Chicken à la King facts for kids
Chicken à la King prepared with egg noodles
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| Place of origin | Disputed |
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| Main ingredients | chicken, cream sauce, and often with sherry, mushrooms, and vegetables |
Chicken à la King is a tasty dish made with small pieces of chicken. These chicken pieces are mixed into a rich, creamy sauce. The dish often includes mushrooms and other vegetables. Sometimes, a little sherry wine is added for extra flavor.
People usually enjoy Chicken à la King served over rice, noodles, or slices of bread. You might also find it served inside a special pastry shell, like a small, savory pie. The name "à la King" means "in the style of King."
The Story of Chicken à la King
The exact beginning of Chicken à la King is a bit of a mystery! Many different stories explain how this popular dish came to be. It seems to have become well-known around the late 1800s.
Here are some of the most popular ideas about its origin:
- One story says it was created by a chef named Charles Ranhofer. He worked at a famous restaurant called Delmonico's in the 1880s. He supposedly named it Chicken à la Keene after a person named Foxhall Parker Keene.
- Another idea suggests the dish was made in 1881 at Claridge's Hotel in London. This version also links the name to the Keene family, specifically James R. Keene, who was Foxhall's father.
- A different account credits chef George Greenwald. He worked at the Brighton Beach Hotel in 1898. This story claims he named the dish after a regular customer, E. Clarke King II, and his wife.
- Perhaps the most widely believed story points to a hotel cook named William "Bill" King. He worked at the Bellevue Hotel in Philadelphia in the 1890s. Many newspapers wrote about King after he passed away in 1915. They gave him credit for inventing the dish.
A newspaper called the New York Tribune even wrote about Bill King. They said he was a genius cook. They believed he created "Chicken a la King" by mixing chicken, mushrooms, and cream. He also added red and green peppers to make this delightful dish.
The recipe for Chicken à la King started appearing in newspapers and cookbooks around the early 1900s. The New York Times mentioned it in 1893. Famous cookbook author Fannie Merritt Farmer included a recipe in her 1911 book. It became a very popular meal throughout the middle and late 1900s.
