Some of the greatest treasures we have are old family recipes, traditions passed from one generation to the next. Many of these old recipes can date back a hundred years and more. They connect us to our past.
My wife Nancy has accumulated a thick volume of these priceless wonders. Nancy married into a family of incredible cooks. Not me. All I could cook when we first married were hamburgers, But the Brewers and all of the Bagwell’s could some kind of cook. Nancy has gleaned many of these old family-written instructions for great food and added some of her own. When she pulls the book from the shelves and spreads it wide, I know I’m in for a real treat.
This week, we enjoyed one of my favorites. Mama Ida’s “Chicken Slick”.
Mama Ida, a Bagwell from Raleigh, NC, spoiled me rotten on each of my visits. She had been like a surrogate mother to me during my early years after my father was killed in the war and before Mom re-married Daddy George. When I returned to visit her, she always fixed what I loved. Chicken Slick.
This is a distinctly Southern recipe, like a Chicken Stew or Chicken and Dumplings, but better and with a distinct taste of the South. No one I know who has ever sampled Chicken Slick is the same person afterwards. They are converted to Dixie hood. If they didn’t like grits and saying “ya’al” before, they did now. Chicken Slick is a life changing moment.
Below is Mama Ida’s recipe that she gave Nancy
(It goes without saying to use only a hen, not just a frying chicken, or else don’t even bother.)
Boil the hen until well done, let cool and pull apart.
(For the “slick”, the noodles) Use plain flour, about 3 cups, not quite a teaspoon of salt and 1 T Crisco.
Mix the Crisco well with the flour and salt. Add enough cold water to make a stiff dough. Roll out, not too thinly, and cut into strips. Use flour freely to roll the dough. Have the chicken broth and pick up a strip of dough, holding it over the pot. Break into 3- or 4-inch pieces and drop in the pot.
Let simmer in the pot 5 or 10 minutes, add the chicken and enjoy.
Note: Mama Ida’s Chicken Slick should not be soupy but served as a dish in itself. If possible, serve with Fried Okra, Fried Cornbread and Collards. Boiled Custard over Strawberry Jell-O would round out the most delicious meal ever served on this planet.