City Chicken

When I was growing up my Grandma Donna used to make us City Chicken. It was always the best meal of the year. This year we decided to make City Chicken for our Christmas meal. What is City Chicken you ask? Well it is a combination of meat on a stick that appears to look like a chicken leg. The funniest thing, is that there is no chicken in it. Yep, City Chicken is pork and beef.

Serve it with mashed potatoes and all of your favorite sides.

Instructions

Alternating between the beef and pork, skewer the meat onto the wooden skewers.

Once you have all of the meat skewered, dip them in the egg wash and then coat with the crushed saltines.

Heat a large skillet or an electric fry pan to medium/high heat. Then melt half of the butter into the pan. Place the skewers into the pan and brown the meat on all sides. When the pan starts to dry up, add more butter to make sure that all of the sides of the city chicken are nice and browned.

When browned, place the skewers into a dutch oven. Layer them into the pan, making sure to place as many as you can in each layer.

Place 1.5 cups of hot water into two separate bowls. Then dissolve the chicken bouillon in one bowl and the beef bouillon in the other bowl. Then spoon a teaspoon of each of the bouillon onto each of the skewers. Then pour the remaining bouillon into the pan. Sprinkle the garlic over each layer of city chicken.

Place the cover onto the pan and place into a 300 degree oven for 2 hours. After 2 hours, turn the oven to 350 degrees and cook for another 2 hours.

Remove the city chicken from the pan and use the pan drippings to make gravy. Serve the city chicken with mashed potatoes.

— Rex

City Chicken

A nostalgic comfort food classic with alternating pork and beef cubes on skewers, breaded and pan-fried, then braised in bouillon until tender. A hearty family favorite.

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 4 hours hrs

Total Time 4 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Servings: 6 people

Course: Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 1 lb pork cubed
• 1 lb beef cubed
• 1 package saltines crushed
• 2 eggs
• 20 wooden skewers cut to 6 inches
• 3 cups hot water
• 2 tablespoons chicken bouillon
• 2 tablespoons beef bouillon
• 1 tablespoon garlic
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 8 tablespoons butter

Method

 

1. Alternating between beef and pork, thread meat onto wooden skewers.
2. Beat eggs in a bowl to create egg wash. Crush saltines into breadcrumbs in another bowl.
3. Dip each skewer into egg wash, then coat thoroughly with crushed saltines.
4. Heat large skillet or electric fry pan to medium-high heat. Melt half the butter into the pan.
5. Place skewers in pan and brown meat on all sides. Add remaining butter as pan dries up to ensure all sides are nicely browned.
6. Transfer browned skewers to a Dutch oven, layering them closely together.
7. Divide hot water between two bowls. Dissolve chicken bouillon in one bowl and beef bouillon in the other.
8. Spoon 1 teaspoon of each bouillon onto each skewer. Pour remaining bouillon into the pan.
9. Sprinkle garlic over each layer of city chicken.
10. Cover Dutch oven and place in 300°F oven for 2 hours.
11. After 2 hours, increase oven temperature to 350°F and cook for another 2 hours.
12. Remove city chicken from pan. Use pan drippings to make gravy.
13. Serve with mashed potatoes and gravy.

Notes

This is a nostalgic family recipe that gets its name from the fact that it looks like chicken legs but contains no chicken at all. The long, slow braising makes the meat incredibly tender. Equipment needed: Large skillet, Dutch oven, two small bowls for bouillon. Can be made a day ahead and reheated.