Chicken Marengo
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Necessity is the mother of all invention, as they say, and so it was that Napoleon Bonaparte’s swiss chef Dunand, cooked up the bizarre combination of chicken, eggs and crayfish that would take on the name Chicken Marengo. It all happened after the battle of Marengo (south of Turin), in 1800, when Napoleon routed the Austrians. In hot pursuit of his vanquished rivals, Napoleon with an advance party which included his chef, found themselves making camp without the lagging-behind main army’s provisions. Foragers were sent out, and returned with a combination of ingredients which would make a ‘ready, steady, cook’ chef blush.
The dish was duly prepared, and eaten by an ecstatic Bonaparte. The story goes that later, when asked to prepare the dish again, the proud Dunand tried to make it more palatable by cooking the chicken in wine rather than water, and replacing the crayfish with mushrooms (one man’s crayfish is another man’s mushroom, after all) – but the Emporor was having none of it, superstitiously sticking to the ingredients that commemorated his famous victory.
The dish remains faithfully prepared in Piedmonte – although outside of Italy most French cooks have taken Dunand’s sage advice and dumped the crayfish.
Ingredients for a non-crayfish Chicken Marengo
1 Chicken (about 1kg)
200grms of tomatoe pulp
12 crayfish
4 eggs
4 slices of bread
2 cloves of garlic
2 glasses of dry white wine (Dunand used cognac)
1 cup of extravirgin olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
How to prepare Chicken Marengo
First get a large non-stick frying pan and heat gently 3/4 of the oil. Add your chicken, chopped up into medium sized pieces, and cook gently for 35 minutes, turning repeatedly to ensure browning all over.
When the chicken is cooked, remove it and place it apart, whilst retaining the oil in which it was cooked. Add to this oil your garlic and tomatoes, and 1 glass of wine, and cook for about 10 minutes allowing the sauce to thicken – adding salt and pepper to taste. Then add the cooked chicken and allow to simmer for another 10-15 minutes.
While this is going on, clean your crayfish and boil them in water with salt and the remainder of your wine. While they’re boiling, and your chicken is simmering, multi-task as if you had a hungry emporor waiting impatiently outside the kitchen! Toast your bread, and fry up your eggs.
When both the chicken and the crayfish are cooked, mix them together, and you’re done.
To Serve
Place the chicken & crayfish plus sauce in the middle of your plate, garnished at the side by the toast slices with fried eggs atop. A dish fit for a king – or emporor, as you wish.
To Drink
An Italian Gewürztraminer from Piemonte or Alto Adige
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Tags: crayfish, dunand, eggs, Gewürztraminer, historical dishes, Italian chicken recipes, marengo, napoleon, tomatoes
