Whenever
I think of Chicken à la King I think of pimento. Aside from
being the stuffing of many a green olive, pimento has only a few 
other
uses and one of them is in this chicken dish. Actually, pimento (sometimes
spelled pimiento) is a variety of red pepper, slightly sweet, and when
dried, it becomes paprika. How and why it got into Chicken à
la King, I don't know but, along with freshly cooked sliced mushrooms,chopped
green peppers and chunks of cooked chicken breast in a creamy sauce,it
is one of the hallmarks of the authentic recipe.
I call it authentic while bearing in mind that there are several versions of the origin of this dish, although most culinary historians seem to agree on the one that sounds most plausible. It appears to be that in the late 1890's or very early 1900's George Greenwald, the chef of the Brighton Beach Hotel in Brooklyn, New York, created a chicken dish for his employer and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. E. Clarke King. If the Kings liked the dish, he hoped they would put it on the hotel's menu. They liked it, and,although the dish was rich and somewhat expensive to make, it was a great success at $1.25 a portion, a goodly sum in those days. Because he had made it especially for his employer, Greenwald named it "à la King."
In a short time the recipe swept the country and appeared in cookbooks from New England to the midwest as a savory and favorite way to use cooked chicken. Eventually it became a favorite at school cafeterias and ladies' luncheons where it could be eaten daintily without the use of a knife.
Another version of the origin says it was named for William King, a cook at the Bellevue Hotel in Philadelphia around 1895. Still another story is that it wasn't created for or by a "King" at all, but named for a man named Keene,either at Delmonico's in New York for a horse breeder or at Claridge's in London for the horse breeder's father sometime in the 1880's. For more information on these stories see the links at the bottom of this page.
No matter who created it, here is a recipe with all the rich ingredients that make the dish so tasty.
Chicken a la King
(Serves 4)
3 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons chopped
green pepper
3/4 cup mushrooms,
sliced
3 Tablespoons flour
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup cream
2 cups cooked chicken
breast, diced
1 small jar or
can pimentos (1/4 cup)
1 egg yolk
1 Tablespoon Sherryor
Madeira wine (optional)
Melt the butter,add the green pepper and mushrooms and cook until soft. Stir in and blend the flour. Slowly add the chicken stock and cream. When the sauce is smooth and boiling, add the chicken and pimento. Reduce the heat and add the egg yolk. Stir until the sauce is slightly thickened. Add salt to taste and wine, if used.
Serve over warm
toast or pastry shells.
SUGGESTED LINKS
The
Food Time Line
What's
Cooking America