According to wikipedia (where I find all of my day to day information/ factoids that impress people), there are three versions of the origins of Chicken and Waffles. I will put them here for you, so you do not have to click on the link or google it yourself.
The first:
"As unusual as it might seem, the marriage of chicken and waffles actually has deep roots. Thomas Jefferson brought a waffle iron back from France in the 1790s and the combination began appearing in cookbooks shortly thereafter. The pairing was enthusiastically embraced by African Americans in the South. For a people whose cuisine was based almost entirely on the scraps left behind by landowners and plantation families, poultry were already a rare delicacy; in a flapjack culture, waffles were similarly exotic. Chicken and waffles for decades has been a special-occasion meal in African American families, often supplying a hearty Sunday morning meal".The second:
Some historians believe the dish goes back to the late 19th century, when Southern African- Americans,recently freed from slavery, began migrating to the Northern United States. Would go out in the morning and wring a chicken's neck and fry it for breakfast. Preparing a breakfast bread with whatever meat you have on the hoof, so to speak, comes out of the rural tradition".
The third:
"It is interesting to note that this combination and/or recipe does not appear in Abby Fisher's 1881 cookbook What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking. Mrs. Fisher was a former slave and her book is generally considered the first cookbook written by an African-American. These foods appear (but not together) in Mrs. Porter's 1871 cookbook Mrs. Porter's Southern Cookery Book.
So, there you have it. A conundrum. Wherever it came from, chicken and waffles exists.
But it does not exist in France, or so the French people think. But the other day, while studying the cuisine of Burgundy, we were asked to make Poulet Fermier A La Facon De Gaston Gerard, Les Crapiaux Comme en Morvan.
Or "Gaston Gerard" style free-range chicken, morvan-style "crapiaux".
Or essentially, chicken and blinis. And we all know that a blini is in fact, a fancy-type pancake. And pancakes are basically waffles made in a skillet instead of a waffle maker.
Essentially, we made chicken and waffles- French (or more specifically Burgundy) style. Now, some of you may say that I am grasping at straws in my attempt to prove that this is chicken and waffles. But if you've been ridiculed for eating chicken and waffles and then watch that culture present chicken and blinis as if it's completely normal, you'll agree with my deduction.
Here's how we did it:
1. Make the blini batter which includes: tempering the yeast in milk, then slowly adding that milk into your dry ingredients of salt, flour, egg yolks and peanut oil as you whisk. Then add some melted butter. Let it sit.
2. Cut up your chicken into 8 pieces (2 legs, 2 thighs, 2 wings, 2 breasts) as well as some extra chicken wings (trimmings) and brown all of it.
3. Once browned, Degrease then Deglaze with Chablis, place a cartouche (paper cover) on top and put the chicken in the oven. Remove breasts and wings at 20 mins, the rest at 45 mins at 190 degrees Celsius or 375 Fahrenheit.
4. Boil potatoes and then run them through a drum sieve. Chop chives
5. Add potatoes and chives to blini batter.
6. When the chicken is cooked, remove it and cover in cling wrap. Keep the wing trimmings in the pan.
7. Add butter and finely chopped shallots. Add an equal amount of water to the liquid in the pan.
8. Add cream and paprika until sandy brown. Pour this liquid into a smaller pot for infusion.
9. Whisk egg whites and sugar until you form peaks. Add this to the blini batter.
10. Heat a blini pan (small skillet), add a little clarified butter to the bottom and make blinis (like you would a pancake).
11. Strain sauce, check seasoning, mount with butter. When at the right consistency, add mustard off heat.
12. Remove thigh bone and breast bone from chicken. Remove skin from all chicken pieces. Brush chicken with mustard, sprinkle breadcrumbs and comte cheese on top. Place in the oven to melt.
Serve Chicken, blini, and sauce. You can serve the chicken on the blini or next to it.
So, you see. In the end, you get a slightly breaded piece of chicken with a sweet (remember the sugar in the egg whites) pancake (or waffle)- like side.
Take that, France.
(the chef's version. We also had to serve it with an herb salad. I plated mine with the blini on the side, but did not take a picture of it in the kitchen)
No comments:
Post a Comment