A Worldwide Favorite: 4 Fried Chicken Recipes

Fried chicken takes time. There is no way around it. There is also no end to its appeal. Served hot — with mashed potatoes, pan gravy, and vegetables — it is the ultimate Sunday dinner. Cold fried chicken makes a mean picnic. Like other edible American icons, every family has its recipe and passing it on — either by serving a big platter at family gatherings or by recruiting grandchildren to help in the kitchen — is a grandparently thing to do.

Fried chicken philosophy varies from region to region, cook to cook and, increasingly, from one ethnic group to another. In an attempt to create a home-cooked dish that combines the old country and the new, many first-generation immigrants give the all-American dish their own signature.

Here, a traditional American recipe along with a Cuban version and a Japanese one supply the fixings that can turn both the summer’s final family get-together and back-to-school gatherings, into major feasts.

Continue to the recipes: Ardia Herndon's Fried Chicken, Siria Flores's Fried Chicken, Etsuko Scholz's Fried Chicken, and The Wus' East-Meets-West Fried Chicken

For fried chicken tips from our grandparent cooks who provided these recipes, click here.