BOOK REVIEW: FRIED CHICKEN & FRIENDS by Gregory Llewellyn & Naomi Hart

Shane | 13 October 2015 | 1 Reply

BOOK REVIEW: FRIED CHICKEN & FRIENDS by Gregory Llewellyn & Naomi Hart
Murdoch Books
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
8/10

When Aussie girl Naomi Hart, working in musical theatre in New York, met and fell for Gregory Llewellyn, a cook from rural New York state, no-one had any idea it would lead to the wonderful Hartsyard Restaurant in Sydney, the sort of place where honest folk could get an honest feed of honest fried chicken with just about every trimming you could imagine.

In between having babies and seducing droves of customers with the collision of their very different tastes – Hart writes, “he likes fried chicken; I don’t. He likes potato bake; I like salad. He likes beer; I like dessert” – they’ve written all these recipes down so you and I can bring the authentic taste of Hartsyard – and America – to our own Sunday (or any day) dinners.

No less than sixteen pages goes into the full method for Llewellyn’s fried chicken – guaranteed to make any colonel jealous. Don’t stress though – there’s loads of glorious pictures of every step of the process, especially the golden end result. There’s also a one-page quick version for those who want to work their way up or who are time-constrained (the full version takes three days!)

The rest of the book details cocktails, Beer & cheese fondue with mustard pretzels, crab salad and duck fat peanuts, pickled peppers and school-prawn popcorn, simple fare such as mashed potato and creamed corn (done right, in all their simple, decadent glories), alongside waffles and cornbread, fried green tomatoes and a variety of gravies to die for. Did I mention smoked maple syrup? Of course not – I want to keep it all to myself!

Naomi promised salads too – and there’s some great varieties in these pages. Raw artichoke & mushroom is a winner, as well as butter lettuce and dandelion with hot bacon dressing. If you’ve been good you might also want to indulge in the desserts – from rustic American campfire staples ‘Smores to marshmallow-topped sweet potato pies and ice cream stuffed doughnuts and a variety of milkshakes that will have big and small kids alike drooling – salted caramel or peanut butter & jelly shakes, anyone?