City chicken — Pennsylvania, United States

City chicken is a dish of cubed meat, usually pork, sometimes combined with veal, that is threaded onto short wooden skewers to mimic the shape of a chicken drumstick, then breaded and cooked until golden. Despite its name, the dish contains chicken only rarely, if at all. The dish is reported mainly from Pennsylvania, particularly around Pittsburgh, where it took hold in working-class and immigrant communities. It is generally traced to periods when chicken was relatively costly compared with pork or veal, so cooks skewered the cheaper meats into a shape resembling a drumstick and kept the more festive-sounding name. To prepare it, pork shoulder or loin, sometimes mixed with veal, is cut into small cubes of two to three centimeters and threaded three or four at a time onto short skewers. The skewers are seasoned, then dredged through flour, beaten egg, and breadcrumbs before being browned in a pan with a little oil or butter. Once seared on all sides, they are typically finished in the oven or simmered gently in a covered pan with a little stock, which keeps the meat moist while the breading sets into a firm crust. What distinguishes this dish from an ordinary breaded pork chop or cutlet is precisely the skewer and the drumstick shape it produces, along with the pan drippings, which are commonly built into a light gravy served alongside. The name persists as a label for the dish even though most people preparing it know no poultry is involved.