A recipe for Chicken Roll in a 1926 magazine intrigued me. The roll was made using Baking Powder Biscuit dough, then filled with a chopped chicken and olive mixture and rolled similarly to how a jelly roll is made.
The roll can be cut into rounds prior to baking. After it is baked, it is served with White Sauce.
The recipe turned out well. The Chicken Roll rounds made a nice presentation and were tasty. The tangy, briny olives provided the predominate flavor, with the taste of the chicken being much more nuanced. If I had been the recipe author, I would have called this food a Chicken and Olive Roll.
One-half teaspoon of scraped onion did not seem like very much, so I used 2 tablespoons of finely chopped onions.
I assumed that “olives” in the recipe referred to green stuffed olives.
I have made White Sauce so many times over the years that I didn’t need a recipe for it, but I did need a recipe for Baking Powder Biscuits. Here’s a hundred-year-old that I found for them:
As directed in the original Chicken Roll recipe, I doubled the amount of shortening when making the Baking Powder Biscuit dough.
After I added the milk, I mixed the dough with a fork rather than a knife.
When I rolled the dough to 1/3-inch thickness, it seemed rather thick, so I rolled it a little more to make it about 1/4-inch thick.
I cut the roll into rounds prior to baking. Two-inch thick rounds are very thick, so I cut them into 1-inch rounds.
My husband and I ate half the rounds one day, and I reheated the remainder the next. I made a half recipe of white sauce each day that we poured over the baked rounds of Chicken Roll.
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Chicken Roll (Chicken Olive Roll)
Filling
1 1/4 cups cold cooked chicken, finely chopped
1/3 cup chopped stuffed green olives
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
1/8 teaspoon paprika
Baking Powder Biscuit Dough
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening
2/3 cup milk
White Sauce
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
Step 1. Preheat oven to 450° F.
Step 2. Put the chopped chicken, olives, onions, and paprika in a bowl. Stir to combine. Set aside.
Step 3. Make the Baking Powder Biscuit dough by combining the flour, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl, then cut in the shortening; add milk, and stir with a fork until the dough forms.
Step 4. Put the biscuit dough on a prepared surface, and roll the dough into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick (approximately 9″ X 12″).
Step 5. Spread the chicken and olive mixture on the dough, then roll the dough starting at one of the short edges (similarly to how a jelly roll is rolled).
Step 6. Cut the roll into 1-inch thick rounds, then place the rounds on a lightly greased backing sheet.
Step. 7. Put in oven and bake for 12 – 15 minutes or until the rounds are lightly browned.
Step 8. In the meantime, make the White Sauce. In another pan, using medium heat, melt butter, then stir in the flour and salt. Gradually, add the milk while stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the white sauce begins to thicken.
Step 9. To serve, put the baked Chicken Roll rounds on a plate, and serve with the White Sauce (or, if desired, pour the White Sauce on the baked rounds prior to serving).
Is this a ‘keeper’? I’m afraid it hasn’t enticed me as much as many of your recipes. Can’t win ’em all!
I liked this recipe, but it sounds like this isn’t a recipe for you. My sense is that olives were more commonly used as an ingredient in entree recipes a hundred years ago than what they are now. You need to like olives to like this recipe.
Olives are an acquired taste for me and I have not acquired it yet!
I.love olives, but I used not to. Green are easier than black I think.
🙂 Olives do have a unique taste.
Love olives. With white sauce? Not so much maybe.
The sauce moistens the rolls and, in my opinion, is a good addition. I think that the way the recipe calls it “white sauce” might be part of the problem. Maybe it should just be called “sauce.”
Yes, to classic comfort, rolled to perfection!
🙂 Great description
Chicken salad in a hot roll! 😄
That’s a good way to think about this recipe.
Sounds tasty. I would have picked black olives, as I just made a chicken recipe with them, but I do love the green ones too.
Go ahead and use black olives. The original recipe just said “olives.” I don’t know what the recipe author intended. I guessed that they were green olives, but they may have been black ones.
I love baking powder biscuits but have never heard of rolling the dough like that. Thanks for testing out and sharing the recipe, Sheryl. I think this could also be quite a versatile recipe with changes made to the filling to suit various tastes or occasions. Cheers.
The biscuit dough was easy to work with when I made this recipe. I agree that this is a very flexible recipe, and that other fillings could be used.
A nice way to use left over chicken! I like the idea of olives in the roll!
It is a good way to use left-over chicken, and the olives add a savory flavor.
I agree with Lynette, it would never occur to me to roll up a baking powder biscuit dough! These look like fun to make.
They were fun to make, and it would be especially fun to experiment with different ingredients for the filling.
While I am part of the Bis-quick generation…. I wonder what the extra shortening does for the dough?
I’m not sure, but it may make the dough roll better.