Chickens Abroad

Food, Lifestyles, Culture & Inspiration | Astar | October 9, 2009 at 1:16 pm

Everyone knows what chicken tastes like. So what is this chicken? Why is chicken so damn universal? We have all these common phrases related to chicken. Chickens crossing roads, chicken coming before the egg (or was it the egg before the chicken?) and so on. Each country has their own (or so they claim) interpretation of chicken; each chicken has its own mysterious origin. Any way you look at it, there’s something fishy about chicken. Chickity check it:

Cuban Chicken

Ricky Ricardo once said something about arroz con pollo. After tedious translation efforts, we have concluded he was referring to the classic Cuban dish, chicken with rice. Simple: you make a broth out of garlic, tomato and saffron, cook the rice, throw in the chicken, simmer together and done. The origins of this dish are the interesting part. The Cubans’ main protein was always beef and never poultry. But upon the arrival of Spanish travelers, Cuba got a taste of Spanish cuisine and added it to their own traditions.

Jamaican Jerk Chicken

What do Jamaicans do? They jerk their chicken. To jerk chicken (mind out of the gutter for a minute please) is a method of smoking meat in spices for long periods of time. Due to the tropical climate of the island, this technique was used to preserve the meat a longer time and to fight off insects. The Spanish strike again. The word “jerk” comes from “Charqui”, meaning dried meat (see a resemblance? yeah neither do we). In time the Spanish word was broken down to jerk. Somebody must have played a fun joke along the way.

Chicken Kiev

Has nothing to do with Kiev, Ukraine, but tons to do with chicken. Essentially it is a chicken cutlet wrapped around a stick of butter (heart attack expressway). It was invented by French guy originally hired by Napoleon to create a new method of food preservation. The guy came up with canning. Apparently he was an over-achiever and simultaneously came up with butter wrapped chicken. The canning thing made him popular, being popular is cool so people started imitating his chicken dish. The Russians seemed to like it most and since New York City restaurants wanted to cater to the new Russian immigrants in their city, they named the butter chicken “Chicken Kiev”. Yeah, confusing. Moving on.

Chicken Shnitzel

We just really like saying Shnitzel. Try it out a few times, its delightful. This chicken dish is an adaptation of the Weiner Schnitzel, which is made with veal. Both are traditionally German dishes. The idea of Schnitzel-ing (covering in bread crumbs and frying) dates back to the 7th century when a king decided he liked everything covered in gold. When that became absurdly expensive, the search was on for a new alternative. The current Schnitzel was borrowed from an Italian recipe that used breadcrumbs (which are nothing like gold but we won’t argue).

Chicken Kebab

Chances are if you are anywhere in the world, a form of kebab is just around the corner. Reason being that so many cultures claim kebab to be their traditional dish. The Greeks say they were first, the Turks say their soldiers invented it, Indians claim they ate it since the Sultanate period (which is damn long ago) and so on. Truth is, chicken on sticks is brilliant. Its portable and the sticks are great for toothpicks (or weapons; don’t do it).

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Sounds like it comes from China right? Its on the menu in all the Chinese restaurants in America so it must be from China. While, sweet and sour sauce is of Cantonese Origin, the idea of sweet and sour chicken is surprisingly all American. In China, sweet and sour pork is more common; Americans like their chicken, so is the birth of sweet and sour chicken.

Coq Au Vin

Literally means “cock in wine”. By cock we mean male rooster; the other option sounds unsanitary. Popular legend has it that this is a dish created out of revenge. Julius Cesar received an old rooster from the Guals and had his cook make a meal of it to serve back to Gauls. Talk about re-gifting. The cook decided to stew the rooster in red wine to tenderize the otherwise rough meat and created this delicious, fall off the bone, chicken dish. The French decided to substitute chicken for rooster and cook it in pricier wine (they would) and thus it became their traditional dish.

Chicken Pomodoro

This breaded chicken dish is from Bologna, Italy. Originally made with veal, chicken was substituted later because it was cheaper. Although it is an Italian standard, the dish is heavily influenced by other countries. The traditional recipe calls for tomato sauce (like almost all Italian dishes). The tomato was discovered in South America. It was brought back by conquistadors and initially thought of as poisonous. The Italians were the only ones to have the balls to cultivate it and add it to their famous dishes.

Arroz de Cabidela

This Portuguese recipe calls for some onions, a little rice, spoon or two of olive oil, chicken (of course) and BLOOD (and not just a teaspoon, liters of it). You would hope something so gut -wrenching would be found in a limited cross-section of the world. Well, due to Portugal’s early imperialism (for a little country, that sucker packed a punch), places like the Grenadine Islands and Brazil consider this bloody chicken dish part of their traditional cuisine.

Chicken Booyah

A super hearty stew made with chicken. We’ve never heard of it until now. This is probably because it is only found in one region of the world: the northeast part of Wisconsin. The Booyah part comes from early settlers who brought the recipe to the states. The settlers came from the French/Belgian border region of Walloon. Somehow Walloon evolved into Booyah (we think the Wisconsians had something to do with it). Either way, its a great word to end the article with. BOOYAH!

The chicken is a traveling idea. Few places can claim their chicken dishes as fully their own. More likely, recipes have been borrowed from other cultures passing through as travelers or brought back by natives from their travels. World cuisine, down to the basics, has historically been changed by the curious traveler. Go the long route to take out.

Written By: Anna Starostinetskaya

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Head Writer/Editor-in-Chief of Off Track Planet. Pescatarians are not just cheating vegetarians; we're our own breed and the extra protein makes us more feisty! Rawr