Chicken à la King ('chicken in the style of King') is a dish consisting of

diced Dicing is a culinary knife cut in which the food item is cut into small blocks or dice. This may be done for aesthetic reasons or to create uniformly sized pieces to ensure even cooking. Dicing allows for distribution of flavour and texture ...

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...

in a cream sauce, often with

sherry Sherry ( es, jerez ) is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain. Sherry is produced in a variety of styles made primarily from the Palomino grape, ranging from light versi ...

mushrooms A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...

, and vegetables, generally served over

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

noodle Noodles are a type of food made from unleavened dough which is either rolled flat and cut, stretched, or extruded, into long strips or strings. Noodles are a staple food in many cultures (for example, Chinese noodles, Filipino noodles, In ...

s, or bread.D'Amato, Luisa (October 17, 2007)
Delicious, easy to make and oddly addictive.
''The Waterloo Record'' (via

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

) It is also often served in a

vol-au-vent A ''vol-au-vent'' (pronounced , French for "windblown", to describe its lightness) is a small hollow case of puff pastry. It was formerly also called a patty case. . A ''vol-au-vent'' is typically made by cutting two circles in rolled out ...

or pastry case. It is sometimes made with tuna or turkey in place of chicken.

History

Various dishes of chicken "à la Reine" and "à la Royale" have appeared in cookbooks since as early as 1665, mostly without recipes; there is no indication that they are similar to the modern Chicken à la King. Several competing accounts about its origin have circulated: *One claim is it was created by

Delmonico's Delmonico's is the name of a series of restaurants that operated in New York City, with the present version located at 56 Beaver Street in the Financial District of Manhattan. The original version was widely recognized as the United States ...

chef Charles Ranhofer as "Chicken à la Keene" in the 1880s, named after

Foxhall Parker Keene Foxhall Parker Keene (December 18, 1867 – September 25, 1941) was an American thoroughbred race horse owner and breeder, a world and Olympic gold medallist in polo and an amateur tennis player. He was rated the best all-around polo playe ...

. *Another version claims it was created in 1881 at

Claridge's Hotel Claridge's is a 5-star hotel at the corner of Brook Street and Davies Street in Mayfair, London. It has long-standing connections with royalty that have led to it sometimes being referred to as an "annexe to Buckingham Palace". Claridge's Hote ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and named for James R. Keene, father of Foxhall. *A third story is that the dish was devised in 1903 for Wolfram Mercy Keene, son of Foxhall and grandson of James. *A fourth, often disputed tale is that Chicken a la King was prepared for Dewberry William Keene, son of Wolfram, grandson of Foxhall, and great grandson of James. *Another account claims chef George Greenwald of the Brighton Beach Hotel in

Brighton Beach Brighton Beach is a neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, within the greater Coney Island area along the Atlantic Ocean coastline. Brighton Beach is bounded by Coney Island proper at Ocean Parkway to the ...

created it in 1898, naming it after patron E. Clarke King II and his wife.Allen, Beth and Susan Westmoreland (2004). ''Good Housekeeping Great American Classics Cookbook.'' Hearst Books, Gilbar, Steven (2008). ''Chicken a la King & the Buffalo Wing: Food Names and the People and Places.'' Writers Digest, *Another account is that chicken à la King was created in the 1890s by hotel cook William "Bill" King of the Bellevue Hotel in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. Several obituaries in early March 1915 credited King after he died on March 4, 1915.Staff report (March 5, 1915). "Chicken a la King" inventor dies. '' New York Tribune'', p. 9, col. 5Via ''Philadelphia Ledger'' (14 March 1915). A name on all men's tongues. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', pg. M4 A '' New York Tribune'' editorial at the time of King's death stated:

The name of William King is not listed among the great ones of the earth. No monuments will ever be erected to his memory, for he was only a cook. Yet what a cook! In him blazed the fire of genius which, at the white heat of inspiration, drove him one day, in the old Bellevue, in Philadelphia, to combine bits of chicken, mushrooms, truffles, red and green peppers and cream in that delight-some mixture which ever after has been known as "Chicken a la King."Editorial (7 March 1915). Chicken a la King. '' New York Tribune'', pg. 8, cols. 1-2

The recipe was mentioned in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' in 1893,Staff (14 December 1893). Dinner to Princeton's Football Team. ''

'', p. 3. and early published recipes appeared in 1900''A Book of famous old New Orleans recipes used in the South for more than 200 years''. Peerless Printing Co., 1900; the 1900 date is dubious based on the recipes and the typography -- Goodreads.com gives 195

/ref> and 1905.Staff report (3 February 1905). Chicken a la King. '' Washington Times-Herald, Washington Times'', p. 7, col. 1

Fannie Merritt Farmer Fannie Merritt Farmer (23 March 1857 – 16 January 1915) was an American culinary expert whose ''Boston Cooking-School Cook Book'' became a widely used culinary text. Education Fannie Farmer was born on 23 March 1857 in Boston, Massachusetts, ...

included a recipe in her 1911 publication on catering.Farmer, Fannie Merritt (1911). ''Catering for special occasions.'' D. McKay The '' Fannie Farmer Cookbook'' includes a recipe for Chicken à la King in the 1906 update.Marion Cunningham, Fannie Merritt Farmer, Lauren Jarrett (1996). ''The Fannie Farmer cookbook''. Random House, Inc., p. 250. It was a popular dish during the middle to late 20th century.

References

External links

History of Poultry Dishes
at What's Cooking America {{DEFAULTSORT:Chicken a la King American chicken dishes Historical foods in American cuisine