Fifty-six-year-old Richard Christmas cannot recall a time in his life without chicken pilau.
The dish, which has been served for decades at events in San Antonio and Dade City, features chunks of chicken and white rice, which have been seasoned with garlic, onion, salt and pepper.
Although the name of the dish is spelled p-i-l-a-u, it’s pronounced per-loo, which rhymes with purview.
Christmas’ earliest childhood memories include his Uncle Hugh Dunne’s chicken pilau.
“He’d cook it for the (Pasco County) fair. He’d cook it for the Rattlesnake Roundup (now known as the Rattlesnake Festival). And, then he would cook it for the Knights of Columbus,” Christmas said.
Now mayor of the Town of St. Leo, Christmas said, until he was an adult, that when people talked about fair food — they weren’t talking about chicken pilau, but instead were talking about corn dogs, or elephant ears or funnel cakes.
“My fair food was pilau,” he said, or beef from back in the livestock area.
His uncle was widely known around San Antonio — which the locals call San Ann — for his special touch with chicken pilau.
After his uncle passed on, Jack Jones picked up the tradition.
And now, the torch has been passed back to Christmas and Sam Sessa, both members of the Knights of Columbus Council 1768.
The council has 198 members who come from three Catholic churches, Sacred Heart in St. Joe, St. Rita’s in Dade City and St. Anthony’s in San Antonio.
They hold about three chicken pilau dinners a year to raise money for various causes.
Generally, they help local causes, such as buying winter coats for children in need.
But this time, they’re raising money to enable some girls in Tanzania to go to school, Christmas said.
The fundraising dinner will be on Aug. 27, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., at the council’s hall, 11549 Curley Road in San Antonio.
Diners often arrive early, around 4:30 p.m., Christmas said.
He and Sessa arrive much earlier — about 10 a.m., to begin preparing the pilau.
They start by putting pots of water on to boil.
They slice up the onions and garlic, while bringing the water to a boil.
Christmas admits he can get a little “teary-eyed” while chopping up the onions.
Once the vegetables are ready, they’ll add them and chicken pieces to the boiling water and let them cook, periodically adding salt and pepper to taste.
“You cook it until it falls off the bone,” Christmas said.
About 1 p.m., the “bone pickers” will arrive to help debone the chicken, before returning it to the pot. Finally, the long-grain white rice is added — to the right amount of broth — about 45 minutes before serving time.
Christmas said he’s not really sure where his uncle got the recipe, or where the recipe for chicken pilau originated.
He does know it’s a versatile dish.
“It’s a rice meal that you could add whatever meat you choose to add. Most people add chicken, but you could add squirrel. You could add possum, I suppose.
“Typically, it’s a warm-blooded meat, but I guess it could be gator, but I’ve never seen anybody do that,” said Christmas, whose uncle was named for Capt. Hugh Dunne.
Capt. Hugh Dunne played an important role in the history of St. Leo, San Antonio and other communities that are part of the original Catholic colony established by Edmund Dunne, and Christmas’ family heritage traces back to the colony’s founding.
So, besides being based on a recipe that’s been a tradition for more than a half-century, the person serving it up comes from a family that reaches back to St. Leo’s beginnings.
Those coming by for the dinner will get chicken pilau, plus coleslaw, sweet peas, bread, water, sweet tea, unsweetened tea, or coffee and dessert.
Diners are welcome to eat in the hall, or purchase meals to carry out.
Tickets are sold in advance, but most of the meals are sold to those dropping by, Christmas said.
“Some people come and take it out. Some people sit and eat. We encourage people to sit and eat,” he said.
“For us, it’s a good way to get a lot of people together,” he said.
It’s not just a chicken dinner, It’s a chance for people to mingle.
In other words, it’s chicken pilau served with up with camaraderie.
“I think it’s a pretty good deal,” Christmas said.
Knights of Columbus Pilau Dinner
When: Aug. 27, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., or until the pilau runs out
Where: Knights of Columbus Hall, 11549 Curley Road, San Antonio
Dine-in or take-out
Cost: $8 for adults; $5 for children under 12
Knights of Columbus Council 1768 Chicken pilau recipe:
3 gallons of water
3 whole chickens
6 large onions
1/3 bulb garlic, peeled
6 pounds Uncle Ben’s converted rice
2 tablespoons salt, to taste
2 tablespoons black pepper
Pour water in a huge pot, with a lift-out colander, if available. Use a marker to mark the water level outside the pot. Place chickens, onions and garlic into the colander, and lower it into the water. (If you don’t have this kind of pot, be prepared to strain the broth into another pot when the chicken is fully cooked.) Add the salt and pepper, and bring the contents of the pot to boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer until the chicken is tender.
Lift out the chicken, onions and garlic. Discard the onions and garlic (optional). Put the broth back into the original pot and add/or remove broth to the original measured mark.
Keep the broth hot, while you carefully remove the bones from the chicken.
Place the chicken back into the broth, and then add the rice. Carefully stir the contents of the pot a few times after adding the rice. Taste the broth, and add salt and pepper to taste. Lower the heat, and cover the pot. Simmer until the rice is fully cooked.
Published August 24, 2016
