{"id":1130,"date":"2010-07-01T19:59:52","date_gmt":"2010-07-01T17:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coquinaria.nl\/?p=1130\/"},"modified":"2022-02-15T10:18:53","modified_gmt":"2022-02-15T09:18:53","slug":"chicken-with-redcurrant-sauce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coquinaria.nl\/en\/chicken-with-redcurrant-sauce\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicken with redcurrant sauce"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Straight to the recipe<\/small><\/a><\/p>\n

A bright summer-sauce from the sixteenth century<\/h2>\n

\"TheBlackbirds, thrushes, finches – who doesn’t enjoy hearing these beautifully singing birds? Except of course if you happen to grow currants in your garden. Then suddenly these birds turn into voracious monsters that plunder the bushes before you’ve had the chance to harvest a single bunch of currants!<\/p>\n

The recipe on this page uses redcurrants (Ribes rubrum<\/em>), homegrown or from the greengrocer’s. The Ribes-family contains many varieties, but only three are generally used in the kitchen: redcurrants (whitecurrants that are simply a deviant sort of redcurrants), blackcurrants (Ribes nigrum<\/em>), and gooseberries (Ribes grossularia<\/em>). These are indigenous to Europe, but came late into cultivation: first gooseberries in the thirteenth century (see the recipe for\u00a0roast mackerel with three sauces<\/a>), around 1500 redcurrants (especially in the Netherlands and Danmark), and a century later blackcurrants.<\/p>\n

In Dutch currants have several names. Not only (red<\/em>,\u00a0white <\/em>and black<\/em>)\u00a0berries<\/em>, but also\u00a0aalbessen<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Sint-Jansbessen<\/em>. They are called\u00a0Sint-Jansbessen<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0Saint-John’s Berries<\/em>\u00a0(German:\u00a0Johannisbeeren<\/em>) because the berries are ripe around the Celebration of Saint John the Baptist (June 24), and\u00a0aalbessen<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0aleberies<\/em>\u00a0because the juice was used to make drinks with. The English word\u00a0ale<\/em>\u00a0is related to the obsolete Dutch word\u00a0aal<\/em>, so\u00a0aalbessen<\/em>\u00a0could be translated into\u00a0drinkberries<\/em>\u00a0or simply\u00a0aleberries<\/em>. What kind of drinks can you make with berries? Redcurrant wine was once very populair in the Netherlands with women because of its sweet taste. Other drinks with currants are blackcurrant gin, Cr\u00eame de cassis<\/em>, and a soft drinks called cassis, to name a few (cassis<\/em>\u00a0is French for\u00a0blackcurrants<\/em>).<\/p>\n

\"Recipe<\/p>\n

In the untitled manuscript from around 1500 that is the source of the recipe below (signature UB Gent 476, editie Jansen-Sieben and Van Winter, see bibliography<\/a>), the dish is called most<\/em>\u00a0 (English:\u00a0must<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0stum<\/em>). The sauce is prepared with redcurrant juice and sugar and thickened with egg yolks. The very first recipe in this manuscript is also a\u00a0most<\/em>, but in that one the red wine is thickened with bread crumbs and coloured purple with\u00a0turnesole<\/a>. Both sauces are meant to be served with roast chicken. The name\u00a0most<\/em>\u00a0refers to very young wine, freshly pressed. All lexica I consulted mention this, none mention that is can also mean a kind of sauce. Oldfrench cookbooks also have their recipes for\u00a0most sauce<\/em>, like the\u00a0Viandier<\/em>\u00a0(late thirteenth century, edition Scully\u00a0recipe 38, see bibliography<\/a>) and the\u00a0M\u00e9nagier de Paris<\/em>\u00a0(late fourteenth century, edition Brereton and Ferrier\u00a0II v 150, see bibliography<\/a>). This sauce is also to be served with roast chapons, hens or cockerels, but there is no actual recipe. A younger manuscript of the\u00a0Viandier<\/em>\u00a0specifies that most sauce is prepared during winter by boiling together wine and sugar, and according to\u00a0M\u00e9nagier<\/em>\u00a0this is so in all seasons. This recipe is the ancestor of the first recipe in ms UB Gent 476. The version with currants is not mentioned in medieval French manuscript sources. The printed\u00a0Viandier<\/em>\u00a0from 1486 (edition Hyman\u00a0pp 46\/47, see bibliography<\/a>) mentions a\u00a0Most jehan<\/em>, also for roast chapons. But this is a milk sauce with herbs and sugar, something completely different.<\/p>\n

Another Dutch cookbook, the second part of the convolute KANTL Gent 15, shows a recipe for\u00a0Saus tot aelbesijen<\/em>\u00a0(Sauce with redcurrants<\/em>, editie Braekman\u00a0p.74, recipe 168,\u00a0see bibliography<\/a>) that bears resemblance to the\u00a0most<\/em>-recipe below. Here, redcurrants are boiled with wine, the juice is strained and thickened with egg yolks and butter. There is no serving suggestion.<\/p>\n

The original recipe<\/h2>\n

From ms UB Gent 476 (edition p.78). This manuscript has been published most recently: in 1998 the second, revised edition by Ria jansen-Sieben and Johanna Maria van Winter appeared.<\/p>\n

Om te maecken most [van ander].
\nMen sal nemen roode genyvers ende steken die doer een stromijn ende nemen dan dat sap ende doen daer doeyeren van eijers In ende makent alle leens gelijck alsmen eijcken lombaert maect ende doen suker daer In na dat ghijt suet hebben wilt dit machmen ouer gebraden hoenders ghieten of men macht oeck dienen alsmen eijcken lombaert doet<\/em><\/div>
To make most sauce (of something else).
\nOne will take red berries and work them through a sieve. Take the juice and add yolks of eggs, prepare it just like one makes\u00a0Italian eggs<\/em>\u00a0and add as much sugar as you want it sweet. This one can pour over roast chickens, or serve as\u00a0Italian eggs<\/em>.<\/div>\n
<\/div><\/p>\n

<\/a>Modern adaptation of the recipe<\/h2>\n

Redcurrant juice is brightly red in colour. If you add egg yolks, the colour will change to a lighter pinkish red. I used one yolk, and ended up with a slightly thickened, frothy sauce. If you want to serve this dish as\u00a0Italian eggs<\/em>\u00a0(zabaglione<\/em>,\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0is an authentic fifteenth century Italian recipe), simply add more yolks.
\nMain dish<\/span>\u00a0for 4 to 6 persons<\/span>, depending on menu and appetite;\u00a0preparation in advance<\/em>\u00a010 minutes<\/span><\/span>; preparation <\/em>\u00a015 minutes + roasting the chicken<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n

\"Roast1 small chicken<\/span> for roasting (about 2 pounds)
\n2 2\/3 cup (300 gr) red currants<\/span>
\n2 Tbsp (30 gr) sugar<\/span>
\n1 egg yolk<\/span><\/p>\n

Preparation in advance<\/h3>\n

Stem the currants with a fork. Obtain juice by pushing the currants through a sieve or passe-vite (food mill). Using a blender will result in squashed pips. With the finest plate in the passe-vite I obtained 170 ml (between 2\/3 and 3\/4 cup) juice from 2 2\/3 cup redcurrants.<\/p>\n

Preparation<\/h3>\n

Roast the chicken. I left the chicken pretty much as it was, just basted it with butter and put it in a convection oven at 125 \u00b0C\/255\u00a0\u00b0F, on a grill above a tin with some water. No salt, pepper or other spices added. After two hours I had a golden brown and succulent bird. Check the core temperature of the chicken to see whether it is done (80 \u00b0C\/175\u00a0\u00b0F). If you lack a thermometer, just prick with a knife between thigh and breast. If the liquid is clear, the chicken is ready. Before carving, leave the chicken on the worktop, covered with crinkled kitchen foil (shiny side inwards) for ten minutes. The chicken can be skinned and deboned before serving, just portioned, or even served whole to make a show of carving at the table.
\nYou can rub the chicken with spices if you want to, just take care not to use paprika or pre-mixed spices (most commercial spice mixes for chicken contain paprika). Paprika, like chili pepper and bell pepper, was not yet in use in Europe at the beginning of the sixteenth century.
\nAlternatively, you can roast the chicken in a\u00a0closed charcoal grill<\/a>\u00a0to get an authentic taste.\u00a0Here<\/a>\u00a0is another medieval recipe for barbecued chicken.<\/p>\n

Prepare the sauce just before serving. Whisk the egg yolk with sugar and add redcurrant juice. Pour this into a skillet with a thick bottom. Stir constantly (or use an electric hand mixer) at medium heat until the mixture has thickened without boiling. This can take five to ten minutes. Don’t forget to scrape the bottom and sides of the pan, or you’ll get a lumpy sauce. For a thicker sauce or zabaglione, simply use more yolks, but the colour will become less vibrant.<\/p>\n

To serve<\/h3>\n

Arrange the warm chicken meat on a serving dish or individual plates, en pour the sauce over or around it. When eating this dish ‘ in period’, with your fingers, the meat should not be served piping hot.<\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/h2>\n

All decriptions of ingredients<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Redcurrants\"<\/a>Redcurrants<\/h4>\n

Indigenous to Europe and Asia, as are other members of the\u00a0Ribes<\/em>-family, blackcurrants and gooseberries, but they are \u2018late-bloomers\u2019 with regard to culinary practise. According to Alan Davidson (The Oxford Companion to Food<\/em>) Redcurrants (Ribes rubrum<\/em>) are first mentioned in an unspecified German manuscript from the beginning of the fifteenth century, and are cultivated, especially in the Netherlands and Danmark, since early sixteenth century. Cultivation of blackberries (Ribes nigrum<\/em>) is even more recent, in the seventeenth century. The French drink\u00a0Cr\u00eame de cassis<\/em>\u00a0(used in\u00a0Kir<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Kir Royal<\/em>) is made with blackberries, as is the soft drink Cassis. Whiteberries are spontaneous varations of redcurrants, sweeter in taste. They are least in use in the kitchen. Gooseberries are cultivated since early thirteenth century. There are several medieval\u00a0recipes with gooseberries<\/a>, but hardly any with currants. It seems however that currants were used in medicine, especially in treatment of skin diseases (according to this\u00a0source<\/a>\u00a0the eleventh-century Persian scientist\u00a0Avicenna<\/a>\u00a0already mentions them in this capacity).
\nIn Dutch currants have several names. Similar to English (rode<\/em>,\u00a0witte a<\/em>nd\u00a0zwarte<\/em>)\u00a0bessen<\/em>, but also\u00a0aalbessen<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Sint-Jansbessen<\/em>. They are called\u00a0Sint-Jansbessen<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0Saint-John\u2019s Berry<\/em>\u00a0(German:\u00a0Johannisbeeren<\/em>) because the berries are ripe around the Celebration of Saint John the Baptist (June 24),\u00a0aalbessen<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0aleberies<\/em>\u00a0because the juice was used to make drinks with. The English word\u00a0ale<\/em>\u00a0is related to the obsolete Dutch word\u00a0aal<\/em>, so\u00a0aalbessen<\/em>\u00a0could be translated into\u00a0drinkberries<\/em>\u00a0or simply\u00a0aleberries<\/em>. What kind of drinks can you make with berries? Redcurrant wine (once very populair in the Netherlands amongst women because of its sweet taste), blackcurrant gin, Cr\u00eame de cassis, cassis soft drinks, to name a few (cassis<\/em>\u00a0is French for\u00a0blackcurrants<\/em>).<\/p>\n

<\/a>Bibliography<\/h2>\n

The editions below were used by me. Links refer to available editions.<\/p>\n