Fried chicken and cheese grits, though pretty synonymous with living in a countrified state like Oklahoma, is surprisingly hard to make and even harder to make well. So, of course, for this installment of my petty culinary battle with Ree Drummond and her The Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook, I decided to try my hand at this pair of somewhat popular recipes.
After a list-heavy shopping trip to the grocery store of my choice—sorry, Whittaker’s—I laid out the ingredients on my ladyfriend’s counter, finding it a bit harder this go-round to use healthier substitutes, right down to the cooking oil; I mean, after last month’s choir of kitchenette crybabies bemoaned my use of olive oil to cook chicken fried steak, my heart be damned, this time I went with vegetable oil. Happy?