If you have read this blog for any length of time, you know that our daughter and son-in-law, Sarah and Evan Rich, run a popular restaurant in San Francisco named Rich Table. The food there has been described as “New American” and generally is based on the current offerings available in the bounteous farmers’ markets of the Bay Area.
But Sarah has roots in the South as well as having two grandmothers who were excellent home cooks. Both grandmothers took pride in their fried chicken. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes and cream gravy along with home-baked biscuits were staples on the Sunday dining room table at our family farm in East Texas.
That’s also where Sarah got the nickname, Sally Hurricane. As a two-year-old she ran the show. One family photograph shows her wearing her great aunt’s wig borrowed from a wig stand in a back bedroom.
Hurricane Sally
Sally Hurricane has been cooking fried chicken from the recipe in our family cookbook since before she went to culinary school. She has made her version (now revised and considerably improved) for family meals at upscale restaurants in New York City and San Francisco. Inevitably, regardless of the restaurant, when fried chicken and biscuits were the family meal menu, cheers went up from both the front of the house and kitchen staffs.
This week, Sally Hurricane is revealing some treasured family secrets in the food section of the San Francisco Chronicle. She also gives the recipe for mashed potatoes that she learned when she worked for David Bouley. You might enjoy a preview.
From the Family Table 
Darryl, What a grand combination of family history, love, and mouthwatering recipes. Thanks for sharing! Kayce
Thanks Kayce for your warm and generous comment.
Oh my gosh Darryl, I just LOVE the photo of Sally Hurricane as a child! Thanks so much for sharing her fried chicken recipe. Yum yum, I just love fried chicken. I’m from Texas too. 🙂
For someone from Texas the Big Three has to be fried chicken, fried catfish and hush puppies, and CFS aka chicken fried steak! 😃
YES! CFS is actually my fave. With homemade cream gravy from all the drippin’s. 🙂
I can’t believe that I forgot to include BBQ!!!
Beef brisket no less, lol! 😀
Darryl, this is such a lovely post! Reading about your family’s fried chicken recipe has me dreaming of making this delicious dish! The next time we’re in SF, I would love to visit Rich Table — what a fabulous experience! 🙂
I hope that you can visit RT. I think you would enjoy it.
What a great post.
Thanks, Nadia. Glad you enjoyed it.
I love the picture and the post!
Thanks, Lynn. That photo has made us laugh for years.
Thanks so much for sharing Sarah’s story and recipe, I very much enjoyed it. The chicken sounds very much like the way my mother made it when I was at home in Texas. The only thing different was the brine…she just soaked hers in buttermilk for a couple of hours.
Glad you enjoyed the story and the recipe. Fried chicken seems to be a universal “family secret recipe”
Enjoyed the recipe and the memories.
Thanks for mentioning the memories. We’re lucky to keep adding to them.
I have never heard of this restaurant, but I will definitely have to check it out! My husband and I are new to the area and love hearing food suggestions for the Bay area!! I can’t wait to go and try her food!
Glad to have you as a new reader. I hope you enjoy my musings. I think you would like Rich Table. It’s at the corner of Oak and Gough in Hayes Valley. Be sure to make reservations.
I will!!!!! I’ll let you know once we have tried it 🙂 thank you!!!!