I found something new at the grocery store. It's actually kind of old, but it's new to me. It's called city chicken, and it comes cubed and skewered. If you think it looks odd for chicken, that's because it isn't chicken. It's pork. Sometimes city chicken is made with veal, but this is pork tenderloin.People have always been creative with their food beginning with the first human who wondered if mushrooms are edible. And the one who first sat down to eat a lobster was a genius. People are more creative in adversity than in bounty, which would explain bread pudding and anything cooked with intestines.
During the Great Depression, chicken was hard to come by outside of farms that raised them. In cities like Pittsburgh, pork was much easier to find and relatively inexpensive. Not wanting to do without, people started cutting up pork, breading it, sticking it on skewers to look like a chicken leg, and calling it "city chicken." The pretend drumsticks were usually served with mashed potatoes and gravy or noodles. The idea didn't spread much farther than Detroit and places inbetween, which would explain why I haven't heard of it until now. Sometimes, after browning the meat, these things are finished in the oven, but I followed a recipe that calls for simmering them on the stove. I used a bit less broth and added some white wine instead to give the gravy a little depth. Here is the finished dish with gravy and mashed red potatoes with sour cream. It isn't pretty, but it isn't bad, either. I wasn't fooled into thinking I was having chicken for dinner, but it's not a bad way to serve pork.
City Chicken
1 1/4 pounds pork loin, cut into 1 inch cubes
flour
Milk
Panko seasoned with salt and pepper to taste
2 cups chicken broth
1 pinch dried thyme
1. Mix salt, pepper and flour in a bowl. Dredge pork cubes in flour mixture, dip in milk, and coat with panko. Slide pork onto skewers
2. In a skillet, brown pork skewers on all sides in a small amount of vegetable oil. Drain off any excess oil.
3. Add chicken broth, thyme and bay leaf to skillet. Scrape up any brown bits. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, 1 hour* or until meat is tender. Whisk in cornstarch to thicken gravy.
*I think this is excessive if you use something tender like pork tenderloin. It just needs enough time to cook through.
Comments
Save some for me!
Lobsters … Hee hee. Yup; that person must have been SOOO hungry!
As was the first person who looked closely at a snail and thought. "Yup. I'll pop it in my mouth."
Hoorah for those first brave gourmands!
It doesn't look half bad, though.