With the Royal Wedding just over 24 hours away, I decided to revisit and old classic: Chicken à la King. Also see the posts on the Groom’s Cake and The Royal Reception.
Chicken à la King is not only quick and easy, it is also comfort food at its best with the wet weather we have been experiencing lately and perfect to have in front of the TV while watching the Royal Wedding.
There are several competing accounts about the origin of Chicken à la King, but I prefer the account that it was created in the 1890’s by a cook by the name of William “Bill” King of the Bellevue Hotel in Philadelphia. When King died in March 1915, a New York Tribune editorial stated: “The name of William King is not listed among the great ones of the earth. No monuments will ever be erected to his memory, for he was only a cook. Yet what a cook! In him blazed the fire of genius which, at the white heat of inspiration, drove him one day, in the old Bellevue, in Philadelphia, to combine bits of chicken, mushrooms, truffles (mushrooms), red and green peppers and cream in that delightful mixture which ever after has been known as “Chicken a la King.”