Maryland.....

.... yesterday afternoon before The Missus left for work I must have had a jaunty look about me because when I had the audacity to ask her what she would like prepared for dinner this evening, she coolly replied "Chicken Maryland"... and having never been to Maryland, I was at a bit of a loss.......

.... but as we all know, The Internet Is Your Friend in such matters....... so, since I am about as "wired" as anyone on the planet, all went well tonight..... and I am here to say that my "Chicken Maryland" cherry is now thoroughly busted........

... in retrospect, I have seen that I am more than a little indebted to the butcher that I chose for the purchase of the chicken..... his chicken breasts were sliced so thin that they cooked perfectly....... and had I chosen to buy a full-sized breast from my usual supermarket, the result would not have been nearly as succulent......

.... sure, I suppose that I could have bought a normal chicken breast, beaten it flat, and then cut it into 1/3 sized filets, but hey, who wants to spend all night pounding a hunk of dead chicken?........ not I, fellow campers..... not I....... so, instead I ended up buying a packed breast that had already been sliced into three beautifully proportioned, well, portions........ and it worked out just swimmingly......

... anyway, here's the recipe in case you guys feel like whipping up a Maryland Chicken......

.... I put 2 cups of flour, 1tbsp of ground black pepper, 1/2 tbsp of paprika, 1/2 tbsp of oregano, 1 tbsp of sea salt, and 1/2 tbsp of thyme in a bowl and mixed it all up..... I then began marinating my chicken breasts in a bowl of milk in the fridge for a few hours....... when dinnertime arrived, I heated a frying-skillet (the kind with those groovy little raised bars all across its' base) with two tbsp of unsalted butter and got that sucker up to nuclear meltdown hot........

..... and after dousing each breast in the flour mixture, I tossed them into the frying pan to sear hard on each side until golden brown........ then I downed the heat and covered the frying pan to allow the thinly-sliced breasts to steam themselves until done through and through.......

... meanwhile I had four crushed cloves of garlic, a smatter of butter, and a whole diced onion sweating down in a separate pot....... once the chicken began its' steaming stage, I added a cup of double cream and stirred that stuff until it bubbled into a nice oniony, garlicky white gravy...... this, of course, was spooned gently onto the resting breasts once they were transported to plate for eating........

...... basically?...... "Chicken Maryland" is nothing but a southern fried chicken with white gravy that is pan-fried instead of deep-fried........ and with a slightly lighter gravy.......... all in all, it was very, very good......... but I am not sure if I will make it again...... thyme is an odd tasting thing, isn't it?......

...... the really weird thing is that I had never heard of it until today...... and I had absolutely ZERO idea of what it was going to taste like prior to taking my first bite once it was finished......

....... but cooking should be like most things in life, I guess........ mix, switch, stir, add heat....... think about it for while..... adjust, stir again........ give it a good smell....... coddle it, pet it, watch it....... and then, if you played your cards right?..... enjoy the hell out of eating it.......

....... Chicken Maryland, folks...... it just goes to prove that you should never be afraid of something until you have spent all day preparing it to be eaten........