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9 Old-School Southern Chicken Dishes That Need To Make A Comeback By Felicia Lee Aug. 24, 2025 12:19 pm EST

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When most Americans think of Southern cuisine, one of the first dishes that comes to mind is fried chicken. And it's no wonder — the iconic favorite has been a point of pride for both Black and white Southern cooks as early as the 17th century, since chickens were among the first domesticated animals to become established in the American South. But fried chicken was labor-intensive and pricey to make in the pre-industrial era — the cook had to slaughter a valuable chicken from their flock, clean it, and carve it into pieces for cooking, then undertake the hot, messy work of coating and frying it. This all meant that it was o

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