Chicken and waffles is an
American dish combining
chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...
with
waffle
A waffle is a dish made from leavened Batter (cooking), batter or dough that is cooked between two plates that are patterned to give a characteristic size, shape, and surface impression. There are many variations based on the type of waffle iron ...
s. It is part of a variety of culinary traditions, including
Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine
Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine is the typical and traditional fare of the Pennsylvania Dutch.
Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine reflects influences of the Pennsylvania Dutch's German heritage, agrarian society, and rejection of rapid change.David Rosengart ...
and
soul food
Soul food is the ethnic cuisine of African Americans. Originating in the Southern United States, American South from the cuisines of Slavery in the United States, enslaved Africans transported from Africa through the Atlantic slave trade, sou ...
, and is served in certain specialty restaurants in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
.
Originating as a Pennsylvania Dutch meal, the dish is also popular in the Southern United States.
Description
Chicken and waffles, as a combined recipe, first appeared in the United States' colonial period in the 1600s in Pennsylvania Dutch country.
The traditional
Pennsylvania Dutch
The Pennsylvania Dutch (), also referred to as Pennsylvania Germans, are an ethnic group in Pennsylvania in the United States, Ontario in Canada, and other regions of both nations. They largely originate from the Palatinate (region), Palatina ...
version consists of a plain waffle with pulled, stewed chicken on top, covered in
gravy
Gravy is a sauce made from the juices of meats and vegetables that run naturally during cooking and often thickened with thickeners for added texture. The gravy may be further coloured and flavoured with gravy salt (a mix of salt and caramel food ...
.
A version using
fried chicken
Fried chicken, also called Southern fried chicken, is a dish consisting of chicken pieces that have been coated with seasoned flour or batter and pan-fried, deep fried, pressure fried, or air fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or ...
is associated with the
American South
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is census regions United States Census Bureau. It is between the Atlantic Ocean and the ...
. The waffle is served as it would be for breakfast, with condiments such as
butter
Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...
and
syrup
In cooking, syrup (less commonly sirup; from ; , beverage, wine and ) is a condiment that is a thick, viscous liquid consisting primarily of a Solution (chemistry), solution of sugar in water, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars but ...
. This version of the dish is popular enough in
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...
to become a local custom.
[
]
History
The origins of the dish are unknown. Waffles entered American cuisine in the 1600s with European colonists. The food's popularity saw a notable boost after 1789 with Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...
's purchase of four waffle iron
A waffle iron or waffle maker is a kitchen utensil used to cook waffles between two hinged metal plates. Both plates have gridded indentations to shape the waffle from the batter or dough placed between them. The plates are heated and the iron ...
s in Amsterdam.
In the early 1800s, hotels and resorts outside Philadelphia served waffles with fried catfish
Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...
. Waffles served with chicken and gravy were a common Sunday dish among the Pennsylvania Dutch by the 1860s. By the end of the 19th century, the dish was a symbol of Pennsylvania Dutch Country
The Pennsylvania Dutch Country (Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Pennsylvanie Deitschland,'' ''Deitscherei,'' or ''Pennsilfaanisch-Deitschland''), or Pennsylvania Dutchland, is a region of German Pennsylvania spanning the Delaware Valley and South Central ...
, brought on in part by its association with tourism. A 1901 memoir recalled a tavern in the Pittsburgh neighborhood East Liberty in western Pennsylvania that was known for "suppers of spring chickens and waffles".
By the 1840s, broiled chicken and waffles were the celebrated specialty at Warriner's Tavern in Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...
, owned by "Uncle" Jeremy Warriner and his wife "Aunt" Phoebe, two well-known abolitionists
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world.
The first country to fully outlaw slavery was France in 1315, but it was later used in its colonies. T ...
. Prior to the Civil War, chicken and waffles were extravagant breakfast staples in plantation houses through much of the South, prepared by the well-trained cooks.
In 1909, a Griswold's waffle iron advertisement promised, "You can attend a chicken and waffle supper right at home any time you have the notion if you are the owner of a Griswold's American Waffle Iron."
A traditional story about the origin of the dish in soul food states that because African Americans in the South rarely had the opportunity to eat chicken and were more familiar with flapjacks or pancakes than with waffles, they considered the dish a delicacy. For decades, it remained "a special-occasion meal in African American families." The combination of chicken and waffles does not appear in early Southern cookbooks such as ''Mrs. Porter’s Southern Cookery Book'', published in 1871, or in '' What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking'', published in 1881 by former slave Abby Fisher. Fisher's cookbook is generally considered the first cookbook written by an African American. The lack of a recipe for the combination of chicken and waffles in Southern cookbooks from the era may suggest a later origin for the dish. Popular culture may have associated the dish with the South by 1917, when Edna Ferber
Edna Ferber (August 15, 1885 – April 16, 1968) was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels include the Pulitzer Prize-winning '' So Big'' (1924), '' Show Boat'' (1926; made into the celebrated 1927 musical), '' Cima ...
's ''Fanny Herself'' mentioned a Chicago restaurant falsely advertising "Southern chicken dinner with waffles and real maple syrup, 35 cents each."
Fried chicken and waffles came to Los Angeles by 1931, when they were served at The Maryland, a restaurant that marketed the dish as a Southern specialty. James M. Cain's 1941 novel ''Mildred Pierce
''Mildred Pierce'' is a psychological drama by James M. Cain published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1941.
A story of “social inequity and opportunity in America" set during the Great Depression, ''Mildred Pierce'' follows the trajectory of a lower ...
'' concerns a woman who finds success serving "chicken-and-waffle dinner" at her Glendale restaurant.
In New York City, the dish was served in the African-American community in Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...
as early as the 1930s in such locations as Tillie's Chicken Shack, Richard Wells' jazz nightclub, and particularly the Wells Supper Club. In 1935, the trumpeter Bunny Berigan
Roland Bernard "Bunny" Berigan (November 2, 1908 – June 2, 1942) was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader who rose to fame during the swing era. His career and influence were shortened by alcoholism, and ended with his early demise at the ...
composed a jazz instrumental titled "Chicken and Waffles".
Since the 1970s, chicken and waffles have gained popularity in Los Angeles due to the fame of former Harlem resident Herb Hudson's restaurant Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles
Roscoe's House of Chicken 'N Waffles is an American soul food restaurant chain that operates seven locations in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It was founded by Herb Hudson in 1975.
The ''Los Angeles Times'' has referred to Roscoe's as "su ...
, which has become known as a favorite of some Hollywood celebrities, referenced in several movies, and spun off several more into a small chain.
On June 12th, 1967, National Chicken and Waffles Day was established in the city of Sandefjord, Norway. Some attribute this to the influx of American offshore oil workers employed by Conoco Phillips.
See also
* Chick'nCone
References
External links
*
{{Chicken dishes, state=collapsed
American chicken dishes
American cuisine
Waffles
Soul food
Food combinations
Cuisine of the Pennsylvania Dutch
Cuisine of the Southern United States
African-American cuisine