City Chicken

A favorite from my childhood, and it's not chicken

Pork Loin

Flour to dip

Egg to dip

Panko Crumbs to dip

Oil for frying

Bamboo Skewers

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For my Ohio friends, you'll notice that this is not the traditional veal, pork and beef version. For those who've never heard of this dish before, it's a traditional working class meal from the Depression Era. From what I understand, pork was cheaper than chicken, especially for those who lived far from the rural areas where chicken were bred. So, they put cubes of meat on skewers to fake a chicken leg and fried them. You'll find this dish primarily in the Midwestern vicinity of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and parts of New York State.

My mother used to make City Chicken half and half, veal and pork. Mine is all pork. Feel free to adjust the recipe to your own tastes.

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Cut slices of pork loin into cubes and thread onto skewers. 6 inch skewers are most easily handled. You'll see that I used 8 inch, couldn't find 6 inch and they are too long to fit into the dish of flour, etc. Messy.

Flour, egg wash and crumb the skewers and add to pan with hot oil. Fry until browned and crispy.

Very simple; yet crisp, tender and extremely moist. The crumb coating locks in the moisture and they are always delicious.

Don't worry if you have leftovers. They are delicious cold as lunch the next day. 

I start with whole pork loin. Even with a hungry family with teenage boys, I can get three generous meals from one loin.

Cut loin slices into cubes.

Thread cubes onto skewers.Just touching, not PACKED on.

Fill the skewer.

Flour, egg wash and Panko Crumbs. Regular bread crumbs are just fine as well.

Ready to fry.

Into the hot oil they go.

I pepper them. I pepper just about everything but ice cream. :)

You have some time. Clean up as you go...

Turn them so all sides get browned.

Remove to plate with paper toweling under to catch excess oil.

To the table. Served tonight with wild rice, green beans, mandarin oranges and garlic bread. :)