Recently the New York Times ran what was deemed a ground-breaking food story on the modernization of chicken pot pie (link). Theirs was a so-called contemporary version “ditching the gummy white filling and frozen vegetables.”
If I encountered such a chicken pot pie it would have been served at an old Howard Johnson’s or out of a box of Banquet brand of frozen chicken pot pie. But the denigration of the old-school formula seemed a bit of a stretch. If all the elements are made well, without the use of processed ingredients or gummy sauces, the classic chicken pot pie is eminently delicious
And if you ever had it at my house, you’d encounter a wonderful pie under a dome of a very special cream pastry dough similar to puff pastry and a filling that’s in a light cream sauce made from chicken stock whisked into the standard roux and further enriched with heavy cream. Gummy? Not a chance.
Chicken pot pie
As for the frozen vegetables I admit to frozen peas. But these are one of the few vegetables that survive flash freezing. They taste nearly as fresh as right out of the shell. As for the typical pile of frozen pearl onions, forget it. If I want those in my chicken pot pie I buy them fresh and take the few minutes to prepare them.
