Get Cooking: Chicken Kyiv, in honor of Ukraine

Back in the day, if you wished to impress your dinner guests, you might make a special main course preparation such as steak Diane, chicken Cordon Bleu or chicken Kiev.

We now spell the latter “chicken Kyiv,” disfavoring the romanization of the name of Ukraine’s capital city. A close friend and former colleague at both The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News, Bill Husted, asked the other day if he and I “might cook a recipe of it” and share a meal of it in support and in honor of the citizens of Kyiv (and Ukraine). What a splendid idea.

Chicken Kyiv, in short, is a pounded-out chicken breast that is filled with herbed butter, then rolled up, breaded and sautéed. Part of its delectation is to cut into it and let the butter, now melted, ooze out onto the plate, as a sort of sauce. Cookbook writers often counsel caution on the cutting, though, lest the heated butter spurt onto the diner’s clothing or, worse, skin.

Chicken Kyiv is an extremely popular packaged frozen dinner item in the United Kingdom at food stores such as Sainsbury and Marks & Spencer. Around the sates, it was quite the thing, as I say, at home dinner parties on Saturday evenings in the years after World War II.

Despite the specificity of its name, however, its origins are very obscure. Ever since the days of Peter the Great, in the late 1600s, the Russian court prized French cooking (indeed, many a French thing or way). A chicken Kyiv is a turn on a kitchen mainstay in France, the “suprême de volaille,” a skinless, boned or partially boned chicken breast treated in any of several possible ways.

Did the great Marie-Antoine Carême, the first “modern” French chef, who spent a few months in Russia during 1819 at the behest of Tsar Nicholas the First, leave the recipe in the court’s kitchens, as some have suggested? Unknown, unrecorded, unlikely; the term “chicken Kyiv” doesn’t appear in a cookbook or on a menu — anywhere — until much later.

Some write that the Continental Hotel in Kyiv popularized the recipe in the early 1900s. Others point to its appearance on early 20th-century menus of popular Russian restaurants in both New York City and Chicago that gave the simple chicken preparation the curlicue “Kiev” as a way to lure in homesick Ukrainians (and Russians).

Wherever and however it got its start, it ends up cooked now as a delicious centerpiece to a lunch or dinner if served alongside some sort of green vegetable and either plain rice or potato, onto which the chicken’s melted butter also profitably may be spooned.

Chicken Kyiv

Adapted from foodnetwork.com and “James Beard’s Theory & Practice of Good Cooking,” (Knopf, 1977). See note on an alternative preparation. Serves 6.

Ingredients

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme
• 1 teaspoon sea or kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 6 small skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 2 cups panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• A mix of olive and other vegetable oil, for frying

Directions

Mix the butter, parsley, thyme, salt and pepper in a bowl. Scoop half of the mixture onto a piece of plastic wrap or parchment paper and roll into a long 1/2-inch-thick log, assuring that no plastic flaps into the butter roll itself. Repeat with the other half of the butter mixture. Wrap and freeze the logs until solid, at least 3 hours or overnight.

Lay a chicken breast between 2 pieces of plastic wrap or inside a large resealable thick plastic bag; pound to 1/4-inch thick with a heavy skillet or mallet. Transfer to a clean piece of plastic wrap or parchment paper.

Put 1/3 of 1 roll of the herbed butter (a sort of “finger” of it) in the lower half of the chicken and, aided by the wrap or paper, tightly roll up the chicken, tucking in the short sides as you go. The butter must be completely sealed-in so that it cannot leak out during the cooking.

Repeat with the remaining chicken and butter mix. Refrigerate the 6 chicken Kyiv rolls, covered, at least 2 hours or overnight.

When ready to sauté the chicken Kyivs, put the flour in a shallow dish. Whisk the eggs and mustard in another shallow dish. Put the panko in a third shallow dish. Unwrap the chicken rolls and season with more salt and pepper. One at a time, dredge them all over in the flour, shaking off the excess, then in the egg mixture and roll in the panko to coat. Carefully set aside on a lined baking sheet or large plate.

Warm the oven and in it place a baking sheet lined with paper towels or an opened up and flattened plain brown paper bag. Heat 1/2 inch of the oils in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken rolls in batches, turning, until golden-brown and cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes depending on thickness. Transfer to the oven to keep warm. Serve when all the rolls are finished sautéing.

Note: An alternative to rolling up the chicken breasts would be to leave them whole, not pounded flat. Cut a 2-inch slit, parallel to the long sides, into the thickest part of each breast and place one-sixth of the butter mixture into each pocket thus formed. Dab a bit of whisked egg and a small amount of panko to seal each opening (or use a wooden or bamboo toothpick). Refrigerate, covered with plastic wrap, at least 2 hours or overnight. Proceed with the recipe as stipulated, minding that the slit is well sealed shut.