Q: Insert a frying thermometer on the side of the skillet so the tip is in the melted shortening. Turn the burner up once the shortening has melted and continue to heat it until it reaches 325F (163C). The shortening shouldn't go over 325F (163C) or it will burn. Sprinkle a little extra salt over the pieces and serve them immediately for the best texture. Consider serving the chicken with baked beans, potato salad, or coleslaw. Although leftover chicken won't be as crispy, you can refrigerate the pieces in an airtight container for up to 3 or 4 days.
A: Heat the shortening to 325F (163C). Serve the pan-fried chicken.

Q: There are five main types of non-land cards in MTG. These are "Creature", "Sorcery", "Instant", "Enchantment" and "Artifact". While it is possible to build a deck in nearly any combination of these types, the vast majority of MTG decks will have a significant number of "Creature" cards (generally between 30% and 40% of the deck) with which to "Attack" during your "Declare Attackers Phase", "Block" during your "Declare Blockers Phase", and to activate the various "Activated Abilities" that many creatures have printed on them. Creatures can also have "Static Abilities" printed on the card that provide a constant effect on the "Battlefield". One main premise of building a successful MTG deck is to choose cards that will work well or elevate the abilities of one another. Choosing what type of recurrent themes to feature in your deck is central to this process and will comprise your "deck concept". An example of a "deck concept" would be to include a large number of "Creature" cards in your deck with the "Creature Type" of "Elf" as well as abilities that support other Elves, thereby combining their effectiveness. Keep in mind that in many cases, versatility is as important as your devotion to your "deck concept". An over-commitment to your "deck concept" may lead to your deck performing its main features very consistently at the expense of creating a glaring vulnerability in the deck. The "test draws" that you will perform later will assist you in finding a good balance between your devotion to your "deck concept" and the overall utility of your deck. In addition to a "deck concept", your deck will employ a "win condition", or a set of circumstances that will lead to your victory. This will be closely tied to your "deck concept", as the strategy you implement in your "deck concept" should, in theory, directly result in your victory. Your "win condition" can take several forms, but will ultimately result in either dealing lethal damage to your opponent(s) either through combat damage or direct damage, forcing your opponent(s) to draw a card with an empty "Library", or playing a card (or activating an ability) that reads "You win the game". Your deck can employ several "win conditions". Now that you have a "deck concept", you can select the cards from your collection that will support your deck and ultimately result in your "win condition". Most MTG game formats have a minimum card count of 60 cards in your deck ("Commander" requires 100 total cards exactly with no repeated cards except for "Basic Lands"). There is no maximum size to your deck, however the rules state that you must be able to shuffle your "Library" in a reasonable amount of time (30 seconds or so). Depending on the exact parameters of your deck, you will need anywhere from 20% to 45% of your deck to be "Land" cards (used as a renewable currency to cast spells). Wizards of the Coast suggests a general "rule of thumb" of having "Land" cards comprise 40% of your deck. In a 60-card deck, this means you will have 24 "Land" cards, and therefore you will select 36 "Spells". If your "deck concept" is particularly prevalent throughout your deck, it is typically considered wise to limit your deck size to the minimum number of cards allowed in a deck in the corresponding game format. You will consequently draw the strongest cards in your deck more consistently. The term "mana curve" refers to an imaginary bar graph (and the smooth curve it represents) that visually enumerates the "converted mana cost" of the cards in your deck. (The "converted mana cost" is the total number of mana required to cast each card, without respect to color.) If your "mana curve" is significantly slanted to the columns of 1 and 2, or alternatively, significantly slanted to high-number columns (5+), you may wish to review your "deck concept" and attempt to even out this disparity by replacing some of the cards you have chosen. Land is the most important part of your deck. if your land sucks, the deck is going to be at a disadvantage. That doesn't mean only stock your deck with 4 Evolving wilds, 4 terra morphia expanses, 4 dual land, and 8 basic lands. Find a happy medium, and make sure that the manna ratio reflects the cards. In a reasonably sized deck you should have between 18-28 lands/mana sources. Now that you are ready to insert "Land" cards into your deck, you must again consider the colors that you chose earlier. MTG has two main types of "Land" cards, "Basic Land" cards and "Non-basic Land" cards. Unless a "Land" card reads "Basic Land" on it, it is a "Non-basic Land". Each "Basic Land" provides one mana to your "mana pool" when you tap it of the color on the card (the "Wastes" card provides one colorless mana. Cards with a "Wastes" symbol in their "mana cost" require that the mana used be colorless). There are two factors to consider when adding "Land" cards to a deck that has more than one color. The first is the overall number of cards that contain each color, and the second is the total number of colored mana symbols of each type in the "mana costs" of the cards within your deck. These figures will assist you in choosing an appropriate number of "Land" cards that produce the various colors in your deck. A calculator may be useful. The quickest way to determine how many "Land" cards of each type you should add to a deck with two or more colors is to count the total number of colored mana symbols of one type in your deck, then divide that number by the total number of colored mana symbols in your deck. This will provide a ratio you can use to add "Land" cards of that color to the deck. (Example: Deck contains 17 "Plains" mana symbols in the "mana cost" of the cards in the deck, and 38 total colored mana symbols. 17/38 = 0.447. Using that ratio, 0.447*24 (or total desired "Land" cards) = 10.7, so roughly 11 of the 24 "Land" cards in your deck should produce White mana.) There are many "Land" cards in MTG that provide two or more colors of mana when they are tapped, or have a variety of other effects. Replacing a few "Basic Land" cards with these can have powerful effects on your deck, or simply help to make multi-color decks more reliable. Few creature-less decks can make it. Make sure you don't kill the economy of your deck though. If your creatures are weak, or cost too much Mana, you will die. Everyone wants to win, but the game gets stale and boring unless you can look in the eyes of your enemy and see the look of horror on his or her face as they realize you have killed them with 64 rat tokens.
A:
Determine a "deck concept". Select the non-land cards that will comprise your deck. Evaluate your "mana curve". Select the "Land" cards that will complete your deck. Pick out your creatures. Don't forget the twist.