The cookbook must have dated from the 1970s, if not earlier; but I could not ascertain this, as the title page with publication details on the reverse had been torn out or lost somewhere along the way.
But you can carbon-date a cookbook by the names of its recipes and, sometimes, its typography. Not to mention, of course, its rich heritage of photography which in the case of the 1970s featured chocolate brown glazed soup tureens, Byzantine-style green-coloured stem glassware, tapestry tablecloths and stained glass lamps casting a multi-hued glow over the chunky candle-laden refectory tables.
The book I had in my hands featured 'Apricot-Glazed Ham Steaks', 'Pork Roly Poly' and 'Chicken in a Pot' among its quaintly-named dishes. The book was one of those community efforts with each recipe contributed by an individual.
One recipe was 'Virginian Chicken'. Why Virginian? Was it first cooked at Shiloh Ranch? Or featured in an early episode of the TV series? I don't know. Whatever, this version seems to have been a stripped-down or bastardised rendering of some original dish combining chicken with corn. It was contributed by Mrs J. Crisp of Tarragindi.
Virginian Chicken according to an un-named 1970s cookbook.
Fry four slices of bacon cut into small strips, and a chopped onion, in a large frypan. Remove.
In the same pan, after adding some cooking oil, seal half a kilogram of chicken breast cut into one-inch cubes and dusted in seasoned flour. When sealed, add the bacon and onion back to the pan.
Now add a can of condensed cream of chicken soup and a can of corn. Stir gently to combine. Add a little chicken stock if necessary. Cook until chicken pieces are cooked through.
Serve on steamed white rice with a glass of cold chablis or hock.
I would need to down the chablis before eating that dish. Ugh. Left to my own devices I would ditch the bacon and the corn, add some mushrooms and... I don't know, maybe frozen or canned artichoke hearts? And put some of the chablis into the sauce. I think that would be an improvement at least.
ReplyDeleteA few years later they were adding apricots. My father-in-law once famously rejected such a dish cooked by a relative insisting that he would eat apricots only with dessert.
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