Chicken and waffles refers to either of two American dishes - one from soul food, the other Pennsylvania Dutch - that combine chicken with waffles. It is served in certain specialty restaurants in the United States.
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Description
Soul food version
The best known chicken and waffle pairing comes from the American soul food tradition and uses fried chicken. The waffle is served as it would be at breakfast time, with condiments such as butter and syrup. This unusual combination of foods is beloved by many people who are influenced by traditions of soul food passed down from past generations of their families. This version of the dish is highly popular in Baltimore, Maryland, enough to become a well-known local custom.
Pennsylvania Dutch version
The traditional Pennsylvania Dutch version consists of a plain waffle with pulled, stewed chicken on top, covered in gravy. It is generally found in the Northeastern United States.
Chicago Chicken And Waffles Video
History
The exact origins of this dish are unknown, although several theories about its origin exist. Waffles entered American cuisine in the 1600s with European colonists. The food's popularity saw a notable boost after 1789 with Thomas Jefferson's purchase of a waffle iron in France.
In the early 1800s, hotels and resorts outside Philadelphia served waffles with fried catfish. Such establishments also served other dishes like fried chicken, which gradually became the meat of choice due to catfish's limited, seasonal availability. Waffles served with chicken and gravy were noted as a common Sunday dish among the Pennsylvania Dutch by the 1860s. By the end of the 19th century, the dish was a symbol of Pennsylvania Dutch Country, brought on in part by its association with tourism.
In 1909, a Griswold's waffle iron advertisement promised, "You can attend a chicken and waffle supper right at home any time you have the notion if you are the owner of a Griswold's American Waffle Iron."
The traditional origin of the dish states that because African Americans in the South rarely had the opportunity to eat chicken and were more familiar with flapjacks or pancakes than with waffles, they considered the dish a delicacy. For decades, it remained "a special-occasion meal in African American families." However, other historians cite a scarcity of actual early-era evidence of the dish's existence in the South, and place the origin later, after the post-Civil War migration of Southern African-Americans to the North during the Reconstruction Era. The combination of chicken and waffles does not appear in early Southern cookbooks such as Mrs. Porter's Southern Cookery Book, published in 1871 or in What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking, published in 1881 by former slave Abby Fisher. Fisher's cookbook is generally considered the first cookbook written by an African American. The lack of a recipe for the combination of chicken and waffles in Southern cookbooks from the era may suggest a later origin for the dish.
Whatever the case, many modern variants of the dish owe their origins to the meal as it was served in the African-American community in early 20th-century Harlem, New York. The dish was served as early as the 1930s in such Harlem locations as Tillie's Chicken Shack, Dickie Wells' jazz nightclub, and particularly the Wells Supper Club. Harlem-style chicken and waffles have been popular in Los Angeles since the 1970s due to the fame of former Harlem resident Herb Hudson's restaurant Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles, which has become known as a favorite of some Hollywood celebrities and been referenced in several movies.In the late 1980's Vinny Molinari, a renowned Developer and General Contractor, and his son Vincent Molinari Jr., while doing construction on the empty abandoned spot of where Well's Restaurant originally once stood Vincent Sr. decided to look into the logistics of possibly bringing the restaurant back. Mr. Molinari did extensive research and found the rich history of the establishment went well beyond its iconic dish, but to a past era where Malcolm X once worked, Sarah Vaughan, and Billie Holiday amongst others sang and the Famed Dance Troupe', "The Copasetics" performed. He had the idea to reopen the historic eatery, but with the city wanting to condemn the property Mr. Molinari went to the City of New York and after tireless work had the location Landmarked to be restored and reopened. Mr. Molinari and his son Vincent Jr. returned Well's to its original glory, while making the "New" establishment look like a 1930's era Jazz Speakeasy, with smoked mirrors, a hand-crafted 40' long mahogany and oak bar with brass accents, black and white mosaic tiles, and stage for live Jazz and Gospel music acts. Mr. Molinari Sr. also sought out Joe Wells' widow, Ann Wells, and brought her into the process to advise from the decor' to establishing a menu and tastings. Vincent Molinari jr. worked every aspect of bringing the restaurant back from the interior design, collaborated with then fiancee' Doris Ann Korona, and the structural building process. Vincent Jr. was also in charge of hiring new employees, while also finding as many original workers as possible. With Mrs. Ann Wells in house and Joe Wells original recipes in hand and former cooks in the kitchen, Vincent Jr. put the menu together and brought Joe Well's "Original Chicken & Waffles" back to life. Vincent Jr. not only ran the day to day functions of the restaurant, including booking Jazz musical acts, Gospel Brunch, and international bus tours, but became Head Chef and in Mrs. Wells own words " Vincent Jr. makes the best Chicken & Waffles I have ever had, an exact match to my husband Joe's ". Vincent Jr. and his father even kept Well's open to the early morning hours to keep Mr. Well's memory alive. The opening was such an amazing citywide event it was attended by then Mayor David Dinkins, and many political and entertainment industry personalities, it was covered by major news outlets, specifically New York Channel 4 NBC News with Sue Simmons.
In popular culture
The 1917 novel Fanny Herself by Edna Ferber mentions a "lying" sign in a Chicago restaurant that advertises "Southern chicken dinner with waffles and real maple syrup, 35 cents each."
In 1935 Bunny Berigan composed a jazz instrumental titled "Chicken and Waffles".
The 1941 novel Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain concerns a woman who finds success running a chicken and waffles restaurant.
In the 2005 film Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, Deuce (Rob Schneider) finds T.J. (Eddie Griffin) in, in Deuce's words, "the only chicken and waffles place in all Holland". T. J. says that it is "racist" for a Black man to have to be in a chicken and waffles place; when Deuce counters that T. J. is, in fact, there, T. J. responds "Yeah, but figuring it out is racist."
The 2009 blaxploitation parody film Black Dynamite includes a scene in which the character "Roscoe" is inspired to create a restaurant based around the dish after losing interest in his previous venture, a chili and donut restaurant.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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