Zanzibar Chicken, one of My Most Favorites

I guess I've been in the mood for returning to old favorite recipes lately.  My orange tree has been producing - they are Valencias, and so make wonderful juice - and I really wanted to make Zanzibar Chicken again (pg 92-93), a recipe I've been making since 1990.

It comes from a book I have used so many times, 365 Ways to Cook Chicken, by Cheryl Sedaker.  

ISBN 0-06-015539-6

When I look through it, I see notes I have made on a variety of recipes.  This one comes to mind as a favorite because the concepts it holds transfer to other ingredients so easily.  It also is a fruit-and-meat combination, which I love, along with some of my favorite spices.

When I first started cooking from this book, I was a new mom, trying to learn how to manage a house and a baby.  The recipes are often quite easily assembled, then can be left to cook while I did other things.  In fact, this recipe comes from the chapter titled "Chicken Quick."

So here it is, recipe #144:

Zanzibar Chicken

3 pounds chicken thighs and/or drumsticks

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed through a press

3/4 cup orange juice

3 tablespoons raisins

1/3 cup slivered almonds 

That's fresh squeezed juice in that glass measuring cup!

1. Season chicken with cinnamon, cloves, salt, and pepper.  In a large frying pan, heat oil over medium-high heat.  Add chicken, in batches in necessary, and cook, turning until browned, about 10 minutes.  Remove and set aside.

2. Add onion to pan.  Cook until soft, about 3 minutes.  Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer.

3. Return chicken to pan.  Add orange juice and raisins.  Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes, until chicken is tender.  Garnish with almonds.

My Notes

Today I had about 1 1/2 pounds of chicken thighs (boneless, skinless).  That works for me, so I used all the same ingredient amounts, not halving them at all.

I mixed the seasonings in a bowl, then rolled the chicken pieces in them until each piece was thoroughly covered with a thin layer.  Keep in mind that I love these spices, so it would take a lot to make them too strong for me.

The smaller amount of chicken meant I didn't have to brown them in batches.  But brown them I did.  They even got a little crusty, but they weren't cooked all the way through. (I like crusty.)

I had to turn the heat down a little when the garlic went in, as I despise burnt garlic.  A quick one-minute cooking should be enough to make everything smell good.

I sometimes measure the raisins but I might just throw in a handful, depending on how much I want to taste raisins.

Sometimes I spoon the juice-raisins-onions mixture on top of the chicken pieces before simmering.  Just to get the extra flavor into the meat.

Roll that thigh in the spices!  Coat it well.

They all fit in the pan.

Crusty level of browning. Without burning the spices.

Everything together and ready to simmer.

It's done.

The Verdict

Of course it tastes good!  It's one of my favorites!  

The spices were strong but not too much.  My guest taster thought they were just right. The chicken was cooked all the way through and very tender.

The sauce, oh the sauce!  Orange, spices, sweet from the raisins, meaty, luscious.  It is just so good.  

Put the pan on a trivet and serve it forth.

I served the chicken and sauce with rice, both in a bowl, so the sauce could flavor both the meat and the rice.  Spoon that sauce over everything.

The almonds add a lovely crunch. 

Get every drop of that sauce.

Success! 

Now, what I meant by "the concepts transfer to other ingredients" is that you can create similar dishes with the ideas contained in the recipe.

I have used apple juice instead of orange juice, sometimes adding pieces of apple to the pan, with either chicken or pork chops.  Use the same spices or add some ginger (especially good with pork).  Apples and onions are a made-for-each-other combination.  I may or may not use raisins.

I have also used coconut milk along with fresh lemongrass, curry powder, and maybe a little ginger.  For fruit, pineapple is a good choice as well as raisins.

What other combinations could you use?  Use your imagination.  Have fun with it.  Consider chicken, pork, fish, or seafood.  Think about the spices that taste good with the meat you choose.  Pick a fruit that complements everything.

Cranberry Calavo Salad - a recipe from the 1940s

It is the beginning of another New Year.  And again, I am astonished that I have been successfully maintaining this blog.  This is the start of my 15th year of food blogging!  I would not have predicted that I would keep it going, but it is so much fun to explore the worlds of food and food histories that writing the posts are not a burden.  They are a joy!  I love picking out a recipe, shopping and planning for it, then cooking and serving.  

One thing I've learned is that many historical recipes are very forgiving.  As they often don't have measurements associated with the ingredients, it is understandable that to be successful does not require a lot of nitpicky measuring and preparation.  Use your tastebuds, your observations (visual and olfactory), and your prior cooking experiences to help you get it right.  It doesn't always work out, but more often than not, it does.  

If you have an interest in being an historical cook, fear not!  Jump in and try it.  And have a contingency plan if the recipe just doesn't seem right.  I have, in the past, added an uncalled-for ingredient, cooked it longer, started over, adjusted the amounts called for, and well, thrown it out and ordered take out (or opened a can of soup).  Just be careful when you experiment on friends -- they need to understand the challenge you are facing and be willing to give it a try, as well as give very honest feedback.

As of this writing, the blog has had over 280,000 page views and this is my 340th post.  

Previously I wrote about several persimmon salad recipes from Genevieve Callahan's 1946 cookbook, The California Cook Book for Indoor and Outdoor Eating.  (You can search the blog for "Callahan" or "persimmons" to find them.)

For Indoor and Outdoor Eating

I've been learning more about Ms. Callahan and her influence on California cuisine, including reading a detailed thesis called "The evolution of Sunset Magazine's cooking department: The accommodation of men's and women's cooking in the 1930s" by Jennifer Hoolhorst Pagano.  Click here to see view it.

Callahan used her editorial position at Sunset Magazine to help people who lived in the West learn about interesting foods and how to prepare and serve them.  One salad that caught my attention was called "Cranberry Calavo Salad."  It is described rather than given as a recipe with specific measured ingredients:

A typical "salad" topped with French dressing and served on a lettuce leaf, but composed of canned cranberry jelly, California avocado halves, and California orange sections.

Intriguing!  I wondered how I would compose and present this salad, so of course I had to give it a try.

My Redaction

Cranberry Calavo Salad

Per person, as served on a small salad plate:

two small decoratively cut or torn lettuce leaves to cover the plate

1/2 ripe avocado, cut into slices

1 large spoonful canned cranberry sauce

5 orange segments

a significant drizzle of French dressing

Wish-Bone dressing, a taste from my childhood

Put the ingredients decoratively in layers on the plate:

Lettuce, then avocado slices (tilted slightly to the side).

Spoon the cranberry sauce into the middle of the avocado.

Arrange the orange segments in a star formation around the avocado.

Drizzle the dressing around the edges of the cranberry.

Serve with a knife and fork!

See how I tilted and spread the slices?

My Notes

I used green leaf lettuce because that looked fresh and inviting in the store.  In the 1940s, I would imagine that iceberg lettuce would be the more common choice simply by availability.  I have not researched it but am relying on my personal experience in the 1960s.

I had homemade cranberry sauce in my kitchen, but I stuck to the recipe and used canned, whole berry sauce.  

My orange was a Naval because who wants seeds?

The French dressing poured out faster than I expected but I don't think I over did it.

The Verdict

First, look at how pretty it is!  The colors are inviting, eye-catching, appealing.

I served it with a knife and fork (as the side salad to the main course) because you want to cut up the lettuce and the orange segments.  My goal for the first few bites was to get avo, orange, cranberry, and dressing on the fork, and maybe a little lettuce, too.  I wanted to see how those flavors combined in my mouth.

Wow!  They did well together, and I was impressed with how fresh the salad tasted.  My guest taster and I really enjoyed the combination.  I felt it was a light, refreshing accompaniment to the chicken and potatoes main dish.  After several bites, the idea of getting some of each flavor on my fork was over and that was not a problem.  I also enjoyed the extra dressing on the lettuce.

Success!  Easy to assemble and serve, looks great, tastes wonderful.  I recommend it for a small dinner party.  It would certainly be easy on the host to prepare.

Happy New Year 2026!!

Harvey Girl Special Little Thin Orange Pancakes

**See the bottom of this post for an update!

My most favorite guest taster, WB, has quite a collection of books relating to trains:  their history, their construction, the personalities that influenced their expansion, and much more.  He is the reason my cookbook collection has train-related recipes.  

The other day I was looking at one of his books about one of those personalities:  Fred Harvey, restauranteur extraordinaire.  

Image credit

I think this picture shows a man of pleasant character; he is someone I would like to meet.

Click here to see his article in Wikipedia:

Fred Harvey is credited with creating the first restaurant chain in the United States. He was also a leader in promoting tourism in the American Southwest in the late 19th century. Fred Harvey and his employees successfully brought new higher standards of both civility and dining to a region widely regarded in the era as "the Wild West."

The restaurant chain was the Fred Harvey Company, and was comprised primarily of "Harvey Houses", eating places associated and coordinated with the railroads.  He created it because "Harvey traveled frequently while working for the railroads and found himself deeply dissatisfied with the food served to travelers."

Along with good food and reasonable prices, 

Harvey also gained a boost in business with his incorporation of the "Harvey Girl". He hired women between the ages of 18 and 30 and did not permit them to marry until they had put in a full year of work. Harvey Girls resided in housing adjacent to the restaurants, where they were supervised by the most senior Girl, who enforced curfews and chaperoned male visits. Roughly 5000 Harvey Girls moved out West to work and ultimately marry.

My guest taster had this book in his collection:

No ISBN to be had...

Written by James David Henderson, Meals by Fred Harvey was first published in 1969.  This is a reprinting from 1985.  It chronicles the accomplishments of Mr. Harvey from his arrival in the United States through his development of his company.  It includes correspondence, menus, poetry about the Harvey Girls, and lists of all the businesses associated with the company.  There are also photographs of buildings and china patterns the company used.

What caught my attention was two pages of recipes, found in the photograph section, pages "n" and "o".  There are six recipes listed:  Braised Duck Cumberland, Curry of Lamb, Harvey Girl Special Little Thin Orange Pancakes, Chicken Cacciatore, Lobster Americaine, and Guacamole Monterey.

My orange tree is loaded with fruit so I was inspired to recreate the pancake recipe, from page "n".

Harvey Girl Special Little Thin Orange Pancakes

1/4 cup diced orange sections and juice (1/2 orange)

1 teaspoon grated orange peel (1/2 orange)

1 cup pancake mix

1 cup orange juice (about)

Combine all ingredients.  Bake small pancakes on hot griddle, using 1 tablespoon batter for each pancake.  Serve with maple syrup, honey or jelly.  Yield:  12 servings, 3 (2 3/4-inch diameter) pancakes per serving.

Fred Harvey Restaurants
St. Louis Union Station
Henry Stovall

Don't judge the premade biscuit mix...

My Notes

It took four oranges at about the size you see in the picture to make one cup of juice (about).  The pancake mix called for milk, so I decided to use the canned milk in my cupboard instead of buying fresh.

The griddle was preheated over a low fire on the stove.

First I mixed up the pancake batter, with 8 ounces of milk, 2 eggs, and 2 cups of the premade mix.  Once that was hydrating, I got the zest from the orange.  Yes, it took about 1/2 orange to get the 1 teaspoon zest.

Then I found it took two oranges to get 1/4 cup of diced orange sections.  I cut them fairly small because I thought that thin pancakes would not want thick chunks of orange in them.  Here is what I had:

Note that I had two cups of batter, not one.

Next, I put all the orange components into the batter.  At that point I realized I was supposed to use only half of the batter I had mixed up, but it was too late to change direction.  I decided to keep going and to see how this ratio would taste.

The pancake batter was very thick before I added the orange juice.  I thought it was thinned out by the orange juice to just right.  

After stirring the mixture well, I let it sit while I greased the griddle with a tiny amount of butter and turned up the fire to about 3 on a scale of 10.  I noticed the batter was getting bubbly when I was ready to make the pancakes.

I estimated a tablespoon of batter for each pancake, instead of measuring.  I aimed for small pancakes, 2 to 3 inches in diameter.

Maybe not so many at once.

The diced orange sections were distinguishable chunks but didn't seem to cause a problem with pouring the batter or cooking the pancakes.

The fire under the griddle should have been around 3 1/2 or 4 instead of 3 to get even cooking, but level 3 worked for the first few batches.  I noticed the pancakes were ready to turn when they looked orange and dry on the surface.

Turn them!

After some experimenting with the fire level, I got some good coloring on the pancakes.

Dark but not burnt

Honestly, not burnt!

The Verdict

We had them with butter and our choice of maple syrup or cinnamon sugar.  I tried both toppings, but not both together.

They were little.  They were thin.  They were orangey!  

Really, the pancakes were tasty.  The orange flavor came shining through, and the bits of orange section were a nice texture change as well as a little burst of orange juice flavor when I bit into them.  My guest taster and I thoroughly enjoyed them.  We did not limit ourselves to a serving of three pancakes, though.  

I liked them with the toppings, and just with butter, and, when the extras were cooling off, just plain.  The orange flavor was dominant and just right.  

I have to wonder how strong the orange flavor would be had I not inadvertently doubled the amount of pancake batter.  I also wonder how thin the batter would have been, and how that would have affected the texture of the pancakes.  Well, I still have a little canned milk left over.  Perhaps I should try again.

I deem it a success!  Worth making again, especially for a break in the "usual" pancake routine.

Update, 2024:  I realized that I had misinterpreted the recipe in that I started with pancake batter when I should have used pancake mix that was rehydrated with orange juice.  I tried it again and the pancakes were even better.  Be sure to cut the orange into tiny pieces since these pancakes are so thin.