 | |
| Place of origin | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Created by | Constance Spry and Rosemary Hume |
| Main ingredients | Chicken meat, herbs and spices, mayonnaise-based sauce |
Coronation chicken or Poulet Reine Elizabeth[1] is an English dish of chicken in a spiced mayonnaise sauce. It is eaten as a salad or as a filling for sandwiches.[2] 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 usually flavoured with curry powder or curry paste, though some recipes call for fresh herbs and spices and 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, and uses curry powder instead of Indian curry paste made from scratch. 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.[3]
Constance Spry, an English food writer and flower arranger, and Rosemary Hume,[4] a chef, both principals of the Cordon Bleu Cookery School in London, are credited with the invention of coronation chicken.[5][6] Preparing the food for the banquet of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, Hume[7] is credited with the recipe of cold chicken, curry cream sauce and dressing that became known as coronation chicken.[8]
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.[citation needed] Additionally, for the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002, another celebratory dish was devised, also called Jubilee chicken.[5]
