Sunday dinner

A couple of notes on some first-time recipes I tried today. . .

Buttermilk Pie
I made this sweet pie crust. I blind baked it covered with foil and weighted down with some dried beans, but didn't poke holes in the crust. Then I removed the foil and beans and cooked a bit more. There were some bubbles. Should still poke holes in crust even though doing the bean-thing.
The pie was from this recipe. Cooked it for 35 minutes, and it came out golden and a bit loose. Cut into it after cooling and it's a bit runny inside. Cook a bit more next time. (It was very yummy, despite the not perfect texture)

Fried chicken
For someone who's from the south, it took me an unbelievable amount of time to make fried chicken. I did it the Alton Brown way (of course!) and it turned out wonderfully. The spices were right on, the chicken was cooked through. Very nice. For next time, though, remember that it will take more shortening than you think, and that it takes a long time to melt.

Biscuits
Again, Alton Brown's recipe. Turned out great, I used a slightly smaller than 2" biscuit cutter, like he said, and that was just too darn small. Will use the next biggest size next time.

Mashed potatoes.
standard.

Gravy.
First time making gravy too. It tasted ok, but next time give the flour more time to brown - needs to be darker.

All in all, a very succesful dinner, and quite the learning experience. Left quite a mess though.