Ctrl Alt Chicken is a new form of cooking show... one in which the chefs don't know how to cook! In the first episode your hosts Alex Albrecht and Heather Stewart tackle all that is Chicken Cordon Bleu.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Ingredients

• 8 boneless chicken breast halves (8 oz. each) [or buy double or whole breasts and use half for the bottom and the other half for the top]
• 8 slices cooked ready-to-eat ham (1-1/2 by 3-1/2 inch oblong) [chef recommends Canadian bacon, available, fully cooked, at the grocery store where hot dogs are sold]
• 8 slices Swiss cheese, 1-1/2 by 3-1/2-inch oblong) [chef recommends Gruyere cheese, which is the Swiss cheese most suitable to Chicken Cordon Bleu]
• salt
• black pepper
• flour for dusting
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup water
• 4 cups bread crumbs
• 1 egg white, beaten and strained through a sieve
• butter
• shortening (of your choice)

NOTE: freezing time, mallet, sieve, skillet for frying.

Instructions

After removing skin from chicken, lay each piece--on the side from which skin was removed--down on a cutting board and gently flatten with a mallet. (The pounding serves two purposes: to make the breast larger and to make the thickness even, so the cooking time will be uniform.)

Sprinkle each piece of chicken with salt and pepper and brush the surface with the beaten/strained egg white.

On the left side of each breast of chicken, place one slice of cheese and one slice of ham, one on top of the other. Fold the right side of the chicken over the ham/cheese and press the edges together. Shape each portion into an oval. Freeze the pieces for 2 hours.

Beat 3 eggs with milk and water, then run through a sieve (to create an egg wash).

One by one, remove each chicken-oval from the freezer. Dust with flour, then dip in egg wash, being sure to completely coat the surfaces. Place each in the bread crumbs, covering and gently pressing the crumbs to the surface.

Refrigerate.

Melt enough butter with another type of shortening to create about 1/2-inch fat in the bottom of the pan.

When the fat gets hot, carefully add two or four chicken-ovals at a time, depending on the size of the skillet. (If you wish to test the shortening for proper degree of heat, drop one or two bread crumbs into the fat. If the bread crumb immediately comes to the surface in the midst of a little white foam, the shortening is ready.)

Cook 'til brown, approximately 5-7 minutes; then place each piece on an absorbent paper (paper towel) and keep in a warm place until ready to serve.

[This is the recipe of Chef Louis Szathmary, who published his secrets in 1971.]