ALONG THE MISSISSIPPI: A CRUNCHY TWIST TO SOUTHERN FRIED CHICKEN

My Grandmother Mayes' blue-ribbon cornmeal Battered Chicken is a crunchy twist to southern fried chicken. The only chicken Grandmother cooked was her farm-raised pullets (hens under a year old.)

On this particular occasion Grandmother was sacrificing three of her pullets for a family dinner. After the pullets had been cleaned at the outside dressing table, my little cousin and I were carrying the chicken to the house in a big pot. Unbeknownst to us, the porch plank that we stepped up on was loose. The loose plank pitched us and the pullets into the yard!

Now my Grandmother never wasted a pullet, so she and my Mother fastidious rewashed the pullets. This time my Mother carried the pot of chicken to the porch, still thinking that we had made a misstep. Unaware that the plank was loose, she sat the pot upon the very same plank; just as my uncle bounced out the door onto the plank. You guessed it! The pullets were once again airborne. The pullets were rewashed, and my Grandmother carried them directly to the kitchen.

No one at the dinner table, except those of us who had been sworn to secrecy, knew of the earlier events. As everyone ate, they began proclaiming that it was the best and crunchiest chicken that my Grandmother had ever made. The more compliments offered, the more tickled my Grandmother and Mother became, until they were in side-splitting laughter!

Crunchy Cornmeal Battered Chicken

1 cup white cornmeal

1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1 cup milk

1 cut-up chicken (2 1/2 to 3 pounds)

cooking oil to depth of 1 inch in heavy 10-inch skillet

1. Combine cornmeal, flour, salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder.

2. Place milk in bowl.

#. Dip chicken pieces in milk, then roll in cornmeal mixture until well-coated. Let stand 10 minutes to dry coating.

4. Heat oil to medium high (360 degrees) in skillet; place chicken in hot oil, thicker pieces near center.

5. Brown quickly on all sides. Reduce heat, and cook about 25 minutes or until tender, turning occasionally.

6. Drain fried chicken on absorbent paper.

Serve immediately.

Yield: 4 servings.

Angie Holtzhouser is author of Drop Dumplin's and Pan-Fried Memories ... Along the Mississippi. Her cookbook is available at local bookstores. In addition, it can be purchased through the mail at: Drop Dumplin's, P.O. Box 10, Lilbourn, Mo. 63862. The price is $19.95, including tax and shipping.