Food, Home and Style

Depression-Era Dinner & Flick

One of FDR’s favorite meals and a damn funny movie make for an evening of festive frugality….

Dinner-and-a-flick can easily run you over $50, so why not whip out the cookbook and pop in the Netflix? Better yet, make it a themed evening with a Depression-era recipe and a classic movie. This chicken dish is a flavorful alternative to a wallet-breaking restaurant meal. Lucky for me, PBS was airing the 1958 fav Auntie Mame the night I made it. The film stars Rosalind Russell as lovable New York bohemian Mame Dennis and chronicles her hilarious responses to the Great Crash – which she mitigates by marrying a southern oilman, of course. Mame’s famous line, “Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving,” remains an excellent motto for hard times.

Recipe from The Tabasco Brand Cookbook
by Paul McIlhenny with Barbara Hunter

“Country Captain Chicken”

This chicken and rice dish has graced southern tables for many a generation and continues to be popular today. It was a favorite of FDR, a close friend of my great-uncle John Avery McIllhenny. Roosevelt would visit Uncle John in Virginia on his way back from Warm Springs, Georgia, and enjoy this chicken smothered in a blend of curry powder, garlic, pepper sauce, and currants.

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon paprika
1 3-pound broiler-fryer chicken, cut up
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
11/2 large green peppers, seeded and chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsely
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 16 ounce can whole tomatoes, with juice
½ cup dried currants
1 teaspoon Tobasco pepper sauce
2 cups cooked rice
½ cup toasted slivered almonds

In a plastic bag, mix the flour, salt, and paprika. Shake the chicken pieces in the bag to coat with the flour mixture. In a large Dutch oven or heavy saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat and brown the chicken, turning several times. Remove the chicken to a warm platter.

In the drippings remaining in the pot over low heat, sauté the onion, peppers, garlic, parsley, and curry powder for 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. Add the tomatoes and their liquid, the currants, and the Tabasco sauce, and mix well. Return the chicken to the pot, pushing it down into the sauce and ladling sauce over it. Cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes, or until the chicken is tender, turning the pieces occasionally. Adjust seasonings to taste. Serve the chicken on a bed of rice, and sprinkly slivered almonds on top.”

Tags: eating, FDR, Food, Home and Style, Great Depression, recipes