January 12, 2015 – NATIONAL CURRIED CHICKEN DAY – A common delicacy in South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean, chicken curry is also referred to as curry chicken. Today will curry favor with spice lovers - January 12 is National Curried Chicken Day! Perhaps the best way to enjoy this exotic, spicy chicken is by indulging in chicken curry. One thing is for sure, you know exactly where you stand with this practically named dish. Curry powder, saffron, ginger, masala powder and other spices form the base of an aromatic sauce to blend in with the chicken. Depending on the culture or region, chicken curry and curry chicken are either the same or completely different. Adding chicken to the curry sauce is considered to be chicken curry, but curry chicken can mean dredging the chicken in curry powder before cooking. Its all in the details, people! Country Captain Chicken is our own Americanized version of the Indian dish. A British sea captain who traveled to Bengal, India, shared the recipe during a stop in Savannah, Georgia. Country Captain, a nickname for officers stationed in India, became the name of the dish as it gained popularity across the South. It also became a favorite of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and General George Patton when they enjoyed it during a dinner at Roosevelts Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia. After that, Country Captain Chicken became a staple in Southern cuisine. Fix yourself a light and tasty curried chicken sauté, or take a nostalgic bite of heritage and history by cooking up some Country Captain Chicken. Its a dish fit for a president, and sea captains to boot. Curried chicken typically consists of chicken stewed in an onion and tomato based sauce which is then flavored with ginger, garlic, chilies and a variety of spices, often including turmeric, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cardamom and more. In some areas, these spices are omitted and replaced with a pre-made mixture known as curry powder. In parts of the United States, curried chicken is a popular dish known as Country Captain Chicken, a stewed chicken dish that has been flavored with curry powder. The following clip, originating from the Hobson-Jobson Dictionary, is regarding Country Captain: “COUNTRY-CAPTAIN. This is in Bengal the name of a peculiar dry kind of curry, often served as a breakfast dish. We can only conjecture that it was a favorite dish at the table of the skippers of ‘country ships,’ who were themselves called ‘country captains,’ as in our first quotation. In Madras the term is applied to a spatchcock dressed with onions and curry stuff, which is probably the original form. [Riddell says: “Country-captain.—Cut a fowl in pieces; shred an onion small and fry it brown in butter; sprinkle the fowl with fine salt and curry powder and fry it brown; then put it into a stewpan with a pint of soup; stew it slowly down to a half and serve it with rice” (Ind. Dom. Econ. 176).]“ 1792.—”But now, Sir, a Country Captain is not to be known from an ordinary man, or a Christian, by any certain mark whatever.” Madras Courier, April 26. c. 1825.—”The local name for their business was the ‘Country Trade,’ the ships were ‘Country Ships,’ and the masters of them ‘Country Captains.’ Some of my readers may recall a dish which was often placed before us when dining on board these vessels at Whampoa, viz. ‘Country Captain.’”—The Fankwae at Canton (1882). - “Country Captain, was served to United States 32nd President, Franklin D. Roosevelt along with General George E. Patton in 1940 by Mrs. W.L. Bullard of Warm Springs, Georgia. Their strong liking of the dish, brought it’s popularity to the Southern United States.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 10:16:37 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015