The term "Chicken Maryland" or "Maryland Chicken" refers to a historic dish associated with the U.S. state of Maryland, but has other meanings from other nations. In its home base, the food dish consists of fried chicken served with a cream gravy.
History and preparation
Many Maryland families have their own heirloom recipes for this dish, and it remains a regional specialty in Eastern Shore restaurants. The primary factor that distinguishes Maryland fried chicken from other Southern fried chicken is that rather than cooking the chicken in several inches of oil or shortening, the chicken is pan-fried in a heavy skillet and covered tightly after the initial browning so that the chicken steams as well as fries. Milk or cream is then added to the pan juices to create a white cream gravy, another Maryland characteristic. Escoffier had a recipe for "Chicken à la Maryland" in his landmark cookbook Ma Cuisine.
Other reported versions include: a fried chicken leg with ham and hush puppies ; batter-fried chicken with hush-puppies and batter-fried bananas and pineapple rings; and bread-crumbed and fried chicken wings & drumsticks with sautéed bananas. Apparently some Southeast-Asian variations exist, such as one with breaded chicken thighs, hush puppies, and gravy, served with deep-fried potato slices, baby carrots, fried tomato halves, and fried bananas. In Argentina and in some neighboring South American countries, Suprema de Pollo Maryland is a pounded thin breast of chicken, breaded and fried, served with creamed corn, peas, bacon, French fries and a fried banana. In China, Maryland Chicken is often served covered with mashed potatoes and a sweet corn gravy. The final first-class lunch menu on RMS Titanic included a dish called "Chicken à la Maryland". In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, Tender is the Night, Nicole Diver looks for a recipe for Chicken Maryland while lying on the beach. In the film Christmas in Connecticut, one of the survivors of a sinking gets Chicken Maryland as one of his meals in a hospital. In the 1929 pre-code film, Sally, a restaurant patron orders Chicken a la Maryland
