| Coronation chicken | |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Creator: | Constance Spry and Rosemary Hume |
| Main Ingredient: | Chicken meat, herbs and spices, cream or mayonnaise-based sauce |
Coronation chicken or Poulet Reine Elizabeth[1] is an English dish of boneless chicken traditionally seasoned with parsley, thyme, bay leaf, cumin, turmeric, ginger and peppercorns, mixed with cream or mayonnaise, and dried apricots (or sultanas).[2] Some modern variations also incorporate cinnamon. It is served cold and eaten as a salad with rice, peas and pimentos,[3] or used as a filling for sandwiches.[4] It was created by Constance Spry, an English food writer and flower arranger, and Rosemary Hume, a chef, for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.
Normally bright yellow, coronation chicken is traditionally flavoured with curry powder and fresh or dried herbs and spices, but may also include additional ingredients such as flaked almonds, raisins, and crème fraîche.
The original dish differs from modern versions in that it calls for apricot puree rather than raisins. The chicken is first poached in diluted, seasoned white wine, before being coated in a mayonnaise-based cream of curry sauce and arranged atop a rice salad.[5]
Constance Spry, an English food writer and flower arranger, and Rosemary Hume,[6] a chef, both principals of the Cordon Bleu Cookery School in London, are credited with the invention of coronation chicken.[7] [8] Preparing the food for the banquet of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, Hume[9] is credited with the recipe of cold chicken, curry cream sauce and dressing that became known as coronation chicken.[10]
Coronation chicken may have been inspired by jubilee chicken, a dish prepared for the silver jubilee of George V in 1935, which mixed chicken with mayonnaise and curry. Additionally, for the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002, another celebratory dish was devised, also called Jubilee chicken.