From the Farm: Creamy ‘a la king' recipes have an uncertain kitchen history origin

Chicago Tribune

04-04-2025

Growing up, I recall our mom Peggy kept a busy schedule balancing running a household, raising five kids and an active social calendar.
Even before she began her late-in-life working career in the late 1970s as a school teacher's classroom aide, my older siblings recall Mom was not only involved in our Catholic church's ladies' group, but also P.T.O., a weekly women's bowling league and her beloved Bunco clubs.
Her hectic schedule meant there were times when quick, frozen menu options were an easy alternative to her usual routines of planning nightly home-cooked meals. As I've written about previously in my columns and cookbooks, frozen pot-pies and TV dinners were among our favorite 'fast meals' savored as kids. Another welcomed option was a frozen line from Banquet Foods Company branded as 'Cookin' Bags,' which were fast, delicious and heralded before the days of microwave ovens.
Banquet Foods launched in 1953, the same year my parents were married, and the company billed itself as a rival to Swanson Foods, the latter of which launched the first frozen TV dinners. Today, Banquet Foods is owned by ConAgra Foods.
The Cookin' Bag concept was simple: a heavy, heat-resistant (not-to-melt) plastic pouch most often filled with an individual serving of frozen meat and gravy contents, which could be dropped into a saucepan of boiling water for heating and then usually served over bread slices or biscuits.
Favorite varieties include sliced beef in gravy, sliced turkey in gravy, sliced beef in barbecue sauce, a Salisbury steak in gravy, sloppy Joe, Welsh rarebit and of course, chicken or turkey a la king. While growing up, I recall Mom would purchase these at a low cost of 39 cents and always keep our chest freezer well-stocked.
Last month, our farm friend neighbor Debbie Wappel brought my parents and me a large pot of her homemade turkey a la king. Debbie explained she had a frozen turkey in her freezer she was eager to roast and use, and a large gathering church event gave her this ideal opportunity.
Her delicious turkey a la king, which we enjoyed over warm buttermilk biscuits, had me wondering about the origin of the original first 'a la king' kitchen recipes, a history which I discovered is hazy at best.
While culinary cookery books and research provide references to menus highlighting dishes referred to as 'a la royal' as far back as 1665, it isn't until the late 1800s that recipes combining creamed chicken or turkey with key ingredients like mushrooms, peas and diced pimentos are highlighted as popular with restaurant customers.
One variation origin story links the first reference to these creamy sauce and poultry entrees appearing on the menu at Delmonico's restaurant in New York City, which is still in operation. Kitchen lore has Delmonico's chef Charles Ranhofer creating a dish he called 'Chicken a la Keene,' named after noted thoroughbred race horse breeder Foxhall Parker Keene.
Another story says the recipe and naming were in honor of Foxhall's father, James R. Keene, and introduced at the Claridge Hotel in London in 1881. Other threads have the recipe created and connected in honor of later Keene descendants like Foxhall's son Wolfram Keene in 1903 or Wolfram's son Dewberry William Keene.
Some food and recipe historians prefer the kitchen lineage and link to the Bellevue Hotel in Philadelphia and dreamed up by hotel cook William 'Bill' King in the 1890s, and with noted newspapers like The New York Tribune and The New York Times giving King the credit for developing 'chicken a la king' in his listed obituaries published in the newspapers.
The earliest editions of the Fannie Farmer cookbooks in the early 1900s include recipes for chicken a la king, which use both cooking sherry and an egg yolk in the cream sauce for a richer taste and flavor.
Neighbor Debbie Wappel's recipe consists of a simple flour and half and half white cream sauce, with generous bits of turkey and heavy with hearty vegetables to provide incredible contrasting colors when served on bread slices or biscuits.
Debbie Wappel's Turkey a la King
Makes 8 servings
1-3/4 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/3 cup butter, cubed
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup half and half
2 cups cubed cooked turkey
2 tablespoons diced pimientos (optional)
1 envelope dry instant onion soup
2 cups cooked frozen mixed vegetables
Directions:
In a large skillet, sauté the mushrooms, onion and celery in butter until crisp-tender.
Stir in flour and salt until blended. Gradually stir in broth and half and half. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.
Sprinkle in dry soup mix and turkey and mix well to combine while reducing heat to a simmer.
Add in cooked frozen vegetables and pimentos, if desired.
Serve hot over toast or warm biscuits.
Originally Published: April 4, 2025 at 4:31 PM CDT