Issues → January/February 2012 → Food →

Revisiting Chicken a la King

by Amy Traverso

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Credit: Amy Traverso

Yankee Magazine has been in print for more than 75 years, which means that we have a wonderfully deep archive of recipes and food stories to tap for inspiration. One of our favorite jobs is to pull out an old recipe and see if we can update it to appeal to contemporary tastes, which is what I did today with an old recipe for Chicken a la King.

According to The Food History Timeline, the dish dates back more than 100 years—some time between 1800 and about 1910. As with many recipes, there are several stories of its origin: was it an invention of a chef named William King, who worked at Philadelphia's Bellevue Hotel? A creation of chef George Greenwald, in honor of his boss, Mr. King, at New York's Brighton Beach Hotel? There are a few other theories, but no one knows the answer for certain.

In any case, the fundamentals of the dish include chicken in a cream sauce with mushrooms and peppers or pimentos, as well as some Sherry or Madeira. Older versions of the recipe called for thickening the sauce with a combination of cream, egg yolks, and roux (a flour-butter mixture). It was classic turn-of-the-century food, and probably very tasty. But over time the dish morphed into a heavy glop of chicken swimming in overly-flour-thickened sauce. Mid-century recipes even replaced the original sauce with cream of chicken soup. It became the stuff of cafeteria lines.

But there's still a gem of deliciousness in this recipe, and I've come up with an adaptation that I like very much. Compared with my source recipe, it uses more vegetables, fresh herbs and shallots, less flour, and crème fraîche instead of cream.

Total time: 45 minutes; hands-on time: 45 minutes

Notes: You can poach your own chicken for this recipe, but you can save time by using the meat from a rotisserie bird.

Ingredients for Chicken A La King

• 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons dry Sherry
• 1 tablespoon salted butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 large shallots, minced
• 1/2 cup minced red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup minced green bell pepper
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 cups sliced button mushrooms
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 cup crème fraîche
• 2 1/3 cups cooked chicken (see Note)
• 2 sprigs fresh tarragon
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• Garnish: minced fresh parsley

1. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring broth and Sherry to a simmer.
2. Meanwhile, melt butter in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add oil, shallots, peppers, and salt and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add hot broth mixture in a thin stream, stirring as you go. The sauce should bubble and thicken. Add tarragon sprigs. Reduce heat to low and add crème fraîche and parsley. Cook 10 minutes, then serve over egg noodles or rice, with a sprinkling of additional parsley.
   Yield: 4 to 5 servings