"Īlthough coronation chicken is now famous as a sandwich filling, at the time of its creation it would have been a luxury. The recipe for Adelaide Sandwiches does include the diced breast of a fowl and is spiced with cayenne pepper, but, as food historian Annie Gray told me, "There is very little resemblance. Griselda Barton, Hume's niece, is quoted in author and food historian Sue Shephard's 2010 book, The Surprising Life of Constance Spry, as saying the main inspiration came from a recipe for Queen Adelaide's favourite sandwich in the 1886 cookbook Savouries à la Mode by Harriet Anne De Salis. Supposedly created for the Silver Jubilee of George V in 1935, a dish called Jubilee Chicken made with chicken, mayonnaise and curry powder is often said to be a precursor, but there's very little evidence for this theory.
Spry said she doubted any of those served the dish would have recognised it as a curry, instead describing it as having "a delicate and nut-like flavour".Īccording to Freya Perryman, communications officer from Le Cordon Bleu London, "The recipe was created by Rosemary Hume and Constance Spry, with the main credit going to Hume, and we understand that students helped to fine-tune."Įxactly where the inspiration for the dish came from is a matter of speculation. The dish was accompanied by a well-seasoned salad of rice, green peas and pimentos. Served cold, the original recipe involved poaching chicken in water and wine before coating it in a creamy sauce consisting of mayonnaise, whipped cream, apricot and tomato purée, curry powder, lemon, pepper and red wine. Out of this was born coronation chicken, or as it was listed on the menu, "Poulet Reine Elizabeth". As students were serving the food, and the kitchen at the venue was too small to produce anything hot except for soup and coffee, the menu had to be simple but also appropriate for such a historic event. In 1953, the Minister of Works asked Le Cordon Bleu London culinary school – run by Constance Spry, a celebrated florist, and Rosemary Hume, a cook and author – to serve lunch at Westminster School for 350 foreign representatives invited to attend the coronation. But how did it all begin and how might one find it today, especially in light of the upcoming coronation of Charles III and Camilla on 6 May? Invented for a luncheon during the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, coronation chicken is a dish of diced chicken with a creamy sauce and touch of curry powder that has endured – and evolved – in British cuisine for 70 years.
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