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Today's Case:

Subject: Golden Bird Chicken Recipe found!
From: Melony
Date: 2/7/2021, 9:35 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com

Re; 7-3-2015

Dear Uncle Phaedrus,

I know the original post was way back in 2015, but I wanted to forward this to your HB
Irregulars, especially Victoria. Because there are no cold cases—just hungry detectives.

Pre-COVID, there’s only one Golden Bird left, and it’s near Watts, CA on the corner of 
Alondra and 135th Street. There were up to 16 Golden Bird locations in Los Angeles. In 
1983, the Stennis’ family sold the interests in the chain.

It seemed there were a lot of pivotal moments in our family that seem to revolve around 
Golden Bird chicken.  When my mother was pregnant with me, she craved for Golden Bird 
chicken that my father would always bring to her after work. I remember as a kid my 
father taking me to the original Golden Bird, a corner hole-in-the-wall joint on the 
southeast corner of Adams and Normandy, buying me a bottle of Squirt soda that was 
taller than I could hold, chatting with Willie and Zelma (I found out later they were 
the owners). When the Golden Bird had a grand opening of their first and largest 
sit-down restaurant in the Crenshaw Shopping Center, my father decided to teach my 
mother to drive there (that was also the last time my father tried to teach my mother 
to drive). When Pioneer Chicken outlets started opening in Southern California, I held 
my own personal boycott against them for years because they seemed to copy Golden Bird’s 
taste.

I did a little sleuthing (with the help of the IT guys at my job who happen to love to 
cook) and found this recipe recently. I haven’t tried it yet, but one of my IT guys did 
and he said it tastes just like Golden Bird chicken (minus the bread n’ butter pickles 
and rolls). It’s actually a video recipe, but I transcribed it for people who prefer print.

Golden Bird copycat Fried Chicken

From: It’s So Good

4.5 lbs of chicken (or you may leave them whole if you wish)
(The video says  "4.5 lbs of chicken wings) 

Coating (1 use)

1 cup all purpose flour mix with
1 tbs baking powder (or simply 1 cup of self-rising flour)
1.5 Tbs seasoning mixture (mixture ingredients below)
1+ 1/4 Cups cool water Cooking oil for deep frying (375 F)

Seasoning Mixture (10 uses, put remaining in a cool dry place):

2 Tbs paprika
5 Tbs salt (Add 6 tbs if you like a lil extra sauce)
1 Tbs garlic powder
1 Tbs onion powder
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cornstarch

Clean chicken

Mix seasonings together

In a separate bowl, mix 1 c. AP Flour with 1T baking powder

Sprinkle 1.5T of seasoning. Mix into chicken well.

Add Coating mix, and 1 1/4 c cold water. Mix well until fully coated

Heat oil to 375 degrees

Deep fry for 8 minutes, 10 pieces at a time

The chicken will clump together (a good thing). Use a spoon to break chicken the last 
1-2 minutes before frying is done.

Stay well,

Melony 

Wonderful! Thanks Melony!