Kitchen Accents, A four-post food history series based on Joan Adams, "From the Kelvin Kitchen: The Creole Way," The Chicago Defender, November 3, 1934
Orange Gravy
Joan Adams’s fried chicken recipe carries lessons of thrift. One bird, stretched with boiling water and onion juice into a sauce, could feed a south side family, while orange slices across the platter signaled plenty in a lean year.
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From Joan Adams’s "Creole Way" column, The Chicago Defender, November 3, 1934. Citrus arrived in Chicago by rail from Florida and California; a single orange turned a stretched skillet chicken into company food.
Fried Chicken With Orange Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
One frying chicken
2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
5 tablespoons shortening
1 cup boiling water
2 teaspoons onion juice
Flour
1 medium-sized orange
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Directions
Clean chicken, unjoint it, rub with flour and seasonings and fry in hot skillet with shortening until brown. Add boiling water and onion juice; cover and cook slowly. When bird is tender, remove to warming oven. To make orange sauce, add two cups hot water to remaining stock. Cook until smooth. Peel one medium-sized orange to get red outer skin. Sliver skin very finely and parboil 10 minutes. Drain, add orange slivers and two tablespoons lemon juice to sauce. Garnish with slices of orange.
Joan Adams, "From the Kelvin Kitchen: The Creole Way," The Chicago Defender, November 3, 1934, 7.