Welcome back, friends, to my culinary expedition through the RPG video game Red Dead Redemption 2! It’s been a while. I know. But after butter-boiled peas and potatoes, orange-blackened catfish, and creamy, herbed lamb’s fry, I bet your mouth is watering in anticipation over our tour’s conclusion! Shall we continue to Blackwater?
Click here to skip to the recipe for Blackwater Prairie Chicken.
From Murdertown to Metropolis
Blackwater went from a sleepy frontier town to a flourishing lakeside port following the Van der Linde’s botched ferry heist. Known as the “Blackwater Massacre,” the tragedy strengthened local law enforcement, which evolved into rapid civil growth. Thus, the place that would only either serve you whiskey or shoot you on sight now hosts a photo studio, two theatres, and an expanded saloon menu!
So while the screenshot of this meal’s side dish is a misnomer, the “prairie chicken” is clearly roasted bone-in and skin-on chicken breast. Blackwater sits at the foot of West Elizabeth’s great plains, home to the pinnated grouse, or “prairie chicken.” And they are delicious, or so I hear, considering they almost went extinct in the 1930s. For the sake of our wallets, though, we’ll be using a collection of prairie-found herbs on domestic chicken instead.
We already know of sage as one of the forageables from RDR2, a common ingredient in most store-bought poultry seasonings. To that, I blended a bit of mustard powder and garlic powder, as both tend to grow in the wild. And finally, I added some ground sumac, which I’ve included in my previous recipes for spiced potatoes and bison meatloaf. Sumac imparts a lovely fruity and citrusy note that enhances the other flavors around it. It’s getting more prevalent in stores, with middle eastern food becoming popular, but ground coriander is a decent substitute.
I admit as much as I love roast chicken, this dish needed an extra component for moisture retention. That’s why I made a sauce. The Blackwater Saloon also has a peach cobbler on the menu, so I figured that any peaches about to go off would get made into jam. That, blended with a bit of mayo, makes the perfect condiment to capture and marry those spices into a shotgun wedding of flavor.
Sing for Your Supper!
If you plan to cook the recipe off the site, keep scrolling. However, while access to recipes on the blog will always be free, I also have printable PDF recipe cards and thematic cook-along Spotify playlists as rewards for those who choose to support the blog.
The printable recipe card and playlist for Blackwater Prairie Chicken inspired by Red Dead Redemption 2 will be available as a $2 donor reward on my Ko-Fi page until the next post goes up. After that, just the card will be available in my Ko-Fi shop.
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Blackwater Buffet
Blackwater Prairie Chicken
Equipment: Oven, stovetop, aluminum foil, cast iron skillet, baking sheet, cooking spray, metal skewer, and paper towels.
Ingredients:
- 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts
- 1 Tb kosher salt
- 1 tsp ground sage
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp mustard powder
- 1/2 tsp ground sumac or coriander
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 2 Tb peach jam
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 325°F and line the baking sheet with foil. Coat the foil with cooking spray.
- Blend the salt and dried spices in a bowl and set aside.
- Dry the chicken with paper towels, then gently loosen and peel back the skin from the meat. Coat the meat with half of the spice blend.
- Smooth the skin back over the meat and cover it with the remaining spices. Pierce the skin several times with a toothpick or metal skewer, then place it on the baking sheet. Bake for 40-45 minutes.
- Blend the mayonnaise and jam in a dish and refrigerate until needed. Prepare your side dishes as you wait.
- Preheat the skillet on medium-low for 3 minutes. Add the chicken skin-side down, then raise the heat to medium-high. Sear until crispy.
- Transfer the chicken to serving plates to rest. Cool for 5 minutes, then add peach sauce to each portion. Serve with your side dishes.
