Acadian
Fricot — 1938 Version
With Summer Savory — The Herb That Followed the Acadians into Exile
Aida Boyer McAnn — The New Brunswick Cook Book (1938)The 1938 New Brunswick Cook Book records fricot with one defining ingredient absent from later versions: summer savory. This herb — deeply rooted in Acadian gardens and carried all the way to Louisiana during the Deportation — gives this version its most authentically historical character.
Ingredients
For the Fricot
- 1 raw chicken, cut into serving pieces
- 3 to 4 onions, sliced
- Potatoes, peeled and cut in cubes (as many as needed)
- 1½ teaspoons summer savory
- Salt, to taste
- Boiling water (enough to fill the kettle three-quarters full)
For the Dumplings (p. 44, 1938 book)
- 2 cups flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons butter
- ¾ cup milk
Instructions
- Fill a large stew kettle about three-quarters full of boiling water.
- Slice the onions and drop them into the kettle.
- Cut the raw chicken into serving pieces and add to the kettle along with the peeled, cubed potatoes.
- Cook until the chicken is nearly tender and the potatoes are cooked through, seasoning toward the end with salt and 1½ teaspoons summer savory.
- For the dumplings: mix and sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Work in the butter with your fingertips. Add the milk gradually, mixing with a knife until just combined.
- If there is excess liquid in the fricot, remove some before adding the dumplings — they must rest on the meat and potatoes, not float.
- Drop the dumpling batter by the spoonful onto the surface of the fricot, resting on the meat and vegetables.
- Cover the pot tightly and steam for 12 minutes without lifting the lid.
- Serve hot on a platter.
✦ Kitchen Notes
- Summer savory: the Acadian herb. No ingredient more sharply distinguishes the 1938 fricot — it followed the Acadians into exile in Louisiana, where it remains a Cajun kitchen staple.
- The 12-minute dumpling rule: cover closely, steam 12 minutes, do not lift the cover. The richer butter-flour dumplings of 1938 need the full time.
- No browning, no roux. Unlike the acadian.org version, the 1938 fricot gives a lighter, cleaner clear broth stew.
- An occasion dish. The 1938 book is clear that fricot was "served regularly when something extra special was required to celebrate an occasion."