City Chicken

homecook

New member
1 lb. pork cubes
1 lb. veal cubes
10-12 6" wooden skewers
breadcrumbs
flour
2 eggs
milk/water

Alternately skewer the pork and veal on the skewers. You can put as much on as you can fit, depends on how big you want them. I ended up with 11 this time.

Dredge in flour then in egg/milk mixture and then breadcrumbs. Add oil to pan and brown the meat. Put in roaster/DO and bake about 1 hour at 350. You can make a gravy with the drippings or not.

Sometimes you can only find them made up with pork. I think having the veal and pork is better. I make them up myself.
 

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chowhound

New member
Super. I think I'm going to hunt down some veal and pork today. This was one of my favorite dishes growing up and I don't make it nearly enough. And the mashed potatoes with gravy are a given!
Great pics.
 

chowhound

New member
They look yummy.

Any idea why the name city chicken?

If I had to guess, Ray, maybe it's because of the breading and the way you pick it up with your fingers to eat.
I was just thinking, some of us have city chicken and some of us have chicken fried steak, which is beef with breading. Kinda weird.
 

homecook

New member
They look yummy.

Any idea why the name city chicken?

I have no idea Ray. But wickpedia is my friend...lol


City chicken (also known in some locations as mock chicken) is a food entrée consisting of cubes of meat that are placed on a wooden skewer (approximately 4-5 inches long), sometimes breaded, then fried and/or baked. The origins of the entrée and its name are not entirely known, but it is rumored to have originated during the Depression Era, when people took meat scraps and fashioned a makeshift drumstick out of them. It was definitely a working class food item. During this period, pork was cheaper than chicken in many parts of the country, especially for those far from rural poultry farms. Sometimes the meat was ground, and a drumstick-shaped mold was used to form the ground meat around a skewer. Today, better cuts of meat (usually pork loin, beef, or veal) are used. In spite of the name, the dish almost never contains chicken.
The dish (and hence the term) seem to be regionalized to the areas surrounding Pittsburgh, PA, ranging from Central Pennsylvania, in and around the Tri-Cities areas of Binghamton,NY/ Scranton PA, not to mention the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia to as far west as the western suburbs of Cleveland, OH, Cincinnati, Ohio and Hamtramck, MI.
The most common version is made using pork as the base meat. Pittsburgh-area preparations are almost always breaded and usually baked, whereas the Cleveland version is generally baked without breading it is usually rolled in flour browned, baked and served with gravy. Grocery stores in both areas sell wooden skewers of pork cubes pre-prepared as city chicken.


Super. I think I'm going to hunt down some veal and pork today. This was one of my favorite dishes growing up and I don't make it nearly enough. And the mashed potatoes with gravy are a given!
Great pics.

Thanks chow!!
 

suziquzie

New member
Did you say breaded???? Gravy???

Hope I can find some veal.... if not.... I'm going all pork cuz I must try this!
 

chowhound

New member
Hey Barb, do you add any liquid to the roaster? My mother always added about 1/4" of water. I add chicken broth. It makes for one slightly soggy side, but I actually like having two textures and it helps with the gravy.
 

homecook

New member
Hey Barb, do you add any liquid to the roaster? My mother always added about 1/4" of water. I add chicken broth. It makes for one slightly soggy side, but I actually like having two textures and it helps with the gravy.

Whoops......as a matter of fact I do add chicken broth and sometimes water about 1/2 cup or so. When I take them out of the oven to make the gravy I put them on a cookie sheet with the slightly soggy side up to crisp it up a little. lol
 

Fisher's Mom

Mother Superior
Super Site Supporter
Thanks, Barb! (I would never have guessed what was in this dish by the name only LOL) It looks delicious and I'll be making it this week along with Dee.
 

Cooksie

Well-known member
Site Supporter
:wub: City Chicken :wub: For those of you who have never tried them, you are in for a real treat. Great post, HC!
 

Embryodad

Well-known member
Great stories and recipes for the "City Chicken"

HC... great photo's..and show and tell ...Love it!
BTW..that fry pan looks like my favorite one. Mine is a Bialetti made in Italy.

We grew up having "City Chicken" , and it was made various ways, but always on a skewer.
Growing up in NEPA ...Scranton to be exact...to mention City Chicken, everyone knew what it was, and it was made generally in the fall. Why?...because pork was a seasonal meat. We rarely ate pork in the summer. Not till later when we had a freezer and we could buy pork and freeze it for later use.

The story .... of Why do they call it City chicken was the explanation that....In the city..there are no chickens running around in the streets.
In the Country...the chickens would be running around, and were plentiful enough. The best part of the chicken was the Drumstick. It came with its own built in handle (stick) to hold and eat the meat off of it; without being ridiculed for having bad table manners.

Now...It goes on to say, that because the City Dwellers, actually had no chickens running around...they would eat meat stuck on a skewer, and breaded and fried to look like a chicken drumstick (sort of).
Actually...there were butcher shoppes, and they generally didn't have chickens running around. Just what hung in the coolers on the hoof.

It doesn't make sense 100%... and it was just something we (Being Naive) just took as the truth and spent more time eating the darn thing than ?uestioning why what or where. hahahahaha

Mom made it with alternating cubes of veal and pork. It wasn't the greatest veal, or pork, and she was not one to trim off grizzle or fat.
She breaded them, and fried them well done and golden brown.

Good??....NOT... We as kids, and especially my brother who would just G A G looking at a piece of F A T ....would kick up a fuss at the table.
Oh! We ate it, mostly stripping off the breading...and leaving the rest under the napkin. Sometimes there would be a Fat minus piece that was great. LOL

Well...mom was concerned, and said,"Next ones, I'm gonna grind pork and veal, and mix it together. She added a small amount of cracker crumbs or fine bread crumbs to sticky up the grind so it could be firm enough to form it on a stick (skewer)..and that saved the problem of the G A G ing and the slaps across the lips at the dinner table when we ate City Chicken.

There are different grades (sizes, and diameters) of skewers>
We buy them at the restaurant supply. About 5-1/2" long and 11/4" inch diameter thick.
We usually by them by the 5000 count. usually the only way sold in a store like that.

I like the way my mom just floured them, and fried them till golden.
She would then place them in the tomato sauce in the big pot, and cook them for a couple hours with the meatballs or sausage. OMG what a treat to get that on top a pile of macaroni's. The flavor was delicious.

Today...with pork being so tender, and getting great pork steaks to use for cubes, and the veal ( for scallopini the best) it is much tastier making it with the cubes on the skewers. My kids wont eat it; so I make them for me and DW, and grind theirs. God forbid a little piece of meat should stick in between their tooth. OMG and my daughter is the worst. She could care less where she is; if she gets a piece of fat in her mouth...OMG..she will spat it out. :yuk: She is No Miss Manners; believe me!

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This is a plate I made last year or so ago. It was only for the Mrs. and Me. They make great bedtime snacks too. Ummm! Now I'm hungry for them.
 

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Those look WONDERFUL, Embryodad!!!

They are pieces of pork, threaded on a stick, dipped in batter and deep-fried?

I would absolutely love them!

Lee
 
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