Cookbook Challenge # 19 - Favorite Recipes of Alabama Vocational Home Economics Teachers

Written By Susanna

Favorite Recipes of Alabama Vocational Home Economics Teachers (Third Edition) is the first cookbook older than me that I’ve tackled on this challenge. I don’t know its exact date of publication, but it was sometime in the 1960s and therefore officially Before My Time. It’s one of several cookbooks I inherited from my mother, though I don’t remember her using it very often.

Like most cookbooks of its type and vintage, it’s heavy on desserts of all kinds. But since I made a cake last week, and next week’s cookbook is desserts only, I decided to go with a savory recipe and picked one of several for oven-barbecued chicken. It was OK, but nothing special—I prefer the way Mom made this same dish, which just used bottled BBQ sauce from the grocery store. If I’m going to make my own sauce, I want something more than a vaguely sweet and not noticeably spicy or tangy tomato sauce.

Barbecued Chicken (Oven)

  • 1 large fryer, cut up (I used a pack of thighs and one of drumsticks. I’m pretty sure stores around here don’t even sell whole chickens cut up anymore.)

  • ¼ c. shortening (I used canola oil, because I’m not going to buy shortening special just to pan-fry chicken.)

  • 1 c. chili sauce or catsup (I used chili sauce, since I had most of a bottle left over from when I made hot dog sloppy joes a few weeks ago.)

  • ½ c. water

  • ¼ c. lemon juice

  • ¼ c. minced onion

  • 1 T. Worcestershire sauce

  • 2 T. brown sugar

  • ½ tsp paprika

  • ½ tsp salt

Pan fry chicken until golden brown. Place in a 2-quart casserole or broiler pan. Combine other ingredients in a small sauce pan and bring mixture to a boil. Pour over chicken. Place in oven and bake at 350 F, turning frequently and spooning sauce over chicken at each turning. Cook about 1 hour or until tender. (I cooked it for 45 minutes, because all the pieces tested at 165 F internal temperature by then. More would’ve just dried them out, though I can see it taking longer if I’d used breasts.)

Susanna
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