MILL FRIED CHICKEN

by Karengale Carman, retired from 2A/21" Mill

Eddie Clark fried the best chicken I ever tasted. The smell of his down-home favorite drew people from all over the mill. His chicken tasted like grandma's; it tasted like stolen chicken from my sister-in-law's kitchen - hot, juicy, delicious and seasoned to the bone.

We never called him Eddie or Clark; it was always Eddie Clark. He worked in a shanty called the 180' Transfer along with another operator. It was called the 180' Transfer because you could move hot billets across it from nine feet to one hundred eighty feet long.

Eddie Clark fed billets to the Billet Mill and the other operator fed billets to the 2A Shears. These two operators had to get along or no fried chicken would ever be served. While Eddie Clark fried the chicken the 2A operator would run both jobs and what did he get? Some of Eddie Clark's fried chicken for free.

Every Thursday our work schedule was posted for the following week. Eddie Clark only fried chicken on 4 to 12 turns because the 8 to 4 turn had too many bosses and on midnights just trying to stay awake was a job in itself. He let us know on the intercom, "I'm frying chicken next week." Anybody who wanted chicken would chip in; no money, no chicken. You had three days to get the money to him.

When I think back to the late sixties, way before we were allowed to drive into the mill, it was a three block walk form the parking lot to the locker room and then to the 180' Transfer. Eddie Clark had to pack the chicken, seasoning, cooking oil, skillet, and bring it from home and carry it in.

The shanty where he fried the chicken was only about 6' x 8'. Just big enough for two control panels. Two huge windows allowed the operators to see the billets move across the transfer. There was a three-by-three-foot table top where Eddie put the hot plate, skillet and fried the chicken. This chef's kitchen may have been a little dirty, but when he got on the intercom and yelled, "It's ready!", we knew that we were in for an awesome treat.

I haven't heard from or see Eddie Clark for thirty years. When he retired, I figured that was the end of his mill fried chicken. Bu not so, according to one of Edie's friends, one of my co-workers. Eddie Clark retired, took his mill fried chicken recipe with him and opened a restaurant called "Ed's Crunch Chicken" two blocks from the Alcorn State University in Loran, Mississippi. Maybe it's worth a trip. I would just love to hear Eddie Clark yell, "It's ready!"