Crawford County Fried Chicken Tradition Recognized

• Fried chicken is served at six chicken houses in southeastern Kansas: Chicken Annie's, Chicken Mary's, Gebhardt's Chicken Dinners, Barto's Idle Hour, Pichler's Chicken Annie's, and Chicken Annie's Girard.
• The style of fried chicken is extra-crunchy and crumb-coated, fried in lard.
• The tradition was popularized in the 1930s by Ann Pichler, a Hungarian-born wife of a coal miner.
• The chicken houses have been a longstanding tradition in the region.
• Multiple outlets have reported on the recognition of this culinary tradition.