Mock Chicken Legs – Born out of desperate times, mock chicken was a way of bringing the luxury of a chicken dinner to those who simply could not afford it. Popular during the Depression for the working class, it came to be known as City Chicken, served in cafes, boarding houses, and available in meat markets for you to take home and cook.
First mentioned in 1908, mock chicken is a mixture of coarsely chopped pork and veal shaped to resemble chicken legs or cubes of pork and arranged on skewers, seasoned and cooked like chicken. Sometimes battered, breaded, or dusted with seasoned flour, it could be pan fried, deep fried or browned and baked, served with pan gravy and a side of potatoes.
Mock Chicken or also known as City Chicken has remained popular in the urban areas where it originated, Cincinnati and Cleveland, Ohio; Pittsburg, Philadelphia and Scranton, PA; Detroit, MI; New York and as far south and west as Louisville, KY.
Mock Chicken or City Chicken
Mock Chicken or also known as city chicken got its start in the Depression era, when chicken was scarce and more expensive.
Cut tenderloin into three sections; the thick center section and two end sections. Cut the thinner end portion of the tenderloin into chunks. Slice the thick center section lengthwise into even halves. Cut the 2 center sections and thicker end portion into1/2-inch slices.
Thread pork pieces, 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.
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 flour. 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.
Heat oil in a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat until the surface 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-towel lined plate; let rest 5 minutes. Season with salt.
Pizza dates back thousands of years, believe it or not, tracing its roots back to the flatbreads with toppings that were popular with ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. But modern pizza, the flatbreads with tomato sauce, cheese, and toppings, was born along the western coast of Italy, in the city of Naples.
Mix flour and Greek yogurt together in a bowl; transfer to a work surface floured with self-rising flour. Knead dough, adding more flour as needed to keep dough from being too sticky, for 8 to 10 minutes.
Spray a 12-inch pizza pan with cooking spray and spread dough to edges of pan.
Cook until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbling, 8 to 10 minutes.Â
Notes
Double recipe if using a 16-inch pizza pan.
When measuring flour, we spoon it into a dry measuring cup and level off excess. (Scooping directly from the bag compacts the flour, resulting in dry baked goods.)
Vegetable Egg Foo Young – If you’ve enjoyed this dish in Chinese restaurants, use this recipe to recreate the dish at home. While not traditionally Chinese, it has long appealed to the American palate and it remains a great choice as a simple family dinner.
The egg foo young origin story is said to go back to the southern Chinese coastal province of Guangdong, formerly known as Canton. The dish can now be found as a Cantonese hybrid not only in this country, but across Asia too.
To make the egg foo yung sauce, bring the chicken broth to a boil over medium heat. Stir in the soy sauce, rice wine (or sherry), sesame oil, and pepper to taste. Turn up the heat slightly and add the dissolved cornstarch-water mixture, stirring quickly to thicken.
Move the saucepan to another burner and keep warm on low heat while preparing the egg foo yung omelet.
Making the Egg Fu Yung
Rinse and dry mushrooms slice and put aside
Rinse the bean sprouts, shred the cabbage, and put aside.
If desired, you can blanch the vegetables so they will be more tender—just be sure to drain them thoroughly.
In a medium bowl, lightly beat the eggs with the salt, freshly ground black pepper, and the rice wine or sherry and put aside.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok or frying pan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion. Stir fry for 2 minutes, then remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and put aside.
Add 1 more tablespoon of oil, and stir-fry the reserved mushrooms until they're browned. Remove from the pan and put aside.
Add the cooked onion, and mushrooms to the reserved egg mixture, along with the bean sprouts and cabbage.
Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan. Using a spatula push egg mixture towards center of pan making a smaller circle. Cook for 2-3 minutes and flip. Cook for another 2 minutes.
Then turn over and cook the other side until golden brown. Repeat until all mixture is used.
Serve hot with the warmed sauce poured over the top.
Notes
if desired, and more Asian vegetables like stir-fried pea pods.From: thesprueeats.com
Homemade pot stickers are so versatile–you can fill them with anything you want and as full as you want. And the play between the crispy, crusty bottom, and the tender parts, makes for a truly unique dumpling. These are filled with ground pork, green onions, ginger, and cabbage.
Like most foods that have been around for centuries, we’re not exactly 100% certain how potstickers came to be. So while we do know that the actual potsticker origin can be traced back all the way to the Chinese Song dynasty (960 to 1280 A.D.), who invented them and why remains a mystery for the ages
Place ground pork, green onions, garlic, ginger, 2 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon soy sauce, sesame oil, and cayenne in a mixing bowl. Top with chopped green cabbage. Mix with fork until thoroughly combined. Tamp down lightly; cover with plastic. Refrigerate until chilled, about an hour.
Place flour and kosher salt in a mixing bowl. Slowly pour in hot water. Stir with a wooden spoon until mixture forms a shaggy dough. Flour your hands and transfer dough to a work surface. Knead dough until it becomes smooth and elastic. If dough seems too sticky, sprinkle with a bit more flour, about 3 to 5 minutes. Wrap dough ball in plastic, and let it rest about 30 minutes.
When dough has rested, divide into 4 equal pieces. Cover 3 pieces with a dish cloth while you work the first piece. Roll into a small log about the thickness of a thumb, about 3/4 inch. Divide each log into 6 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a thin 3 1/2-inch circle on a lightly floured surface to form the pot sticker wrappers. Repeat with the remaining dough pieces.Â
Lightly moisten the edges of a wrapper with your wet finger. Place a small scoop of the ground pork mixture onto the center of a wrapper. Fold up the 2 sides and pinch together in the center. Pinch together the remaining edges, forming "pleats" along one side. Tap the pot sticker on the work surface to slightly flatten the bottom; form a slight curve in it so it stands upright in the pan. Transfer to a well-floured plate. Repeat with remaining dough and filling.
Mix together seasoned rice vinegar and soy sauce in a small mixing bowl for the dipping sauce.
Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Place about 6 or 7 pot stickers in the hot oil, flat side down. Cook until bottoms are golden brown, about 2 minutes. Drizzle in water and quickly cover the pan; steam for 3 minutes. Uncover; reduce heat to medium. Continue cooking until water evaporates and bottoms are browned and crunchy, 1 or 2 minutes. Transfer to a warm serving dish. Repeat with remaining pot stickers. Serve with dipping sauce.
Notes
You can spike dipping sauce with things like hot sauce, garlic, minced green onions, ginger, etc.From Allrecipes.com
Chow mein, (in Mandarin “ch’ao mien”) meaning “stir-fried noodles,” originated in Northern China. While the it is served in take-outs and many American Chinese restaurants has been altered to appeal to Western tastes, it is based on an authentic Chinese dish of stir-fried vegetables with boiled noodles.
Besides being easy to make, this dishes are very adaptable. Like all Chinese food, what makes it memorable is not the specific ingredients so much as the balance between grains and vegetables. It is an ideal dish to make when you want to clean out the refrigerator as the selection of vegetables is really up to you.
2cupsChinese long beans or green beans cut in 1 inch pieces
2largecarrots peeled and cut into match size pieces
8ozfresh or dried chow mein noodles
3tbspvegetable oil
2inchpiece of ginger
3clovesgarlic minced
6largemushrooms thinly sliced
8ozcan of water chestnuts sliced rinsed and drained
1/4cuplow sodium chicken broth
1/2cuphoisin sauceCan be found at Kroger or Walmart
2tbspsoy sauce
2tbsphoney
Kosher salt and black pepper
2green onions thinly sliced
Instructions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the beans and carrots and cook for 1 minute. Drain and put in a bowl of iced water until cool, about 1 minute. Drain and set aside.
Return the water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 to 7 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Pat dry and set aside.
In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil over high heat. Add the noodles, ginger and garlic. Cook for 2 minutes until the noodles are lightly browned. Add the mushrooms, beans, carrots, and water chestnuts and cook for 3 minutes. Add the broth, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and honey. Bring the mixture to a boil and stir until slightly reduced and thick, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Transfer the chow mein to a large bowl and garnish with the green onions before serving.
The history of fajitas can be traced back to the cattle ranches of West Texas and Northern Mexico, where ranchers would use the tougher cuts of meat, such as skirt steak, directly over an open flame.
In a separate bowl, combine 1 tablespoon olive oil, juice of 1/2 lime, chili powder, paprika, onion powder, pepper, cumin and salt. Cut chicken into strips and toss with the spice mixture.
Preheat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium high. Add 1/2 of the chicken and cook until just cooked, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside. Repeat with remaining chicken.
Set chicken aside and add 1 tablespoon oil to the pan. Drain onions well and cook 2 minutes. Add in sliced peppers and cook an additional 2 minutes or just until hot. Add chicken back to the pan and stir to combine.
Squeeze additional lime overtop and serve with warm tortillas.
