City Chicken

There was a trend at one point in American culinary history where cooks would create "mock" dishes. One such dish was "mock chicken." As early as 1908, there were recipes -- such as one that appeared the Winchester News (a newspaper in Winchester, Kentucky) that called for two pounds of veal being cut up into pieces, breaded and fried in oil. "This is excellent," the article boasted, "equal to fried chicken."

By 1926, "mock chicken" got a new name, "city chicken." Newspapers, like one in Binghamton, New York, and another in Washington, D.C., published recipes for "city chicken." The moniker came from an article published in a Binghamton, New York newspaper. The recipes followed the initial steps of mock chicken, starting with 1 pound of veal and 1 pound of pork. The instructions called for the meat to be cut into chunks and then threaded onto wooden skewers. The skewers were then rolled in beaten eggs and cracker crumbs. The breaded skewers were then fried in a pan until browned on all sides. At this point, one would have been "equal to fried chicken," but these recipes went a few steps further. They called for the browned chicken skewers to be put in a roaster with two cups of water (or alternatively, add the water to the pan), covered and then cooked for an additional length of time. Once the skewers were finished, one was supposed to remove the skewers, add a cup of "rich milk" and then make a gravy.  The mock chicken got all dressed up. 

By the time of the Great Depression, the city chicken became a very popular dish. The reason involved basic economics: chicken was too expensive. There were no factory farms at the time, and, the farms that existed needed chickens more for their eggs than their meat. (A dead chicken produces no eggs; a dead rooster ultimately meant no new chicks.)  Given the scarcity of chicken meat, and consequently, its high price, most Americans -- who were already struggling to make ends meet -- turned to beef, pork and even veal. This reality was one of the reasons why pork farmers referred to pork as "the other white meat." The farmers were not boasting about the health benefits of eating pork, they were trying to convince people to substitute cheaper pork for the chicken that they really wanted.  Moreover, the dish returned to its more basic "fried chicken" roots, with the extra steps for "gravy" disappearing from recipes. 

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Eventually, chicken became more abundant and, as a result, more affordable. Yet, city chicken lived on, mainly in immigrant communities and working class families across the midwestern United States. Polish and Ukrainian families -- from Detroit, Michigan to Scranton, Pennsylvania, and many points in between -- adopted the dish. That was the case for my family, even as late as the 1980s. I can recall my grandmother making city chicken for us to eat, as well as extra servings that would be frozen and taken home with us for dinners on other days.   

As is the case with many dishes, city chicken began to recede on to the pages of history. As I grew up and moved out, I never thought about the dish, let alone prepared it or ate it. It was not something that I searched out, and, having moved out of the Midwest, it was not something that readily appeared on menus or tables where I lived. Yet, on a recent trip to visit my parents, I was sitting at the kitchen table and I got to thinking about city chicken and my childhood. The memories of seeing breaded pork skewers, both in the freezer and on the plate came back to me. I then decided that it was time to try to make this recipe myself. It would be the first time that I have ever made City Chicken and it would decades after I had last eaten the dish. 

I found a recipe from a PBS Western Reserve, which is the public broadcasting service in Cleveland, Ohio. That seemed appropros. I followed the recipe, but, my lack of artistic skills revealed themselves as my skewers resembled anything but chicken legs. Still, the endeavor was worth it. A chance to revisit a little of my own culinary history, as well as the more broader American culinary history. 

CITY CHICKEN

Recipe from PBS Western Reserve

Serve 4

Ingredients:

• 1 whole pork tenderloin
• 6 6-inch bamboo skewers
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Dried thyme
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 2 eggs, beaten or more, as needed
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, or as needed
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs, or as needed
• 2 cups vegetable oil, or as needed

Directions:

1. Prepare the pork. Cut tenderloin into three sections, the thick center section and the two end sections. Cut the thinner end portion into chunks. Slice the thick center section lengthwise into even halves. Cut the center sections and thicker end portion into 1/2-inch slices. 

2. Prepare the skewers. Thread the pork pices, starting with the smallest pieces and working up to wider pieces, onto each skewer to resemble chicken drumsticks. Season skewered "drumsticks" with salt, black pepper, thyme and cayenne pepper on all sides. 

3. Prepare the breading. Whisk eggs together in a bowl. Pour flour into another bowl. Put the bread crumbs into a third bowl. Gently press the "drumsticks" into flour to coat and shake to remove excess fluor. Dip "drumsticks" into egg and press into bread crumbs. Place finished drumsticks on a plate in a single layer and refrigerate, uncovered for 15 minutes. 

4. Finish the dish. Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until the suface of the oil is shimmering. Cook "drumsticks" in the hot oil until golden brown on all sides and cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer to a paper-towl lined plate, lest rest for five minutes. Season with salt and serve immediatey.  

PEACE.