Name: Mom's Baked Fried Chicken and Gravy
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 1 whole chicken, cut into parts; milk; 1 stick (1/4 pound) butter; 1 cup flour; 1 tablespoon seasoned salt; 2 teaspoons paprika; 3/4 teaspoon pepper; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 2 tablespoons chopped scallion; 1/2 cup chopped fresh mushrooms; 3 tablespoons butter and drippings from baking dish, combined with scraped up crispy bits from chicken; 2 tablespoons of the leftover flour seasoned for chicken preparation; 1 cup milk; 1 chicken bouillon cube (optional)

When cooking for my college roommates years ago, I discovered that although tuna-fish casserole is consumed in millions of households, love of mother's own must be imprinted during infantile nurturing. As my friends summarily banished all my childhood favorites, I concluded that a hankering for mother's recipes could be used to distinguish genuine family from interlopers (call it genetic tasting). But I soon forgot the recipes.

So, it took a call to Pam Ross, my sister and sole surviving mother in our clan, to retrieve this cholesterol-boosting pleaser from our Mom. My nieces like it, and it doesn't wear out the cook. Pam serves it with garlic mashed potatoes.

Recipe notes

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