Chicken Kiev - or Kyiv, or something else altogether?

"the only thing that really matters with a kiev is that when you cut into that crisp shell, you're rewarded with an eruption of vivid green, garlicky butter. And that's a pleasure that will never go out of fashion."

Felicity Cloake

Only beware, because if you cut into it too rapidly that hot butter could spurt out and all over anything that is nearby - the tablecloth, your clothes, your fingers. And it will be hot. The trick is to get it to ooze - as shown here in Nagi Maehashi's version - rather than spurt. Which means the technical skill is in the hands of the eater, not the cook. Which rather makes it unique.

This is performance food really. Not in the sense of it being made at your table with panache, but in the sense of it looking good, but at the same time pretty ordinary - almost chicken nuggets - and yet there is a surprise inside. It's fun, and moreover pretty nice to eat.

That glorious herby garlic butter. however, that Felicity seems to think is essential, is perhaps not actually very authentic, although authentic is a very dubious word when ascribed to Chicken Kiev. This is because there doesn't really seem to be a generally agreed upon origin story. Was it Carême when he was working for the Russian Tzar? Could it be some other Russian chef, in Tsarist times, even one from the immigrant owner of a Chicago restaurant? Or could it be from the Continental Hotel in Kiev? They can't even agree on a time-frame. And of all the versions I have now read, nobody seems to have even asked why Kiev?

You would think, would you not, that any food with the name of a particular place attached to it, would have a story, connected to that place. But no. Not that I have found anyway.

It's one of those retro things that we all used to love. It was a big tourist attraction in Russia - remember Intourist - the official tourist bureau that decreed what you could see and what you couldn't? If you dared to go to Russia as a tourist that is, where it was served in grandiose hotels with a flourish and cheffy touches like the little paper chef's hats that were placed on the end of the chicken wing which was left attached to the breast. (Apologies for the poor scan below, but I couldn't resist this from the Time/LIfe volume on Russia in its Foods of the World series.)

There was also a major difference in the filling:

"I had assumed, that garlic butter is the very cornerstone of the chicken kiev's identity, so was surprised to find that the Time Life book of Russian Cooking describes it as "chilled fingers of sweet butter wrapped in boned, flattened chicken breasts with ends neatly tucked in, the whole dipped in seasoned flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs". The New York Times says that, as even the authors of this book "admit the dish is bland, it is best enjoyed for its texture and for the surprise of the hot geyser of butter". Felicity Cloake

About that butter - and before I leave the question of authenticity, I note that just about all of the 'authentic' recipes that I found had a garlic, herby butter in the centre of the chicken. They argued a bit about what herbs, although the majority seemed to go for good old parsley, and yet - that long ago recipe in the Time/LIfe volume - which makes me think that this might have been the version I made - only used butter. No garlic and no herbs. And if you think about it garlic bread used to be just garlic and butter. Now it's nearly always garlic, herbs and butter. Garlic and herbs are much tastier - but very possibly less elegant?

Perhaps even more importantly however, in the history stakes it was the first dish that Marks and Spencer's developed for a chilled dinner ready dish. And there in the supermarket aisles it still remains, both chilled and frozen, even if not in restaurants. I notice that, of course, Marks and Spencers has gone the politically correct route. with their packaging.

Well it's relationship to KFC, Southern fried chicken and chicken nuggets cannot be denied. All of them tasty and very unhealthy.

I decided to dive into this particular dish because of a rather fetching looking version of it in Rick Stein's book Food Stories, which I recently purchased from Readings bargain table, where it is given the name Chicken Kyiv. Well it's a fairly recent book and we need to be politically correct, although why we all have to change how we refer to Ukraine's capital out of politeness I don't know. The Italians don't get upset by the Brits calling their Roma, Rome. Neither do the Brits get upset about the French calling London, Londres. Every language has its own versions of at least the most famous cities of the world.

But I digress in a most politically incorrect way.

I thought of it as a suitable blog subject, not just because Rick Stein's version looked pretty nice (and pretty authentic - in a modern way anyway), but also because, still wallowing in nostalgia after yesterday's post on the holidays of my life and their connections to food - it invoked a wave of its own nostalgia. Not personal nostalgia, because I don't cook it myself - I think I have only made it once - and neither have I eaten it much in restaurants - but rather, nostalgia for a classic dish which no longer seems to be in fashion.

Mind you, perhaps it will bounce back, because of the current unavoidable political

connotations:

"It’s a shame it took a war to bring back chicken kiev, a Soviet-era classic that enjoyed a brief resurgence of popularity last spring (and raised a lot of money for the Ukrainian people during its time on the menu of my local pub), before retreating to retro obscurity. Here’s hoping it pops back up at peace celebrations before too long." Felicity Cloake

She wrote that back in 2023. The war still goes on.

Felicity's article on how to make the Perfect Chicken Kiev is one of the best places to go if you actually want to give it a try yourself - or else Nagi Maehashi's Recipe Tin Eats version of Chicken Kiev - with process pictures.

I didn't do a really long search for recipes but the only other 'authentic' one I offer is from James Martin, who seems to have kept the wing attached but not covered the end with anything decorative - which is somehow classier in today's world is it not? A wooden bench to put it on as well.

Before I go on to the inevitable variations, I should comment on minor variations for the 'authentic' version. First, like the garlic and herbs, everyone these days seems to go for Panko breadcrumbs. And why not? They are gloriously crunchy after all. I think they all deep-fried them but they argued a bit about how to organise the butter and cheese within the chicken breast - a slit, flattened or sort of butterflied and then rolled ... They also had numerous different ways to prevent the butter oozing out whilst it was cooking with Felicity Cloake deciding that:

"Best of all, however, in my opinion, is Jesse Dunford Wood's method. He wraps the stuffed chicken tightly in clingfilm, and freezes it for a couple of hours, then coats it and allows it to defrost before frying. This is far less fiddly, and works like a dream," Felicity Cloake

But we are in the twenty first century now and our inventive chefs, cooks and recipe developers like to meddle. The simplest bit of meddling was to fiddle with the stuffing as in: Cranberry and confit garlic chicken Kiev - from Matt Moran/delicious., who said:

"By doing the garlic as a confit, it makes for a sweeter, more caramelised flavour, and I’ve added in cranberries for some Christmas flair.” 

Well he might have been asked for a Christmas recipe. Or Chicken Kiev (with truffle paste) - Lisa Goodwin-Allen/The Guardian Which doesn't seem quite right to me.

Nigel - Garlic-crumbed cheese-stuffed chicken not only changed the stuffing, but also baked it in the oven - as does Jamie who does away with the breadcrumbs and substitutes filo for his Filo chicken Kiev - which is not at all the same thing really - but he does explain everything as he goes along in this video - and that's a rather nice looking pea mash that it's sitting on.

I'll finish with two dishes which to me anyway, really don't deserve the name of Chicken Kiev or Kyiv at all - Kiev-style chicken - delicious. which is wrapped with prosciutto - no breadcrumbs and stuffed with cheese, + sage which to my mind makes it more like saltimbocca. And then there's the 'healthy' version Gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free chicken Kiev - Susanna Booth/The Guardian - the filling is chestnut mushrooms, with soy cream and the coating is crumbled cornflakes gluten-free stock powder - and a few other things as well. Why not just say it's Gluten-free, dairy-free, egg free stuffed chicken breast?

To a point it's good to fiddle with the classics, but at some point it becomes something else. Which is not to say that something else is not good, delicious even - but it's not the same as the inspiraton idea is it? And then, as Felicity says, it becomes: "a victim of changing culinary fashions."

YEARS GONE BY

January 29

2025 - A problem of peaches

2024 - Cuisine heureuse - two men and a first recipe

2023 - Nostalgia and the 'caff'

2022 - So simple but so delicious - potted fish

2021 - Missing

2020 - Vietnames mint/laksa leaf

2019 - The death of tradition and also Sauerkraut and choucroute garnie - two in one day!

2018 - Coffee grounds and pods

2017 - A family favourite - those kebabs I was talking about the other day