Chicken a'la King

FREE LANCED CHICKEN A'LA KING:

We soaked a handful of dry black Italian mushroom in very hot water. Drained them saving ½ cup of water; and added a half cup of chicken stock and a cup of goat milk. In the meantime I chopped the mushrooms with the garlic remains of a jar of roasted red peppers in OO and garlic, along with the equivalent of a whole red pepper from another jar; and a large shallot. Sautéed the veggies in two tablespoons of EVOO. Meanwhile I made the sauce with butter, flour, stock and milk mixture and two tablespoons of sherry. Added the veggies and two cups of smoked chicken chunks to the sauce and warmed through.

We served this over homemade biscuit halves, and green beans almandine. Mmmm good.

Naturally, I had to wonder "King of WHAT??"

Alas, this American comfort food is not named for any monarch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_a_la_King

Still it's tasty stuff.

I did a chicken and morels last week that's not too far removed, used this as a basis:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina- ... index.html

(discard the liquid? No!)

Hey, if we're talking about The King, shouldn't it involve peanut butter, bacon and banana?

Naturally, I had to wonder "King of WHAT??" Alas, this American comfort food is not named for any monarch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_a_la_King

Still it's tasty stuff.

I happened to see this thread, being interested in the history. The Wikipedia entry mercifully seems decently researched (Wiki food history entries are notorious: the "purest" bizarre example I've seen was a chicken-salad history there, giving a local newspaper story as the source, the newspaper story in turn citing only the Wikipedia entry).

But the Wiki "King" entry still cites mainly pop-culture sources, and I didn't spot an explanation of why it characterizes one of several stories as "the most likely." For some reason it doesn't quote Ranhofer's Epicurean, the compendium of Delmonico's recipes from the 1800s. Evan Jones's 1992 essay "Delmonico's," one of two writeups I know with real depth on Delmonico's, mentions the same stories Wiki does, but Root and de Rochemont's Eating in America (1976, the other in-depth source) states not that Ranhofer "created" it (a claim Wiki mentions in passing) but that the dish did appear on Delmonico's menu in the 1800s as Chicken à la Keene (for Foxhall Keene) but slipped into popular culture with a simplified name before it became so widely known (and all those later 1900-era sources that Wiki cites began retroactively looking into the name.)

It's like many other origin ambiguities -- Rueben sandwiches, Martinis. (Conrad's book on the Martini traces three longtime, competing, detailed, credible, utterly incompatible origin stories, each with its unshakable believers.)

Root et al. were contrasting Chicken à la King to the "other" famous Delmonico's chafing-dish specialty that got renamed: Ben Wenberg's "Lobster à la Wenberg" which (print sources are more unanimous here) was retitled "Newburg" by the restaurant after Captain Wenberg, a regular customer, precipitated a brawl there and became persona non grata.

Fascinating, Max! I am going to add "Wenburg" -> "Newburg" to my swapped consonants file along with Alexandria-> Al Iskenderiya, and mosquito -> moustique.

I am going to add "Wenburg" -> "Newburg" to my swapped consonants file along with Alexandria-> Al Iskenderiya, and mosquito -> moustique.

More information in following link. Five years ago on eGullet there was lively discussion of Delmonico's, and Ranhofer's epic cookbook, one of the largest in the US and allegedly published (IIRC) in revenge for a falling-out with the Delmonico family. In 2007 at least, that was the sort of food history little recorded on Wikipedia, and even what was there was often wrong. (I believe it has improved somewhat, but Wikipedia's utility for publicizing perceived notions or wishful spins without objective research continues to haunt vulnerable subject matter -- food history and internet history are two areas where I notice that.)

I located a remarkable food-essays publication seen in the 1990s (later got some used copies from Amazon -- one is waiting for you when you come west, Frank) with rich details by Evan Jones. Ben Wenberg was the original person; the lobster dish's anagram became Newberg or Newburg (some food writers, I think incl. Jones and Morrison Wood, spelled it both ways). When Ranhofer went public with Delmonico's recipe corpus circa 1900, he listed the dish (under Mollusks and Crustaceans) as #1037, "Lobster à la Newberg or Delmonico."

More, in this newsgroup note on the food essays collection: http://tinyurl.com/AntaeusFoodRAB

(NB as I guess you know, Iskender is standard version of the name Alexander in much of the world where the historic Alexander is celebrated, including Arabic and Turkic cultures. Try an "Iskender platter," a famous specialty and a comfort-food triumph if done well, next time you encounter a casual Turkish restaurant in the US or Europe.)

Max you probably know this (along with everything else!!) but in Pakistan/Afghanistan Iskender has a second transmogrification.

One of my favorite young artists is a lady named Shazia Sikander. http://www.afghanhands.org/code/press_sikander1.html

Sikander - Iskander - Alexander.

Of course "Al-exander" was easy to assimilate into Arabic. We have al-gebra, al-cohol, al-gorithm, and al-exander.

I believe the way the "Lute" got its name was -- "what's that instrument, Moorish fellow??" "Al-oudh!" "A lute?"