Fried Chicken Friday Freestyles

So look at this and guess what it is...

That's the bottom of the skillet I use for frying chicken.

And it's a hot mess.

It did not get like that overnight. I bought that skillet during the summer of 1991 from the local Big Lots store. So it had to be cheap. That comes from years and years, some 28 years, of not scrubbing the bottom of the pan with a brillo pad.

It's too late to be thinking about that now. I would think an afternoon with a chisel and rag would make it look a little better. But mind you, I have been fastidious about keeping the inside of the skillet clean.

So much so that it's no longer non-stick. It is dayum near shiny. So I gotta be careful what I cook in it.

Alas, it's best for frying chicken. And I pulled a couple of old photos from my blog where I have caught the sizzle of the chicken in the pan.

That's some good chicken. I do not remember that batch of chicken, but I must tell you, by faith, that that was some GOOD chicken.

(That chicken had another 30 minutes to go in the skillet before it's is turned up).

 Now, I have had bought several skillets over the past 28 years, but this skillet has lasted all these years. I thought about tossing it, but I will keep it.

There is history there.

And it reminds me of the old skillets that my grandparents fried up chicken and pork chops in.

Now, I have a new skillet that I just LOVE. I bought it at the Target, not the Big Lots. I bought it, a small one and a large one, with my birthday monies. I have fried up some chicken in it, just once since I bought it on my birthday. I tend to sautee more veggies in it. I LOVED-IT it.

But I was washing it the other day and I noticed something.

Is the bottom of the skillet turning black?

I tried to scrub it clean with a brillo pad to no avail.

So will it crust up like the old one?

Only time will tell.