Chicago Mock Chicken Legs

Submitted by mollypaul

"A great way to recycle leftover meat. A thrifty variation on city chicken, this dish might or might not actually contain chicken. From the Mississippi Valley chapter of the United States Regional Cookbook, Culinary Arts Institute of Chicago, 1947. Delicious with Vegetable Puffs(recipe #230939). Cooking time approximate."

 

• Ready In: 25mins
• Ingredients: 11
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 2 cups meat, minced (leftover is fine)
• cayenne pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon bell pepper, seeded and minced
• 1 egg, beaten with
• 1 tablespoon water
• breadcrumbs

• White sauce

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup milk

directions

1. Melt butter; blend in flour salt and pepper.
2. Add milk gradually, stirring constantly until mixture thickens, then cook about a minute longer.
3. Add the meat to the white sauce followed by the seasonings and bell pepper.
4. Spread on a plate to cool.
5. Shape like chicken legs and insert a wooden skewer.
6. Roll in crumbs, egg, then crumbs again.
7. Fry in deep hot fat (380F) and drain on paper towels.

Reviews

[FL JoJo]

This was really good and probably should have 5 stars, but the recipe didn't say the meat needed to be cooked before mixing, maybe the "use leftovers" part was supposed to be a clue. Anyway, I used raw meat and they were very pink after the bread crumbs were totally browned. A short time in the microwave corrected the problem. Using raw meat made the "legs" hard to mold--the mixture was too liquid. So hopefully by cooking the meat ahead of time the whole process will be easier and tastier, too. Also, I found that inserting the skewer after they were fried made it lots easier, since they don't fit into the deep fryer very well with the stick attached.