City Chicken Recipe from the 1940s (veal, cooking, oven, stove)
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My mom baked most of her meat and it was never dry. It's a matter of how long you bake it, and in what, I guess. Even this batch was saved by stewing it a bit in the rice and gravy.
Mmm, city chicken. In my grandmother's area, they make it with ground veal and pork instead of cubed. It's sold in the grocery stores premade that way too, so it must be a regional variant (NE PA). She always fries them up in a skillet.
Thank you! This was my favorite meal growing up. I requested for my birthday meal more often then any other. I used to help make it but did not remember the ingredients. For some reason, I pictured using something other than flour to dredge the skewers. Cracker meal or corn meal comes to mind but I can't be positive. My mother had very few written recipes and now I wish I could go back in time and write them down myself. Thank your mom for me, Cliffie! I am going to try this after Easter.
I can't remember how my mom cooked city chicken. She bought it already skewered at the butcher shop (and the butcher would give me a couple of tiny hot dogs to munch on ). I'll have to ask her; I think she fried it in a big covered skillet.
In our house, the dish was browned on top of the stove then baked. My memory fades when it comes to ingredients though. I have tried a few recipes and have been disappointed. I do remember how messy it was though. You egg dipped the skewers then rolled in something, dipped again and rolled again. I wish I could remember the something. The recipe link posted above mentions soy sauce...I know for a fact that we never had soy sauce in our house the whole time growing up.
My mom used to buy a sort of ready-made city chicken kit with the meat already in chunks and little short skewers. The only ones I could find to prong my batch of city chicken was far too long to even fit in the baking pan, so I chopped them off shorter.
I remember those kits Cliffie - the skewers were fairly thick as I remember and very pointed on one end only. I wonder if you could use 3 or four thin skewers as one and trimming off the ends as you did. I also vaguely remember soaking them before using. Buy, you have me so hungry for them !
In our house, the dish was browned on top of the stove then baked. My memory fades when it comes to ingredients though. I have tried a few recipes and have been disappointed. I do remember how messy it was though. You egg dipped the skewers then rolled in something, dipped again and rolled again. I wish I could remember the something. The recipe link posted above mentions soy sauce...I know for a fact that we never had soy sauce in our house the whole time growing up.
I'd guess that the roll and dip was flour, then egg and finally bread or cracker crumbs (pretty standard lineup for many foods) - and yeah, it's messy. I thought that the soy sauce in the recipe was pretty unusual. I'm sure that nobody was using that in the '30s or '50s. Also, quite a few recipes indicate that the meat should be baked in chicken broth. If people couldn't afford chicken, I'm quite sure that they didn't have chicken broth.
My mother didn't make city chicken so no inherited recipe here.
My mother would always pan fry the breaded city chicken first to brown the outsides well, put them in a glass Pyrex dish and then mix a cup or so of water mixed with some chicken bouillon, and pour it in between the pieces and cover with foil, then bake for about an hour and a half to get them nice and tender. She would then take the foil off for the last 10 minutes to crisp up the breading nicely. They always came out very tender and flavourful every time, and the chicken bouillon really gave them a nice chicken taste and really makes some nice gravy to go with them.
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). I'll have to ask her; I think she fried it in a big covered skillet.
