How many times can you say chicken?

Recently, Chris has been experimenting with recipes.

Yes—Chris is the chef in the family.  He thinks I am inept in the kitchen, which on some levels is true, but that is for another time.

He has been combining random ingredients since he has taken over the cooking duties in our humble abode since we have started living together.  However, the whole recipes thing was new to him.  He still does not particularly follow the recipe, but he does look at it to get ideas about what he should include to make things taste delicious. 

Let me tell you—he makes some things that are delicious!

Dinner is a constant question in our house.  Actually, all food is a constant question in our house.  Thinking about the next meal fills most of our free time.  With that being said, one afternoon I get a text message:

What do you want for dinner tonight?-Chris

I don’t know. What do you want for dinner tonight?-Me

I could make something.  I could make chicken fried chicken or steak.-Chris

I did a double take.  How many times did he say chicken in one text message?  He is southern born and bred, so I just thought it was something strange that he was doing.  Perhaps he left out a comma?  Chicken, fried chicken, or steak sounded much better.  I am an English teacher after all, and this was a text message.  Sometimes, I get confused without punctuation.

I texted back: chicken sounds good (even though I hate chicken).

I get home and the house smells awesome.  I hear him frying away in the kitchen.  After our normal hellos, I ask what he is making.

Chicken-fried chicken.

I am confused again.  I asked him why he was repeating himself?  Why doesn’t he just say fried chicken? 

He says because it isn’t fried chicken, it is chicken-fried chicken. 

My head almost explodes.

As many southerners know (and probably the rest of the world), chicken-fried is the style of cooking.  It is not the same as fried chicken.  In fact, many countries have the same dish (wiener-schnitzel, collops, etc.).  I had always heard of chicken-fried steak at diners, but I had never seen anyone actually order it!  I thought you got a piece of fried-chicken and a piece of steak on the same plate.  Talk about protein overload.

Come to find out, chicken-fried steak and chicken is not originally southern!  It is German/Austrian and came over with the immigrants to Texas in the early 1800s.  The first recipe was published in, you guessed it, Virginia in 1838. 

Who knew? Nevertheless, I still think the name is redundant.  Really, how many times do you have to say chicken in a sentence?