Tea Room Recipe #40 - Old Southern Tea Room (Vicksburg, Mississippi)

This week I decided to make a big pot of Chicken a la King after I found a recipe for it in an old Mississippi tea room cookbook. Served with rice and vegetables on one of my old green Depression glass grill plates, I thought this made a nice presentation of an easy fall comfort food!

This 1960 cookbook features recipes from the Old Southern Tea Room, a restaurant in Vicksburg, Mississippi that was praised by the food critic Duncan Hines and newspapers including the Minneapolis Star and the Chicago Sunday Tribune. (Caution for fellow tea room cookbook collectors: The book was illustrated in, shall we say, less enlightened times, so line drawings such as the "happy Mammie" images may offend some. I don't like the images, but I think tea room history is worth preserving in all its forms, and so this book is a part of that.)

The recipe I made this week is called Aunt Carrie's Chicken a la King. Well, I am here to tell you that Aunt Carrie could have been a bit more specific with her directions, so I am going to share exactly how I made my recipe since she left too much to chance!

Aunt Carrie's Chicken a la King

1 (5-pound) chicken
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped parsley
5 tablespoons cornstarch
2 cups milk
1 small (2-ounce) jar pimientos
2 small (7-ounce) cans mushrooms
6 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
1/2 stick butter
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, cover the chicken with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for about 1 hour, until very tender. Debone and cut into large pieces. Strain and use remaining broth (I had about 6 cups) to cook celery, bell pepper and parsley, cooking until tender. Add a few tablespoons of water to the cornstarch to make a paste, then add to the broth and vegetables and whisk until completely blended. Add milk and whisk, then fold in chicken, pimientos, mushrooms, eggs and butter. Season as desired. Serve over rice. Yields 10-12 servings.