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As someone who likes fried chicken and had some last night (it’s one of my favorite foodstuffs alongside pepperoni pizza and cheeseburgers), I wonder how far back in human history it goes? We think of it as a modern American dish with possible Scottish and/or West African influences (and there is of course the racist stereotype linking it to African-American people), but I suspect it goes further back in time.
Think about it, to make fried chicken, you need chicken, flour, and oil (and maybe milk if you want a buttermilk batter). Surely all these ingredients would have been available to Neolithic people, especially in Asia where they domesticated both chickens and wheat. I do know the Romans made a form of fried chicken called “Pullum Frontonianum”, but I suspect people were frying chicken meat as far back as they could.
BTW, to tie back to ancient Egypt, it was reportedly in the 6th to 5th century BC when chickens arrived in Egypt. So King Tut probably didn’t enjoy fried chicken, but Cleopatra might have if it was a dish in vogue during Ptolemaic times.
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Another “modern” food that may actually be quite ancient is pizza. The Romans called it “panis focacius”, although obviously they would not have had tomatoes for the sauce since those are native to South America. There are also records of Achaemenid Persian soldiers eating a form of pizza with cheese and dates as the toppings.
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^ Chickens originate in Southeast Asia and southern China from the wild ancestor Gallus gallus and from there its domestication spread via trade with India, and then Persia, before it reached Europe and North Africa.
The chickens that saved Western civilization were discovered, according to legend, by the side of a road in Greece in the first decade of the fifth century B.C. The Athenian general Themistocles, on his way to confront the invading Persian forces, stopped to watch two cocks fighting and summoned his troops, saying: “Behold, these do not fight for their household gods, for the monuments of their ancestors, for glory, for liberty or the safety of their children, but only because one will not give way to the other.” The tale does not describe what happened to the loser, nor explain why the soldiers found this display of instinctive aggression inspirational rather than pointless and depressing. But history records that the Greeks, thus heartened, went on to repel the invaders, preserving the civilization that today honors those same creatures by breading, frying and dipping them into one’s choice of sauce. The descendants of those roosters might well think—if they were capable of such profound thought—that their ancient forebears have a lot to answer for.
Chicken is the ubiquitous food of our era, crossing multiple cultural boundaries with ease. With its mild taste and uniform texture, chicken presents an intriguingly blank canvas for the flavor palette of almost any cuisine. A generation of Britons is coming of age in the belief that chicken tikka masala is the national dish, and the same thing is happening in China with Kentucky Fried Chicken. Long after the time when most families had a few hens running around the yard that could be grabbed and turned into dinner, chicken remains a nostalgic, evocative dish for most Americans. When author Jack Canfield was looking for a metaphor for psychological comfort, he didn’t call it “Clam Chowder for the Soul.”...
It pretty much confirms the historical texts and archaeology.
Before the introduction of chickens, the common fowl eaten in Europe was quail and pheasants while in Africa, it was guinea fowl.
As far as fried chicken recipes according to Wiki The first dish known to have been deep fried was fritters, which were popular in the European Middle Ages. However, the Scottish were the first Europeans to deep fry their chicken in fat.[1] There is an English cookbook from 1736 which mentions fried chicken, the “Dictionarium Domesticum”, by Nathan Bailey.[2] Meanwhile, many West African peoples had traditions of seasoned fried chicken (though battering and cooking the chicken in palm oil).
^ Seasoning and frying in palm oil was a common recipe for guinea fowl and other meats in West Africa.
Posts: 26630 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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What Are Kentucky Fried Chicken's 11 Herbs and Spices? According to the recipe, which is called 11 Spices, the top-secret ingredients (and measurements) include:
2/3 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon thyme 1/2 teaspoon basil 1/3 teaspoon oregano 1 teaspoon celery salt 1 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon dried mustard 4 teaspoons paprika 2 teaspoons garlic salt 1 teaspoon ground ginger 3 teaspoons white pepper The spices are mixed with 2 cups of flour to create the iconic KFC breading.
Each piece of chicken is dipped in water for seven seconds, dried for seven seconds, and then rolled in the mixture seven times before frying. To replicate this method, coat the chicken in dredging flour with seasoning, then shake off the excess, and repeat the process six more times.
It's also no secret that the Colonel pressure fried his chicken to get that crispy skin. Though we know that not everyone owns a pressure fryer, so the pressure cooker or deep fryer is the next best thing.
Posts: 43210 | From: , | Registered: Jan 2010
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quote:Originally posted by Djehuti: Before the introduction of chickens, the common fowl eaten in Europe was quail and pheasants while in Africa, it was guinea fowl.
In Scandinavia (at least in Sweden) the pheasant was introduced first in the 1700s on manors and big estates. Later it spread and is now a relatively common bird. Domestic hens on the other hand has been present here for 2000 years.
Quails are most common in the southern part of the country.
In old times also other fowl like Grey partridge, Black grouse, Western capercaillie and the Lagopus species were eaten in different parts of the country.
-------------------- Once an archaeologist, always an archaeologist Posts: 2927 | From: Sweden | Registered: Mar 2020
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^ Have you tasted these other fowl, and if so how do they taste?? I find it kind of odd how only chicken has become so ubiquitous but not these other fowl. Here in GA people also eat quails and partridges and we even have some farms raising guinea fowls.
Posts: 26630 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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I have tasted them and they taste very good, they have that special game taste. But today they are unfortunately very expensive to buy. I grew up in an environment where many people hunted so I have tasted different kinds of game.
Sometimes people have bred quail, partridges and pheasants, but not in the same scale as they breed hens. Quails are sometimes bred for both their flesh and their eggs (very small eggs), but it is rather expensive. Hens are easy to breed and both their flesh and eggs are rather cheap to buy.
-------------------- Once an archaeologist, always an archaeologist Posts: 2927 | From: Sweden | Registered: Mar 2020
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