City Chicken in the Borough

I had never heard of city chicken until a friend's baby shower last fall. I nibbled on a delicious delight on a stick that was very good, but was it chicken?  I was told it was pork but it was called "city chicken".  At home I did some digging on the internets to find that it originated during the Depression when pork was cheaper than chicken. 

Fast forward to last Christmas in Tennessee...

My mother-in-law was reminiscing about eating city chicken as a child so I offered to make it for dinner the day after Christmas.  I did a search of various recipes and came up with the following recipe.  I made it with beef and chicken the first time, the beef was a HUGE hit with my father-in-law.  My husband likes the pork so I have been sticking with that lately.

City Chicken

• 1.5 to 2 pounds of pork or beef, I used a pork tenderloin because it was on sale
• 1 cup of cracker (or bread) crumbs
• 1 tsp paprika 
• 2 tsp chicken seasoning
• 1 egg
• dash of half and half
• 1 red pepper in chunky slices
• 1/2 sweet onion in bite size pieces
• 1 bouillon cube
• 1 cup of hot water
• 2 tsp soy sauce
•  bamboo skewers
• 2-3 tablespoons of canola oil - enough to coat the bottom of a saute pan

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Step 1

Cut the pork (or beef) into about 1 inch cubes.  Place on skewers.

Step 2

Beat the egg and half and half together, place on a plate.  Combine the cracker crumbs, chicken seasoning, and paprika, place on another plate.  Roll the skewers in the egg, then the break crumbs.

Step 3

Brown the skewers in a saute pan with the canola oil on medium.

Step 4

Place on a roll pan or 13x9 pan.  Add the pepper and onion over top/around the skewers.  Dissolve the bouillon in the water, add the soy sauce.  Pour in the bottom of the pan. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

 

 

Notes - 

I haven't been able to find quite the right length of skewer, so I have been cutting the ones I bought at the grocery store so they are more manageable length. 

The sauce is wonderful with some mashed potatoes.

Local - Organic

I didn't do so well today...

The organic red peppers were from the grocery store (shameful)

Cracker crumbs were made in town (and yet they were the most expensive on the shelf?!?)