Brush off Your Charleston, It's 1920s Week - Chicken à la King

For all 2020 has been a pretty shit year, and I'm sure we can all agree with that, it's still a great time to remember the 1920s and hopefully we'll all be heading out to some Great Gatsby style parties next year! This is the decade when Europe somewhat lost its sway over the food and meals that were enjoyed in the UK, as the USA began to influence what was popular over the pond! So to kick things off I decided to go for the classic recipe of Chicken à la King. For those of you who are history buffs, it is somewhat disputed who came up with the dish and when, though there does seem to be some agreement it was around the 1880s-1890s in the US. Now granted, that's not very 1920s, but the dish became very popular during the 20s so that's why I went with it. 

The first thing that took me actually by surprise was the few fresh ingredients included in the recipe. Of course, we had the chicken and peppers, but having grown use to masses of herbs and fresh vegetables during the Roman Week and Medieval Week, it honestly felt really bizarre opening up a tin of mushrooms. Equally, despite the relative simplicty of the dish, I was wandering around the kitchen like a confused housewife who has just been introduced to the first automatic toaster!

Another thing that did take me by surprise though was the blandness of the dish. Sure, it was rich and creamy, and I added in salt and pepper. But it felt strange not to add any herbs to it or try to season it in any other way. As a meal I thought it was ok, but it seemed weirdly at odds with the 1920s, considering it was such an exciting and wild time, I didn't really think they'd be so down for a fairly bland, mushy meal. I suppose though if you were to contrast it with the Edwardian era, then the simplicty and plainness of the dish might be exactly what you're looking for! But hey, here's here's the recipe for Chicken à la King.

Chicken à la King

Ingredients

• 1 can mushrooms, drained, liquid reserved 
• 1 green bell pepper
• 65g butter
• 65g plain flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 150ml stock
• 170ml milk
• 4 cooked chicken breasts
• 100g pimentos (I couldn't find these, so just went with two regular chillies)

Method

1. Cook and stir drained mushrooms and green pepper in butter over medium heat for 5 minutes. 
2. Blend in flour, salt, and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is bubbly.
3. Stir in stock, milk and the reserved mushroom liquid. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir for 1 minute.
4. Stir in chicken and pimiento. Serve over pasta, rice or noodles.