David Hammond wrote:The concept of sweet pastry (waffle, cake, fruit pie, etc.) and meat (whether chicken or steak) is revolting to me. I mean, I like Beef Wellington, but the idea of a sugary baked item and flesh seems strange and unappealing. I always chuckled when driving by Perkin's "Steak n' Cake" places in Wisconsin -- a grotesque concept.
Cathy2 wrote:Crepes, which are just as at home as a main course as they are as a dessert, differ by the introduction of sugar-to-the-batter between their roles. You would hardly get excited, I would suggest you may even be delighted, if they came to the same meal as different courses.
Antonius wrote:And somehow, chicken and waffels doesn't intrigue me all that much but a real, authentic and expertly-made Moroocan pastilla is something I would love to try.
JoelF wrote:As kids, we always put honey on KFC. hot dog relish has a lot of sugar... it's not that weird.
Giovanna wrote:Hey, Antonious,
Don't forget the Arab-influenced Sicilian dishes that have meat and fruit in them....
Antonius wrote:In the Middle Ages and in classical antiquity, such combinations were not unusual but have become for us quite marginal, if at all acceptable...
Cathy2 wrote:Culturally I have always associated chicken and waffles with the black foodways. Earlier this year at a presentation at the Longone Symposium in Ann Arbor, it was claimed the Amish originated chicken and waffles. Frustratingly they did not allow questions, which means there was no opportunity to inquire if his research included how this dish reached the black community. It is entirely possible these may be two parallel events with one not influencing the other. I don't know.
Martha Finley (author of the Elsie Dinsmore series), in "Wanted -- A Pedigree" (1871), Chapter V, wrote:Kezia was very busy in the kitchen frying chickens and baking waffles....
Chapter V wrote:"Let us have our supper now...." Whereupon Mrs. Powell, bending low over her plate, said a very long grace, which Nina listened to with some impatience, thinking the waffles and chicken would be quite cold.
Chapter XXXV wrote:"And now dry your eyes, and let us go down to breakfast; Aunt Dinah's chicken and waffles will be getting cold...."
Frank Brierwood (aka Miss Bina Pearce) in "Mabel Clifton" (1869), Chapter XIII, wrote:Mrs. Clifton thought the supper more delightful than any she had ever eaten, and the fragrant coffee, and delicate waffles and chicken would have tempted an anchorite.
jlawrence01 wrote:From my experience, I do not remember any Amish communities in Lancaster, OH. (There are some Mennonite churches in that area.) The Amish is Ohio are centered in Holmes Co., about 80 miles north.
Could you mean Lancaster Co., PA?
Lancaster is in Fairfield Co.Amish-Mennonite History wrote:As more and more Amish emigrated from Europe they would come to Pennsylvania and settle in these existing communities. However, because land was unavailable they continued to move westward. Direct settlements from the Berks-Lancaster-Chester area were formed in Somerset County (1767); Mifflin Co. (1793); Union County (1810); Fairfield County, Ohio (1810).
LAZ wrote:The earliest references I've seen are in 19th-century novels."Martha Finley (author of the Elsie Dinsmore series), wrote in "Wanted -- A Pedigree" (1871),
Chapter V: Kezia was very busy in the kitchen frying chickens and baking waffles....
Chapter V: "Let us have our supper now...." Whereupon Mrs. Powell, bending low over her plate, said a very long grace, which Nina listened to with some impatience, thinking the waffles and chicken would be quite cold.
Chapter XXXV: "And now dry your eyes, and let us go down to breakfast; Aunt Dinah's chicken and waffles will be getting cold...."
This is set in the Hudson River Valley, where Kezia is a white cook and Dinah a black one, so it doesn't settle the question at all. However, Finley was from Chillicothe, Ohio, and later went to live in Pennsylvania, both Amish areas. Note that chicken and waffles are served both for breakfast and for supper.Frank Brierwood (aka Miss Bina Pearce) wrote in "Mabel Clifton" (1869), Chapter XIII:
Mrs. Clifton thought the supper more delightful than any she had ever eaten, and the fragrant coffee, and delicate waffles and chicken would have tempted an anchorite.
Pearce was from Lancaster, Ohio, also an Amish community.
Rene G wrote:Chicken and waffles, possibly introduced as a combo in the 1930s at Wells Restaurant in Harlem, were popularized by Roscoe's in Los Angeles but never really made it big in Chicago.
In The Defender in 1933, Chappy Gardner wrote:Out of the 250 new places operated entirely by whites, Jews, Italians, French, Spanish, Greeks, one Negro from Rich. Va. caught the business angel and opened the Hollywood on Seventh Ave. between 133d and 134th Sts. His name is C. Bank. His place sports a large electric sign that must have cost in the neighborhood of $1,000. The fixings inside are artistic, beautiful, expensive and provide every comfort for eating and drinking beer in [sic] every good brew. Prices are reasonable for excellently prepared food, which run 25, 35 and 50 cents. Chicken and waffles are a favorite offering here. The service that goes along with this well regulated program beats any shown in a white place. The Hollywood, located in the very heart of Harlem, has only been open a month. It is fast becoming the meeting place for thirsty and hungry Harlemites.
David Hammond at the Sun Times wrote:Wells Supper Club in Harlem boasts that chicken and waffles first came together on their tables in 1938. The idea, according to local legend, was to satisfy late-night partiers who started getting hungry after dinner but before breakfast.
Although Wells Super Club may have been the first restaurant on record to offer this hybrid dish on a menu, there’s evidence that this combo was served in homes much earlier than that.