Forks & Vines

 

In Hilker’s book her version of the recipe is named after character Nicole Diver from F. Scott Fitzgeralds Tender is the Night. In this book Diver lays on the beach while searching for a Chicken a la Maryland recipe and works to translate it into French. Hilker also notes that this recipe, which was a favorite of Fitzgerald, was featured in late famous French chef Auguste Escoffier’s cookbook Ma Cuisine. 
I couldn’t help but wonder after reading this excerpt, why the dish is called Chicken a la Maryland if popular in French cuisine and what more of the history behind it was. While I wasn’t able to answer all my questions I found some pretty fun facts that inspired me to create my own version of this recipe and write about my findings. 

Most websites credit the roots of this dish to Auguste Escoffier, an acclaimed French chef from the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. Wikipedia makes it sound as if the dish is originally rooted in Maryland. I looked high and low and while the exact origin is a little unclear, it seems that Escoffier was inspired by a traditional Maryland dish received credit due to his popular version in Ma Cuisine. This theory and origin confusion are further validated by an article I found from The New York Times archives, “When Escoffier fried chicken…” In the 1972 article written by Raymond A. Sokolov, he says “…at this stage in, time, it is hard to determine whether the French were drawn to something like this elaborately garnished and sauced dish because it was formal and pretty, or whether they took something simple and complicated it themselves.” (Quick side note, finding and using an archived NYT article for this research was so fun, as I just recently listened to an episode of NPR’s podcast “How I Built This” hosted by Guy Raz where Raz interviewed the founder of Captcha and Re-Captcha. Those words you type in to prove you aren’t a robot? They actually helped digitize the New York Times archives! I highly recommend listening to this episode just for fun)! 

A couple common and seemingly unanimous facts amongst my research are (1) that the naming of the this dish stems from the fact that Baltimore’s leading import of the time period was bananas, which are famously used as the garnish on any Chicken a la Maryland dish and (2) that a version of this dish was served on the lunch menu for the first class passengers of the Titanic. You can view the full (alleged) menu served on The Titanic, here. 

Okay, now let’s talk about why we’re all really here, the food itself.

I found versions of this recipe that were oven baked, soaked in buttermilk before oven baking, pan frying, but most commonly pan frying and steaming at the same time by covering the pan while the chicken cooks in oil. This is the method that we’ll do today. You could easily choose to oven bake for a healthier option, but sometimes you just have to let taste trump macros and allow yourself to deep fry. You deserve it. 
As for the flavors itself, there are many iterations out there. Both the NYT article, and Wikipedia discuss that this dish has evolved globally over time. The core of this dish is a breaded chicken topped with a creamy white gravy, or more formally known as béchamel sauce, and sautéed bananas. Many versions of this recipe call for serving it with bacon, either on the side or top of the chicken. In Hilker’s book, she recommends serving with dijon mustard on the side. The NYT version calls for a tomato sauce in addition to the gravy as well as corn fritters. Pineapple sauté or fritters along with sweet corn and mashed potatoes were other additions or variations I read about. (All listed and cited within Wikipedia article previously linked to). 

For the version we’re going to make here, I took elements from many of the core flavor pallets and cooking methods and made some variations that I loved. We’re adding lots of herbs to the breading, including thyme, coriander, parsley, dill and cumin, as all of these pair well with bananas. While the gravy we’ll make and bananas provide lots of flavor, we’ll also make a honey mustard for dipping. This is a nod to Hilker’s suggestion to serve with dijon mustard on the side. I added honey because (1) I love honey mustard, (2) it tames the bite in the dijon, and (3) the sweetness complements the banana topping. I opted out of serving with any sort of potato or fritter, and chose to pair with a simple side salad, especially since I opted IN on the deep fry method, ha! The gravy is a pretty standard white sauce of butter, flour and milk used for the base of many creamy soups and pasta sauces, with a pinch of nutmeg added as in most bechamel sauces. For the salad I used mache, which is a leafy green native to the South of France. For those of you reading from the USA or elsewhere, any leafy green without a lot of crunch will work perfect such as spinach, massaged kale, spring mix or arugula. To bring in the bacon flavor used in some variations of this recipe I fried lardons (which is basically chopped bacon or pancetta) until crispy. Lastly I tossed the greens in a mustard vinaigrette. Since the salad isn’t the focus of the recipe here, I just used a store bought. You could find a recipe for any mustard vinaigrette online and use that too. 

As always, I encourage you to make this recipe your own and omit things such as mustard sauce if you don’t like mustard. If you are out of one of the spices listed, it won’t break the recipe, use what you have. I will encourage you on this one to put aside that “chicken and bananas???” thought in your head and give this a try though. It’s not a combination that may immediately sound the best but I am telling you it. is. amazing! I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do! Let’s get to it!