In past generations, chickens were as much a part of normal mountain homesteads as bedsteads or corn cribs. Variously known as yard birds, preacher birds, and Gospel birds, as well as chickens, they had a myriad of virtues.
To a considerable degree chickens were self-sufficient—capable of filling a goodly portion of their dietary needs on their own in the form of insects, worms, seeds, and in season, garden vegetables. As long as they were free range, and most were, their menu was wonderfully varied, and obtaining grit for grinding gizzards took nothing but pecking. Moreover, one of their favorite foods was “scratch feed,” which in yesteryear essentially translated to various versions of corn—leavings from winnowing or sifting, leftover cornbread, grains rubbed from cobs, and the like. Provide supplementary food as needed, make sure that water was available, and chickens needed little other than protection from predators. Vigilance on the part of the farm family took care of that.
Chicken on the table was an important part of Smokies life, but that was normally a luxury reserved for holidays, guests, church suppers and Sunday dinner. No dinner-on-the-grounds, or meal associated with a revival or other special event, would have been complete without chicken aplenty. Lyrics from the old Bobby Bare country classic, “Chicken every Sunday, Lord, chicken every Sunday,” held true for many a mountain family. Likewise, the lines in “She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain” which mention the demise of the old red rooster and “We’ll all have chicken and dumplings when she comes” tell a meaningful tale. Certainly, chicken for Sunday dinner and special occasions was standard practice throughout my boyhood and beyond, and to this day the mere thoughts of Momma’s fried chicken awaiting our return home after church sets my salivary glands in involuntary overdrive.
Here’s a sextet of yard bird recipes, starting with the essence of goodness, fried bird.
Momma's Fried Chicken
It should be noted that we’ve never quite been able to match Momma’s fried chicken, and no one else in the family has either. She had the magical touch.
- 1 or 2 whole chickens, cut into pieces (legs, thighs, wings, and breasts) with skin left intact
- 1 or 2 eggs beaten to make an egg wash
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Flour
- Cooking oil
Drench each piece in the egg wash and then coat thoroughly with flour (mix salt and pepper in with the flour in advance) before placing in piping hot oil in a cast iron pan or spider, which has stubby legs (we think cooking in cast iron makes a difference, but don’t ask us to prove it). Cook until thoroughly brown, turning once.
All of this seems normal enough, but it is Mom’s final step that made all the difference. Once she had all the chicken fried and placed atop paper towels to drain a bit, she scraped the “leavings” to make gravy, wiped the cast iron skillet, and put the fried chicken back in it. She then set the oven at low heat (200 degrees or maybe a bit less) and put the skillet in the oven. She normally did this just before heading off to church on Sunday. After church she popped the skillet out of the oven once she had made gravy and readied the rest of the meal. Being in the oven seemed to do two things—cook away some of the surplus grease, and make the chicken so tender it almost fell from the bones and melted in your mouth. Mercy was it fine!
Chicken Pie
A savory chicken pie makes a perfect one-dish meal, although a side salad of fruit goes with it in mighty fine fashion. Making a preacher bird pie is simple, as the recipe below makes obvious.
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ¼-½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cups homemade chicken broth (or use store-bought chicken broth)
- 2⁄3 cup half-and-half or cream
- 2 cups cooked chicken
- Prepared pastry for two-crust pie, store-bought or homemade.
Melt butter; add flour and seasonings. Cook about a minute, stirring constantly. Add broth and half-and-half and cook slowly until thickened. Add chicken and pour into pastry-lined pan. Top with rest of pastry and pinch edges together. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes or until pastry is browned. An alternative is to add cooked vegetables—corn, green peas, and carrots—to the cooked chicken and make a pot pie.
Chicken Pate
The organ meat (liver, heart, and gizzard) has usually been removed from a store-bought chicken, but you can buy them separately. For those raising their own birds, of course, availability is not a problem. Utilization of these sometimes overlooked portions, often in gravy and sometimes in dressing, can mean some fine eating. That’s particularly true when the giblets are prepared as pate. Here is a simple way of enjoying pate as an appetizer, snack, or sandwich spread.
- Giblets (heart, liver, gizzard) from several chickens
- 2 boiled eggs
- 1 small sweet onion (or half of a large onion)
- 3 cloves garlic
- Butter or olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Clean and chop the giblets into small pieces and sauté in a large frying pan with the chopped onion and garlic in butter (my preference) or olive oil. Then mince thoroughly by hand—which leaves a bit of texture thanks to larger bits of meat—or in a food processor, and allow to cool. Boil two eggs then peel and chop them finely. Add salt and black pepper to taste. Mix minced giblets and eggs thoroughly and press into a bowl or mold and chill until solid. Serve cold.
Chicken and Dumplings
For a culinary spirit lifter, chicken and dumplings reigns supreme over traditional chicken soup. Here’s an easy recipe for this toothsome traditional favorite.
- 1 large chicken cut into pieces (legs, thighs, wings, halved breast, and neck, back)
- 1 large sweet onion
- 4-5 large carrots scraped and cut into two-inch sections
- 4 stalks celery cut into small sections
- 8 cups chicken broth or the equivalent amount made using chicken base or stock you have made
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- Green peas or spinach
Cook the chicken pieces, carrots, onion, celery and seasoning in a large stew pot, holding the broth for an hour. At the end of the hour add ¾ cup of green peas, or a double handful of washed spinach, and cook for an additional 15 minutes. Add cooked dumplings (see below) to the chicken-vegetables-broth and serve piping hot.
DUMPLINGS
- ½ cup milk
- 1 cup flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Slowly add milk to dry ingredients. Drop by teaspoons into boiling chicken liquid. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until dumplings are done in the center.
Garden Omelet
Come spring’s greening-up time, some ancient switch of procreation is triggered not only in chickens but most birds. Laying hens are at their most productive in this season, and that translates to eggs aplenty for anyone with their own chickens. Eggs are also one of the less expensive protein sources in the grocery store, and a super-abundance of eggs is a pleasure, not a problem.
Often described as the perfect food, a grand way to enjoy eggs that is as simple as it scrumptious is in a two- or three-egg omelet, incorporating whatever is available in the way of vegetables from the garden or elsewhere in nature.
Vegetable choices might involve asparagus, spring onions, ramps, spinach, Swiss chard, morel mushrooms, water cress, or other items. Add salt and pepper to taste, some sharp cheese, a bit of butter, or maybe crumble in a couple of slices of crispy bacon or streaked meat fried to a crisp, and you have some mighty fine eating. Omelet pans are great, but you can make an omelet in a large frying pan. Just empty the beaten eggs and other ingredients into a large, well-greased skillet, and once the bottom is firmly cooked, flip half over to make a half-moon shape and complete cooking. Hint: Adding a tablespoon or so of warm water to the mix when you beat the eggs up produces a fluffier end product.
Chicken and Egg Salad
This is a fine way to utilize left-over stewed or bake chicken and/or a surplus of eggs. It’s good either eaten atop a lettuce base, with soda crackers, or in a sandwich.
- 2 cups chopped chicken (or use blender to pulse it to a coarse but not overly minced state)
- 4 large eggs, boiled, peeled, and coarsely chopped
- ¼ cup chopped sweet pickles
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 2-3 tablespoons of mayonnaise (more if needed for right consistency)
- 1-2 tablespoons of prepared mustard (amount will depend on how much you like mustard’s tang)
Prepare the chicken, eggs, and pickles then place together in a large mixing bowl. Add the mayonnaise, mustard, salt, and pepper. Stir thoroughly with a large wooden spoon. Refrigerate until ready to eat.