Easy Bourbon Chicken On The Griddle
A2 English listening practice · African American Vernacular English · Curated for beginners
What is “bourbon chicken” in American food?
Bourbon chicken is an American sweet-soy-glazed chicken dish, named after Bourbon Street in New Orleans, not the liquor (though some recipes add a splash). The dish is a Cajun-Chinese fusion that took off at American mall food courts in the 1980s and 1990s, where chains like Cajun Grill and Manchu Wok served it over rice. From there it moved into home kitchens, especially in Black Southern households, where it’s cooked on a flat-top griddle with sesame seeds and scallions on top.
In this clip, the cook walks through her version: “On today’s episode of I Ain’t No Chef, but we gonna eat, let’s make some bourbon chicken.”
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Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-US 2012 (spoken). Buckets approximate; exact ranks not stored.
- ▸In American mall food courts (Cajun Grill, Sarku Japan, Manchu Wok)
- ▸In American Black-cooking YouTube channels (Tabitha Brown, Kenneth Temple)
- ▸In American Southern soul-food cookbooks
- ▸In American family weeknight dinner content
- ▸In American food TV about regional fusion cuisine