As far as I know, no-one in our family was ever called Herb, yet somehow a recipe that came to be known as, Herb’s Chicken, became our favorite. It was mom’s crowning culinary achievement. A family tradition. A keystone.
It goes like this.
1 large chicken cut up, or 6 or 8 breasts
3 slices bacon
Clean, wash, and dry the chicken. Remove skins-optional. Salt & pepper. Fry bacon til crisp. Remove, drain, and crumble the bacon.
It starts out simple enough. While Mom was always the primary preparer of food in our family, nobody would say she was particularly good at it. But food is more than an assembly of ingredients, a meal is more than nourishment, and sustenance is more than a full belly. And so she put a lot of thought into cooking along with planning, love, Joy, perseverance and caring. When it comes to those qualities, anyone would say that she was second to none.
The recipe came from her mother, Laura Simmons.
“Chicken with Herbs En Casserole” is the actual title of the recipe as it came from someone named Thelma Parker, written on an index card, smeared with bacon fat, dusted with flour, burned on the edge, warped with use and faded with time, stored in a pale green tin in the cupboard with the saucepans.
But she didn’t always look at the recipe. Something like that becomes as familiar to memory as a lost loved ones face even long after they are gone. We requested it on birthdays. She prepared it in advance for camping trips, we re-heated it after practice, ate it cold out of Tupperware, scraped it into the trash when a forgotten serving went bad in the back of the fridge.
Fry chicken in bacon fat (add more fat if necessary) over medium heat until brown. As pieces brown, place in large casserole, sprinkling crumbled bacon over each layer.
I remember her doing this in cast iron on the stovetop. Surprised how complicated this recipe seemed to be. It felt so simple on the plate. As warm and comforting as chords from a guitar, a hand holding yours, a bedtime story. It was there when we needed it. Fed us when we were hungry. Made us happy when we were sad. It was familiar in new places.
Melt butter in same skillet after chicken is fried. Remove skillet from heat.
It’s important that this be done as stated. Mixing the bacon fat with all the bits of bacon, burnt though they may be, get into the next step. Things come together this way. Combining and adding up to more than they would have on their own. Held together by flavors that work as a team. Complexity arisies from simplicity.
Stir in all dry ingredients (which have been mixed together).
5 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon celery salt
¾ teaspoon dried sage
¾ teaspoon dried thyme
Of course you don’t have to measure all of these things precisely. Mom explained this. Sometimes you do measure the small things–things like salt or baking soda. Once you know the context of a quarter teaspoon you might start shaking seasonings directly into the pan. Knowing what needs to be done per the recipe and what you can take creative license with will come in time.
Dissolve bouillon cubes in hot water and mix with milk.
You can use broth, bouillon paste, whatever you prefer, or happen to have around. Mom always had plenty in the pantry. She liked the cubes. Little blocks wrapped in foil, dispersed in scalding water releasing savory steam into the air.
Stir a little at a time into the skillet with other ingredients;
It’s important if you’re making this for the first time that you should have the whisk ready. Keep it moving, never let it stand still. This is the most important part. If you get distracted here by a kid needing help with homework, a phone call about tomorrow’s bike ride, changing over the laundry and forget to turn the heat down from high, it will burn to insoluble lumps in the pan.
Place over low heat and stir constantly until thickened and smooth. (Be patient – this takes a while, like making a roux.)
A roux is a mixture of flour and fat cooked together and used to thicken sauces. It’s a step that is simple, yet easy to get wrong. It doesn’t make anything on its own, but is an integral part of a great many recipes. Mom made the gravy this way at thanksgiving, once the turkey was resting and the table was set and we could barely wait another second to load up our plates and begin the feast.
Pour the gravy over chicken and cover.
I forgot to mention earlier, but 3 pieces of bacon is not going to be enough. Three pieces of bacon is not enough for anything. Cook the whole pack. At least. Again a recipe is not something that you follow to the letter. If you’ve been taught the basics then you’ll certainly be able see the spaces left for creativity, improvisation, happy accidents, discovery, or just doing better next time.
Bake in the oven at 350 for an hour and a half.
Hopefully you didn’t get this far into the preparation of Herb’s chicken without knowing about this step. But this is the hardest part. Waiting an hour and a half can be difficult with the smells and the bacon scraps you intentionally left for yourself. Hopefully you didn’t fry the chicken all the way through. Just sear it a bit on each side. It cooks fully in this step. I should have told you this earlier.
But here you can clean up your mess, and believe me there is one. Soak the pan if you burnt something. Clean the stovetop. Put away the bacon in the unlikely event there’s leftover. Don’t forget to check that you set a timer because you can’t really tell from looking at it that it’s done. You could set the table if that’s what you do. At about an hour twenty five scramble to get a vegetable prepped, or maybe you have salad fixings in the fridge ready to go. Something simple since Herb’s Chicken is so rich.
People might be getting hungry so make sure they stay out of the snacks, and leftover bacon. When it’s ready at the table they’ll plow through it with little ceremony. Forks clinking. Slurping their milk. Neglecting the vegetables until last. Asking what’s for dessert. Taking seconds. Scraping the bacon bits out of the casserole pan when the rest is gone.
But for that last moment everyone pays attention. We wait patiently, or as close to that as we can manage. We feel thankful even if that rarely evolves into words to that effect. In that moment we don’t yet know the effort it takes to fill the unforgiving minutes in life with 60 seconds worth of distance run, again and again, or appreciate the love, and patience, and duty It takes to come home and whip us up a quick batch of Herb’s chicken.
But we will.
You can serve it up on plates or in the casserole with a serving spoon family style. It goes well with steamed broccoli or frozen peas.
Serve over rice.
Minute rice will do if you forgot to read ahead before getting this far. I really should have told you all this earlier.
Enjoy.