Fried chicken is a delicacy that requires scientific knowledge and the spirit of the ancestors to come out juicy, golden brown, well-seasoned and crispy. Actress Paula Patton must have missed the masterclass on cooking the Black American staple because a video of her preparing the tasty bird had Black Twitter and an Olympic Bronze medalist looking for answers.

In March, Paula posted a 5-minute video that shared her mother’s now-infamous recipe with the caption “Fried Chicken Friday.” The footage went viral after Ashley Spencer, an Olympic bronze medal-winning track star, narrated the cooking session– inserting her own thoughts and questions. 

 

@thetrackqueeny’all come watch paula make chicken 🤦🏾‍♀️♬ Italian Dinner Party – Italian Restaurant Music of Italy

Paula began the video by saying, “I’m going to make my mom’s famous fried chicken.” 

The pretty actress was all smiles as she talked her followers through each step. 

Upon quickly rinsing the organic meat in cold water in her version of “cleaning” the poultry, Ashley said what we were all thinking.

“Just cold water? That chicken ain’t clean.” 

Paula then pours all-purpose flour inside a Ziploc bag, pats the chicken dry (without adding seasoning to the meat or the flour) and then dips the meat in the flour to coat it for frying.  

Mindreader Ashley stated, “You’ve got dirty flour and unseasoned chicken. Where’s the seasoning?”

Then with all the confidence of a rich, white Republican man, Paula dropped the seasonless foul into hot grease. As the chicken fried, the Jumping The Broom actress finally whipped out Lawry’s, salt, pepper and paprika, sprinkling the various spices into the scorching oil.

“In the grease?” Spencer pondered. “Your mama did this? You’re seasoning grease.” 

Paula continues cooking her dish, repeating the process.

“The spices fell off in the grease!” Spencer cackled. “Look at the grease!” 

 

Paula took

Ashley’s jokes in stride. She took to Instagram while vacationing in Mexico with her son Julian to address the video’s virality.

“Peace, Love and Fried Chicken,” she captioned the post.

“I’m in Mexico with my son, and I woke up, and people were like, ‘Did you see on Instagram and TikTok and Twitter they’re talking about the way you fry chicken?’ And I was like, ‘Oh no, what!’” Paula said, flashing her mega-watt smile. “That’s okay. I just wanted to respond and say listen. I get it. It might look crazy. It is the way we do it. My mom taught me it. It’s my mom’s recipe.”

She also assured fans that the chicken was absolutely cleaned, although the edited video may not have captured it. Paula’s infamous chicken was for her son’s school.

The 46-year-old actress continued, “It’s all good because everybody’s got their own way of making things. And I’ll take suggestions, I’ll make a new kind of fried chicken, but I’m gonna always make my mom’s chicken the way she did it. We put the seasoning in the oil and all that. It’s just the way we do it.”

 

Black Twitter still had thoughts.

 

Whenever Paula’s ready for those recipes, we’re confident that Black folks will gladly help her. Please keep your seasonings out of the oil, though.