City Chicken

This started out as a lark (well, actually a chicken): http://davesgarden.com/t/378001/

But Carol7 shed some light on the subject. I got curious and looked up info about City Chicken, and it sounds pretty tasty as well as having an interesting origin for its name. Here's a good example, and it looks like it might indeed be a regional dish:

Recipes Straight outta da Coal Region kitchen!
http://www.coalregion.com/Recipes/citychicken.htm

City Chicken (not really chicken at all)

1/2 lb. pork
1/2 lb. veal
1 egg, beaten
Bread crumbs (seasoned if you want)
1 c. milk

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut pork and veal into 1" cubes. Thread on bamboo or wooden skewers, alternating chunks of pork and veal. Dip the skewers in the egg, then the bread crumbs, to coat. Saute until browned.

Put skewers in a baking pan, and add milk. Cover in foil, and bake about 1 hour.

Does anyone know why this is called "city chicken"? One theory is that, years ago, poultry was expensive, particularly in the years prior to World War II. So cheaper cuts of meat (like pork) were substituted for chicken and "passed off" as chicken. Is this true? Another theory is that is just plain looks like fried chicken. Still another is that it is eaten with your hands, just like you would eat a chicken leg. Any other thoughts?

~~~

Edited to change CoCo to Carol7 - whoops!!

This message was edited Wednesday, Apr 9th 2:16 PM