What is the correct spelling: chicken “tabaka” or “tapaka”?

Author: Maxim Potashev

A frequent dish on our table is tabaka chicken. We used to call it that way. But some recipes say tapaka chicken. Why, maybe it's just a typo? To understand how to correctly pronounce the name of the dish chicken tapaka or tabaka, you need to study the history of its preparation.

Which is correct: tapaka or tabaka chicken?

Chicken tabaka is a dish of Caucasian cuisine that has become extremely popular in Russia. The technology for its preparation is not entirely ordinary and looks something like this:

1. First, the carcass is gutted, unfolded, and flattened.
2. In order to maintain such a flattened shape, the bones are broken, for this they are placed under a press.
3. Only after this is it transferred to the frying pan.
4. Here they again cover it with a heavy load and fry it.

In modern cooking, there are special frying pans for these purposes; they have a heavy lid or even a screw press. But how does the name depend on this? The fact is that the dish came to us from Georgia

and there it was cooked in a frying pan - tapa and was called “
tsitsila tapaka
”.

Here in Russia it has acquired a more familiar sound to our ears - chicken tobacco. Apparently, few people know about such utensils, but the smoking plant is always well known. Therefore, many associate chicken prepared in this way with tobacco. But tobacco has absolutely nothing to do with it

, and is not used there as a seasoning.

If you are still in doubt about how to correctly pronounce “tapaka” or “tabaka”, you can choose any option, since the second name has long taken root. And if you want to show off your erudition, while serving the dish, tell us how and why it was called in your homeland.

Why is the Georgian dish “Chicken Tabaka” called that?

As for the very origin of the name of such chicken in Georgian, contrary to many opinions, it has nothing to do with the word “tobacco”. The reason for this name lies directly in the recipe for preparing the dish.

As we said above, the chicken is baked in special frying pans with a lid, which are called “tapha” in Georgian. Etymologists claim that this word could have come to Georgia from the Arabic language, where the word “tabbaq” is present, literally translated as “plate” or “tray”.

This is what today’s version of the frying pan for cooking “Chicken Tobacco” looks like:

Thus, by drawing a very obvious parallel between all these names, one can easily trace the train of thought of the chefs who over time began to call this Georgian dish “Chicken Tobacco”.

Tapak: what is this?

In fact, the frying pan that will be discussed further is called tapa, not tapak. Some people call it tapak because the chicken fried on it is called tapaka

».

So, tapa - Georgian frying pan

, made of cast iron and having a ribbed bottom. Its weight is approximately 8 kilograms, it all depends on the size. Its main feature is the heavy lid that acts as a press. It presses the product tightly on top during cooking. Many housewives, in the absence of such utensils, use ordinary frying pans and place heavy objects on top: a jar of water or a stone.

Now this is not necessary, since you can easily buy special dishes in the store. They come in different shapes: round and square, with different lid designs: simply heavy or with a screw mechanism that allows you to press the bird to the bottom. This is really convenient, especially if you cook tabaka chicken often. It cooks well in it, but does not burn.

Etymology

cargo. ტაფა tapha - “frying pan”, possibly derived from the Arabic word طبق tabbaq

- “dish”, “tray”, “plate”.
The common name of the dish in Armenia is tapakats hav
- literally “fried chicken” or “flattened chicken”. Probably all the names go back to the Arabic “tabbaq” and its original meaning “flat”, “flatness”, “crushed” (hence “leaf” [in the sense of “flattened, flat”] as the name of the tobacco leaf - the leaf of a plant called “tutun” (cf. Ukrainian “tyutyun”).

Cooking chicken in a frying pan

For those who do not have special utensils at home, but have a familiar frying pan, the recipe we will describe below is suitable. You need to start preparing it by preparing the bird: you need to gut it, remove the head and legs, and clean it.

Next we perform the following steps:

1. We cut vertically, along the midline of the chest.
2. We spread the edges to the sides.
3. We make a cut on the surface so that the wings can be tucked into it and they will not stick out during frying.
4. Use a wooden hammer to crush the joints and back. Don't use a metal one, you'll grind the bones into small pieces and they'll end up in the meat.
5. Rub the carcass with pepper, salt and garlic.

The chicken is ready. Let's start preparing it:

• Pour oil into a frying pan, place the bird upside down, cover with something flat so that you can put a load on top.
• Fry over low heat for 30 minutes.

If you brush the skin with sour cream before cooking, it will become crispy. Before serving, you can garnish with chopped herbs and vegetables. Any side dish of your choice will suit.

Notes

1. ↑
   Chicken tabaka - recipe with step-by-step photos. Foodclub
2. ↑S.A Arutyunov, G.A Sergeeva, V.P. Kobychev
   Peoples of the Caucasus. Material culture: food and shelter. - Institute, 1995. - P. 66. - 292 p.
   Original text
   (Russian)

   Armenians, Georgians, as well as Abkhazians have a common dish “tapaka”, “tabaka” - chicken fried spread out and under pressure, previously greased with salt, pepper and adjika. This dish has also become part of modern public cooking in the Caucasus. It is customary to roast poultry (chicken, turkey, duck, goose) in the oven as a whole carcass, and also stuff it with rice with raisins, dried apricots, and spices (chicken, turkey), for example among Armenians

Cooking in marinade

If you have guests, take a chicken carcass. To please your friends, you can choose the original recipe with marinade.

1. We start the same way: clean the carcass, gut it, cut it along the center line of the chest.
2. For the marinade, mix oil, preferably olive (50 g) and wine. Dry, red (100 ml) will do. Salt, add ground coriander (1 small spoon). Add basil (1 teaspoon) and ground white pepper (on the tip of a spoon) there.
3. Rub the bird with salt on both sides.
4. Place the bag in a large plate, place the chicken on it and pour the marinade over it. Place the second one on top of the first one and pour the marinade over it again. We do the same with the third one.
5. After this, tie the bag and put the plate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
6. After 2 hours, remove the chicken and carefully pound it with a hammer.
7. Everything can be fried in a frying pan. And don't forget about the abs.
8. Turn the heat to low and turn the bird periodically. It’s not very convenient to fry several pieces at once. You can put them in the oven.

To check the degree of readiness of the meat, pierce the flesh and look: if a clear liquid comes out, it’s ready, if it’s reddish, with blood, it’s not yet.

A few secrets for preparing delicious chicken tabaka

If you want to surprise your guests and cook truly tasty and appetizing meat, marinate it for 2-3 hours at room temperature, and then leave the chicken in the refrigerator overnight. This is especially true if we are talking about chicken rather than chicken, since it takes much longer to cook. If you want the meat to be crispy, do not pour sauce over the chicken during cooking; serve the sauce separately along with the side dish. Coating the chicken with garlic before or after frying depends on your gastronomic preferences. Keep in mind that fried garlic acquires a bitter taste, so before frying, the carcass must be cleaned of pieces of garlic and bay leaves if they were used in the marinade. Serve the prepared chicken tabaka with garlic sauce and fresh herbs.

How to choose a chicken

The first rule is no chickens! Elderly women are absolutely not suitable in this case; send them to the broth and jellied meat, let them cook and simmer there. For your dinner party you need young, young individuals, not burdened with fat, years and acquired wisdom. Tabaka chicken does not take long to cook, which is why it is fundamentally important that it be young and vigorous: the younger the bird, the faster it will reach condition.

The second condition is no frozen broilers or other individuals. Even if the carcasses look beautiful and pink, even if the skin winks at you with a perfect glossy shine and almost pearlescent tints, even if you are irresistibly drawn to the attractive price, be courageous, hold on and resist! Remember - you want fresh chicken, fresh and chilled, nothing more. Pink meat, no unpleasant odor, no bruises, intact skin - don’t leave without this, don’t settle for anything less.

Third - marinade. Many supermarkets offer a convenience product - chicken generously sprinkled with salt, red pepper and sodium gluconate, which you can buy, take home, quickly fry and eat with dinner. Don't give in to temptation! Who knows what is hidden under a thick layer of marinade? And who knows what this very marinade is made of? Of course, excessive suspicion does not look good on a person, but naive gullibility is also not the best jewelry, so the golden mean in this case would be to prepare the marinade yourself - at home, with your own hands, in your own mood and with your own pure and good thoughts.

Of course, the ideal option is farm chicken, raised without hormones and just turned into meat, especially according to your order. However, alas, ideals exist mainly in books and dreams, so soberly assess reality and make the best possible decisions that are available to you.

How to prepare a chicken carcass

Rinse the chicken thoroughly with cool water, pat dry with a paper towel, and cut lengthwise down the belly. Flatten it and place it back up, press down. The chicken should be as flat as possible.

Helpful tip: Cover with cling film and beat with a kitchen hammer on both sides. Carefully pierce all the joints so that the thickness of the carcass is the same everywhere. Rub with salt and spices. You can prepare a marinade with lemon, garlic or mayonnaise.

The weight of a carcass for cooking in a frying pan should be no more than 600 grams. Only with this maximum weight can you get perfectly cooked meat and a crispy crust.

Marinade for chicken tabaka

Required ingredients:

• lemon – 1 piece;
• freshly ground black pepper – 1 teaspoon;
• salt - to taste;
• garlic – 5 cloves;
• butter – 5 grams;
• hops-suneli - 0.5 teaspoon.

Cooking steps:

1. melt the butter, squeeze the lemon into it;
2. finely chop the garlic, add salt and seasonings;
3. mix everything together;
4. Rub the chicken with this mixture before cooking, keeping it in a bag or special container for 10-12 hours.

Time to fry chicken in a pan

How long to fry broiler chicken tobacco - you must determine for yourself, focusing on the weight of the bird (the larger it is, the longer the cooking will take).

You can tell that the meat is ready in the following way: pierce the thickest part of the bird with a wooden skewer; if clear juice comes out, it means the meat is ready.

Chicken tabaka in a slow cooker

You can, as strange as it may sound, cook chicken in a slow cooker. This, by the way, is very convenient and comes out faster than in a frying pan.

1. We prepare the carcass, as in previous recipes: cut it into two parts, clean it, wash it.
2. We beat it with a hammer.
3. Rub with salt and pepper. You can also use garlic and suneli hops. It's to taste.
4. Pour some oil into the multicooker. Turn on the “baking” mode.
5. We put the bird down. If it doesn't fit, you can break it into two halves. But usually everything fits like this.
6. Set the timer for an hour.
7. After 30 minutes, open and turn the chick over to the other side.

The dish is ready. You can prepare a delicious garlic sauce for it:

1. Drain fat from chicken into a separate bowl;
2. Add chopped garlic (1 head), sour cream (3 tablespoons), herbs (cilantro, parsley);
3. 10 minutes before the end, add the sauce to the multicooker bowl.

Everyone knows this dish. It is easy and quick to prepare and can be used with any side dish. We tried to bring you classic and original recipes, as well as tell you how to correctly pronounce the name: tapaka or tabaka chicken and why you can do this and that

.

Interesting facts about Chicken Tobacco

Now that you know why chicken tabaka is called that way, there are also some interesting things to note about the cooking process. We have already said what the essence and recipe for preparing this dish of Georgian cuisine is, but what is also interesting is that in addition to using a carcass press before frying the meat, the chicken is covered with a weight even when it is already in the frying pan.

As for the original recipe, the dish should not be cooked on the stove, but directly on the fire. A sheet of metal is placed on the fire, becoming a frying surface for the frying pan. This is how the dish turns out to be as tasty as possible.

Class! eleven

Chicken tabaka - recipe in a frying pan under pressure

• Cooking time: 60 minutes.
• Number of servings: 1 person.
• Calorie content of the dish: 245 kcal.
• Purpose: for lunch.
• Cuisine: Caucasian.
• Difficulty of preparation: medium.

This recipe for chicken tobacco in a frying pan under pressure is called slow in culinary circles. Most people are used to cooking chicken over high heat in literally 20 minutes. This option is also possible if you use broiler birds. Good farm chicken may take a little longer. To make the meat soft and juicy, you need to add water or dry red wine to the pan at the very end of cooking.

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Ingredients:

• butter – 2 tbsp. l.;
• chicken – up to 800 g;
• black pepper – 3-4 peas;
• coriander grains – 3-4 pcs.;
• adjika – 2 tsp.

Cooking method:

1. Before frying the tobacco chicken, make all the necessary cuts and flatten the carcass.
2. Mash the spices in a mortar, mix with adjika and coat the entire chicken with marinade.
3. Melt the butter in a frying pan and place the chicken in it, back down.
4. Place a plate on top of the bird and place a pan of water.
5. Fry the chicken over low heat for 15 minutes on each side if it is a broiler. For homemade chicken, double the cooking time.
6. 5 minutes before readiness, remove the pressure and add 50 ml of water or wine, cover with a lid and simmer the meat.