Name: Jennie June's Brown Fricassée Chicken
Yield: Yield: 6 servings (M)
Ingredients: 1 4-pound frying chicken, cut up into 8 pieces; 6 tablespoons olive oil; 6 medium onions, sliced in rings; 1 clove garlic, minced; 2 tomatoes, peeled, or 1 16-ounce can stewing tomatoes with liquid; 1 sprig fresh thyme; Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste; 1/2 teaspoon allspice; Dash of mace; 1/2 cup water

The first American Jewish recipe I found for fricassee, a kind of ragout — usually made with chicken, browned lightly with onions in fat and then simmered in the drippings — came from a section on Jewish recipes in Jennie June's American Cookery Book of 1866. Jennie June Croley was one of the first American newspaper women and founder of the Sorosis Club. In her only cookbook she included a chapter on Jewish "receipts," which probably came to her from her Jewish friend, Genie H. Rosenfeld. "These are all original and reliable, -- the contribution of a superior Jewish housekeeper in New York," she wrote. Mrs. Rosenfeld was the wife of the dramatist, Sydney Rosenfeld, who was also the first editor of Puck.

This nineteenth-century recipe cooks well today. The slow sautéing of the onions along with the nutmeg, mace, and thyme enhances the taste of the chicken. Serve it with rice.

Recipe notes

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