My Grandmother, Zinaida, was from a small village in western Ukraine. She and her family moved to Odessa when she was young, so they could attend school.  About 1894, when she was 16, they migrated to New York. They took the required classes in English, hygiene, and citizenship. All her life, my Grandmother followed the rules she learned in those classes. She was always afraid she would be sent back to the Ukraine if she didn’t follow the rules.

She had difficulty with some words, no matter how long she lived here. The two words that she always mixed up, causing great hilarity in the family, were “kitchen” and “chicken.” She would announce that she was going to stuff and roast a kitchen, but had to clean the chicken first. I can still hear her voice and her laughter as she realized her mistake.

~Vivian’s Victuals

Oven-Fried Sesame Chicken

2 ½ lbs chicken
2 TPSP butter, melted
¼ cup sesame oil
¼ cup toasted sesame seeds
3 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp garlic powder
½ cup flour

Preheat oven to 400F.

If your sesame seeds are not toasted, warm a small pan to medium heat and put the seeds in the dry pan. Stir often, and when most of the seeds are light brown, remove the pan and put the seeds in a small bowl (to prevent the heat in the pan from scorching the seeds).

Cut chicken into serving size pieces. Mix the melted butter and sesame oil and brush each piece. Put remaining ingredients in a paper bag. Add the chicken pieces and shake well.

Place the chicken in a foil lined baking pan. Bake at 400F for 50-60 minutes until browned, turning occasionally.

Greetings from Matthews Cooks! We’re a ragtag group of home cooks submitting original recipes from our own kitchens and sharing the adventure with Matthews Beacon readers. If you’d like to add your own, please send them to renee@matthewsbeacon.com , and she’ll forward them to me (Vivian). When you send in recipes, add your family story, if there is one. It can add new dimensions to a dish. Please do not use recipes from cookbooks, as we need to respect copyright laws. If you first got a recipe from a book, then changed it over the years to suit your kitchen, that would be fine.