106-year-old grandmother’s fried chicken recipe is a hit at Tin Roof
by Lorne Chambers | Editor
Remember just a couple months ago, before there was a global pandemic, social unrest, and a divisive election looming? It was a simpler time. People debated such trivial things as who has the best chicken sandwich — Popeye’s or Chick-fil-A?
Well, those days are gone and so is the chicken debate. The correct answer is neither.
There’s a new chicken sandwich ruling the roost around West Ashley these days, but it’s even more elusive than the Popeye’s one when it was all the rage. With all due respect to Boxcar Betty’s, who makes a chicken sammy that crushes the aforementioned fast food chains, the Tin Roof’s Thigh Life chicken sandwich is simply perfection.
Not an everyday menu item, the Thigh Life is kind of a pop-up a semi-regular pop- up from Tin Roof owner Erin Tyler’s husband Art Perry, who is using his 106-year-old grandmother’s secret recipe. Yes, you read that right one-hundred-and-six years old.
On Wednesday, Aug. 19, Lettie Perry (a.k.a. “Mamaw”), celebrated her 106th trip around the sun. When Tyler first started dating her now-husband, his grandmother on his father’s side was already more than 100 years old.
“I warned Erin that she’s sharp as a tack and says what she thinking so be prepared” recalls Perry. “But she and Erin hit it off right away.”
Born in 1914 in Russell County, Vir., Lettie Perry worked on her family’s farm in between school until school got in the way of chores and so she quit somewhere around 3rd grade. In the evenings, she would teach herself to read by reading the King James Bible.
“She’s never smoked or drank, she’s always just been an amazing Christian woman who wasn’t afraid to knock a knot on your head,” said Perry in a touching Facebook post on Aug. 19. “Her husband died, when my dad was 4, in 1948 and I asked her why she never remarried or dated, she told me, ‘I loved Carson (her husband) and I was too busy raising kids and trying to make money.’”
In her 106 years, Mamaw has lived through two World Wars, The Great Depression, and 17 different U.S. Presidents. She has also now experienced two pandemics and says COVID-19 isn’t nearly as bad as the Spanish Flu, which killed several family members.
“She can tell you where she was when she saw her first train, her first car, and flew on her first plane,” says Perry. “She can tell you where she was during Pearl Harbor, the moon landing, the JFK assassination.”
Lettie Perry has shared a lot with her grandson over the years. One of those things is her secret fried chicken recipe. “I remember just about every Sunday she would wake up and put the chicken in the marinade and then after church we’d go over to her house and have fried chicken,” recalls Perr, who keeps Mamaw’s marinade and special blend of spices a tightly-guarded secret. So much so that his wife didn’t even know he had the recipe or that he even could fry chicken at all.
“During the quarantine we were try different things out, not for the bar, just for ourselves and one day Art said ‘I can fry chicken,’” recalls Tyler. “How did I not know this? Why have you never done this before? Fried chicken is like one of my favorite things!” That’s when Perry told her about his grandmother’s recipe and got down the cast iron skillet and began the process of making it. They decided to use boneless chicken thighs and put it on a butter and toasted brioche bun with just a shmear of Duke’s mayonnaise and some pickles. And like that, the Thigh Life sandwich was born.
As a live music venue and bar, the COVID- 19 pandemic was a crushing blow to Tin Roof, so in an effort to create some revenue for the bar Tyler and Perry decided to do a Thigh Life pop-up out back of the bar where people could come pick up one of Mamaw’s recipe chicken sandwiches to go.
“Whenever we making the Thigh Life sandwich and I posted it online that it was my Mamaw’s secret recipe, I had other relatives reaching out to me. They couldn’t believe I had the recipe,” says Perry.
Perry, whose day job is a crabbing/fishing instructor with the popular local company Casual Crabbing With Tia, wanted to bring something from the Lowcountry into the mix so in addition to his delicious chicken sandwiches, added a crab roll option. Like New England’s famous lobster roll, Perry’s crabroll is a cold crab salad on a warm buttery-toasted bun. Like the Thigh Life, Perry’s crab roll is worth seeking out. “It’s the Lowcountry Surf-n-Turf,” says Perry about Mamaw’s chicken sandwich and his blue crab roll. They also offer crab-stuffed deviled eggs, which are ridiculously addictive.
Tyler says they did the first Thigh Life/ Crab Roll pop-up about two weeks into the quarantine and immediately sold out. Since then they have held the pop-up every week or two and always sell out. “Our regulars have been so amazing in supporting us,” she says.
Late last month, Tin Roof began having very small, acoustic music shows again. It’s a far cry from some of the louder, more racous rock shows that Tin Roof is known for, but it was a step towards normalcy and a comfort for Tyler and Perry, and the rest of the Tin Roof family. Until things are back to full swing at Tin Roof and elsewhere, maybe we can all take a little comfort in some good comfort food, like Mamaw’s fried chicken. At this point, we all deserve a little bit of the Thigh Life.
