scared him off Any thoughts on what his/her name should be?

On my first week, I got to work this event called Taste the Vineyard and we set up our pies all cute like this !!

Welcome to Chez Pie Chicks! It’s actually a commercial kitchen in a residential neighborhood. Kinda cool. I think there’s also some sort of camp nearby because as I was walking to work one day I think I saw an archery range. During the day, you can smell fancy butter, bubbling fruit pies , and the sinful smells of oats, chocolate, and brown sugar wafting from our doors.

Here’s our sweet shed. You can find me in here lifting big boxes of frozen fruit, attempting to carry big A bags of flour over to the kitchen, or playing tetris with boxes of scones and cookie dough in our freezer trying to get them all to fit.

And here’s my stylish bike that my awesome boss found me for the summer! It’s a little cruiser and it has ventured all the way out to West Tis and even Edgartown on my leisurely days off.

Now for the pieeeee

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Below is the lighthouse out at west chop…so pretty! Can I live here and be in a Wes Anderson movie?

Edgartown on the 4th of July! This isn’t what all of MV looks like, but this is what I thought the whole island would be like before I got here.

Last, this is the beach closest to my house. It’s great to bike to after work for a lil walk or just a nice view.

Off to bed , tomorrow we bake some more!!

Herby-garlicky fried chicken

My first time making fried chicken. In the same way that people celebrate daughter’s first dance recital, graduations, sweet sixteens, and passing your drivers license tests, I feel like celebrating for my first fried chicken attempt. I’m thinking I should get a Colonel Sanders style sticker and a hug from Paula Deen.

I mostly feel accomplished because in true Katie-cooking-style, the production of this chicken started a week in advance, with me subtly mentioning “fried chicken on Sunday” to my boyfriend Spencer. TBH it was a conversation elongator where I thought about chicken and word vomited the preposterous idea of trying fried chicken for the first time for a crowd on Memorial Day weekend. I should really know my lesson by now that if I’ve skimmed a topic relating to food, someone is going to call me out on it if I don’t actually get around to making it.

Sunday rolls around and no preparations are in order, so I’m thinking I’m putting this adventure off for another time. Both Spencer and myself have moved into different houses, don’t know where anything is, and now we’re set on making fried chicken. It’s in these circumstances you realize that if you forget about the crowd and focus on the dish, things MAY ACTUALLY come together. Well, I wouldn’t say that’s always the case, but in this situation, the results were pretty good.

Before I know it, I’m driving back to St Charles where, of course, I’ve left the most random of kitchen accessories that happen to be needed for our recipe, large marinating plastic bags. In the rush of an unpacking afternoon, Spence was able to brine the chicken for ~3-4 hours before I took over the cooking. I tell you all this because if you’re not intimidated by the behind the scenes work to a barbeque or dinner party, maybe you’ll be more inclined to try something new for friends.

I think there’s a few camps when it comes to entertaining – on the one hand, if you try something new for a crowd, you’re overwhelmed by trying to master the recipe and entertain at the same time, but oftentimes in my case, the trying-something-new is part of the fun of the night. Somehow, it-all-comes-together-at-the-last-minute is the name of the game, like the orchestra started playing a little too early and the curtain guy is reeling up the curtain while the characters are still getting positioned on stage.

In this case, I started my part while Andrew and William were already working their magic with some delicious avocado mac ‘n’ cheese and a blackberry strawberry kale salad. With little kitchen space, the three of us managed a meal of epic proportions without any major accidents, burned food, or overcookery of sorts.

I saw this recipe on an amazing episode of the Barefoot Contessa where Ina invites Tyler Florence over. In one afternoon (yes this timeframe amazes me as well), Ina and Tyler make a wedding cake sized birthday cake, homemade fried chicken, and take a leisurely visit to the local Hamptons farm.

In the case that you watch this episode, I’ll give you a sense for what you actually might be able to accomplish based on my timeline . I’d say you may want to just focus on this fried chicken, as we had to take a bit of time brining the chicken, then prepping the chicken, then returning to the store to buy more oil for frying. I’m not sure when they made this birthday cake but luckily it came together in one afternoon! Whew, to be Ina!

Here’s a few things that differed in our rendition of this meal. 1) Lenzie and Trent brought those amazing fake-cakey cookies with the themed frosting instead of having cake, 2) We kept to their use of bone-in chicken except for the breasts which Spencer deboned , 3) there was no visit to the local farm and 4) instead of having Tyler Florence help guide the cooking process, I had 3 twenty-something guys and 2 parents all pitch in!

I’m hoping you’re not intimidated by Ina’s spotless white kitchen, always-plentiful bowl of silver spoons, and lively-never-droopy blue hydrangeas. Make this for your friends and family and watch their episode at the bottom of this post if you have 1.99 to spare 🙂

Here’s a little snap of our cooking adventure featuring the crew: Andrew, William & Robin; the last few seconds continues with our MDW braves game visit…we ate fried chicken before we went so its all relevant right??

Tyler Florence’s Fried Chicken, adapted very slightly, serves 8-9 comfortably with a few leftovers

2 3-4 lb whole chickens, breasts de-boned, all other pieces bone in (thighs + drumsticks + wings)

3 cups all purpose flour

2 TBS garlic powder

2 TBS onion powder

2 TBS sweet paprika (can use regular if you run out of sweet)

2 tsp cayenne pepper (Adjust here if you’re partial to less spicy)

4 cups (1 quart) buttermilk

2 TBS sriracha or other hot sauce you like

peanut oil or vegetable oil for frying (we used a mixture of both since I ran out of peanut oil…make sure to buy one of the big jugs at the store)

1/2 head garlic, smashed, husks still on (this is for frying dont worry about the husks)

1/4 bunch fresh sage

1/4 bunch fresh thyme

4 big sprigs of fresh rosemary

fresh black pepper and kosher salt

2 lemons, cut into wedges, for serving

1. A few hours in advance, or the night before, set up your chicken to brine. We used a big tupperware, but you can use a large bowl. Cover the chicken with water 1-inch above chicken. Sprinkle 1 TBS kosher salt for every quart of water you’ve added. Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate at least two hours, preferably overnight. This is what’s going to make the chicken really tender.
2. When you’re ready to start cooking, take your chicken out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature while you prep the frying ingredients. In a shallow platter or deep tupperware in my case, mix together your flour, dry spices, and season with salt and pepper. We learned that you don’t need to add too much salt here, because your chicken already has a good bit of salt absorbed from the brining process.
3. Pour oil into a heavy bottomed pot / Dutch oven, about 2/3 of the way full. Put your whole herbs and garlic directly into the cold oil . As these heat up, don’t worry about them burning, these whole spices are what will flavor your oil. Clip on your candy thermometer, ensuring that the bottoms of it isn’t touching the bottom of the pan. Heat stove to medium high heat, and start prepping your station as the oil heats to 350-375.
4. Meanwhile, set your chicken to the far left, setting a plate next to the brine mixture where you want to dry the chicken before putting it into the buttermilk. Next set a shallow dish with your buttermilk and sriracha next to the chicken. Set flour mixture to the right of that, closest to the stove.
5. Heat the oven to about 150,or whatever is its lowest setting. I wanted to do this to keep the chicken warm while other batches were still trying. **if your chicken is still a bit cold when you start frying, you may need a quick bake after frying to finish cooking your chicken. A few reviewers from Tyler’s original recipe noted this. Our chicken was at room temp so we didn’t have this issue and we only used the oven for warming.
6. Set a sheet pan or 9×13 dish in the oven where you can set chicken after frying to keep warm
7. As your oil heats up, start dredging process with a batch of two pieces. The first step is to dry the brined chicken off with paper towels. You need to do this to make sure the coating sticks properly. Next dip chicken pieces in buttermilk mixture, shake gently to remove any excess, and dredge in flour mixture. Press gently in flour to make sure you get all the crevices covered, then flip to the other side. You can leave chicken in this mixture before frying.
8. Once oil is hot, gently place two pieces in the oil with tongs. Let chicken fry for 12 minutes per batch, moving around about halfway through to make sure nobody is stuck on the bottom of the pot.
9. While you wait for one batch to fry, start prepping 2-3 more pieces. Also have at least 3 onlookers observe and ooh and aah over frying oil cauldron. Make yourself a yummy cocktail or mocktail
10. After 12 minutes, use a meat thermometer to check for doneness if you have one. Chicken should be at 155 when it comes out, but will cook off a bit more than that after you take it off. Thank you Julie Mitchell for checking temp for me since we didn’t have a thermometer!!
11. place done pieces in the oven covering with aluminum foil while you move on to the next batch
12. After all the chicken is done, place on a plate and garnish with your fried herbs. Squeeze a few lemon wedges to taste and place a few other wedges on the side to garnish . Serve to hungry friends, and smile big after you savor each bite. 😀