Recipes that appear in Idea Alley have not been tested by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Last week I asked for help with a rather sentimental recipe request. To recap, Jennifer Shelley is seeking a recipe for a dish her family calls Hot Springs Chicken. Her parents got the recipe over 75 years ago from a chef while honeymooning in Hot Springs. The hallmark of the dish is its reddish-orange sweet-spicy-tangy sauce. I initially didn’t have any luck when I searched the historic archives. But thankfully, Alley Kats are a wise bunch.
Judy White, Kerry Kraus and Cathy Krupka recognized this description as meeting that of a recipe popularized in the 1940s and ’50s that used Catalina dressing as a marinade and sauce.
With this new information, I returned to the search.
Specific recipes vary, but most combined Catalina dressing, a fruit preserve such as orange marmalade or apricot jam and sometimes Lipton onion soup mix. An outlier mixed Catalina with whole-berry cranberry sauce. In “The Pioneer Kettle: Arkansas Telephone Pioneers” cookbooks I and II, I found remarkably similar recipes using Russian dressing and apricot preserves. Russian dressing and Catalina dressing are similar depending on the maker. Some Russian dressing is creamy, and I’ve noticed Russian dressing is difficult to find in Central Arkansas grocery stores.
I don’t know if any of the following are Hot Springs Chicken, but, fingers crossed, just maybe one of them is the family’s beloved chicken dish.
Kraft is credited with creating Catalina dressing, so I figured I’d start at the source. This recipe is from the Kraft website.
Kraft Catalina Chicken
- 2 teaspoons oil
- 6 small boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 ½ pounds)
- ½ cup Kraft Classic Catalina Dressing
- ½ cup apricot jam
- 3 tablespoons (about ½ of 1-ounce envelope) onion soup mix
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Heat oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 4 min. on each side or until browned on both sides. Transfer chicken to 3-quart casserole.
Mix dressing, jam and soup mix; pour over chicken.
Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
Most of the recipes I found called for baking the chicken, but this one that I came across in the Arkansas Democrat archives grills it, basting the chicken with sauce.
Monterey Chicken
- 1 bottle Catalina dressing
- 4 chicken breasts
Set aside about ½ cup of the dressing.
Combine the remaining dressing and chicken. Marinate chicken overnight in the refrigerator. Grill, basting with reserved marinade.
The ingredients in this recipe, found at dishwithme.com, are more in line with the dish White, Kraus and Krupka remember.
Grilled Catalina Chicken
- 1 (16-ounce) bottle of Catalina dressing
- 1/4 cup orange marmalade
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons Cavender’s All-Purpose Greek Seasoning (this was likely not part of the Shelley family recipe as Cavender’s dates to 1969)
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 5 to 6 small chicken breasts, pounded to an even thickness
- Kosher salt
- 2 green onions, very finely chopped, optional
In a bowl whisk together the Catalina dressing, marmalade, Worcestershire sauce, Cavender’s, onion powder and garlic powder. Remove ½ to 3/4 cup and set aside to use as a basting sauce.
Add the chicken to the remaining marinade, turning to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, turning to coat the chicken in the marinade a few times. Alternately, combine the marinade and chicken in a zip-close bag, pushing out as much air as possible before sealing, and refrigerate.
Heat grill to 400 degrees.
Remove chicken from marinade and discard marinade. Place chicken on grill grate; season lightly with salt, close grill lid and cook 3 minutes. Flip chicken, brush with reserved marinade and continue cooking, flipping and basting, until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
Serve garnished with green onion, if desired.
If you can’t find or prefer not to use bottled Catalina, I found this recipe for homemade at the Taste of Home website. It is credited to Sharon Rehm of New Blaine, Ark.
Catalina Dressing
- ⅔ cup ketchup
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
- 4 ½ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon mustard powder
- ⅛ teaspoon paprika
- Dash ground turmeric
- Dash ground red (cayenne) pepper
- ½ cup canola oil
In a blender, combine the ketchup, sugar, lemon juice, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, salt, mustard, paprika, turmeric and cayenne. With the blender running, slowly add the oil in a steady stream, blending until emulsified.
Makes about 1 ½ cups.
In “The Pioneer Kettle” Volume I, I found this one credited to Janet Bowden. It did not include how much chicken to use; based on the other recipes I suggest using 1 ½ to 2 pounds.
Polynesian Chicken
- 1 ½ to 2 pounds chicken breasts
- 1 package onion soup mix
- 1 (8-ounce) bottle Russian dressing
- 1 (12-ounce) jar apricot-pineapple preserves
Place chicken in baking pan.
Combine the soup mix, dressing and preserves. Pour over chicken. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes and then increase oven to 400 degrees and bake 30 minutes more.
Serves 5 to 6 people.
And here’s one from “The Pioneer Kettle” Volume II. It is credited to Juanita Forbes.
Sweet and Sour Chicken
- 1 envelope onion soup mix
- ⅓ bottle Russian dressing
- 1 small jar apricot preserves
- 1 cut-up chicken
Mix onion soup, Russian dressing and preserves. Spread over cut-up chicken pieces placed in baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees until brown, about 1 1/2 hours.
In the Arkansas Gazette archives I found this similar recipe.
Tasty Apricot Chicken
- 2 (3 1/2 pound) broiling chickens, cut up
- Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- Garlic salt, to taste
- ½ pound apricot preserves
- 6 ounces Russian dressing
- 1 packet onion soup mix
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Season chicken well with salt, pepper and garlic. Place in baking dish.
Mix together the apricot preserves, Russian dressing and soup mix. Pour over chicken and bake until golden brown, about 50 minutes.
Makes 8 servings.
REQUEST
Tomato marmalade like that served at Heights Taco and Tamale Co. for Michelle Mills. “It was my family’s favorite “salsa” to get when we ordered the salsa trio, and they no longer have it on the menu,” writes Mills.
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