Chicken and Cherries
Braised chicken in a sweet sauce with cherries, herbs, and spices
City/Region: England
Time Period: 17th Century
Dr. Ken Albala is a food historian and professor who has written many books and is a personal hero and friend of the show. He has a wealth of knowledge on food and food history and very graciously agreed to answer viewer questions and cook a 17th century recipe with me.
The chicken was really easy to make, and if you don’t have a pipkin to cook it in like he did, any oven-safe pot will do. One that is just slightly larger than your chicken would be closest to what we used. The chicken with cherries is slightly sweet, but the herbs are the main flavors that come through. If you’re not a fan of rose water, you could easily leave it out. I like rose water, and I couldn’t really taste it.
“To boile chickens with cherries
Take strong broath straine it into a pipkin and put in your chickens with a little sweet marjorum parsly and time bind them in a bundle and put them in with a little white wine whole mace suger and a spoonfull of rosewater and let them boile wel and when they are ready to serve put in the cherries pickt from the stalkes then straine in the yolks of two or three eggs and a little salt and so serve them on sippets”
Ingredients:
- 1 small cornish game hen
- A few sprigs fresh marjoram
- A few sprigs fresh parsley
- A few sprigs fresh thyme
- Pinot grigio
- Chicken broth
- Whole mace*
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon rose water
- Fresh cherries, pitted and cut in half
- 3 egg yolks
- Salt
- Loaf of round white bread, sliced and toasted
*See notes below.
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Tie the herbs into a bundle and stuff it into the chicken. Put the chicken in a pot, ideally one that’s just big enough for it. Fill it halfway with broth, then the rest of the way with wine. Add in the mace, sugar, and rose water. Bake it in the oven for 1 hour.
- When the chicken is done, take it out of the pot and set it aside.
- Temper the eggs with a little of the broth that the chicken cooked in by slowly adding the hot broth to the eggs, stirring constantly so they don’t scramble.
- Transfer the egg/broth mixture to a saucepan and cook over low heat for 5 to 7 minutes. Add in the cherries and cook for about 2 more minutes.
- Carve the chicken and put it on top of the toasted bread, then pour the sauce over it and serve it forth. Eat with your hands instead of forks for extra authenticity.
Notes
- Mace comes from the outside of a nutmeg seed and tastes similar to nutmeg with notes of cinnamon and black pepper. It's used in a lot of historical recipes and is definitely worth getting.
- Link to mace: https://amzn.to/3SMkVJ5
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