coronation chicken — United Kingdom

Coronation chicken is a cold dish of poached, diced chicken folded into a mild curry-spiced sauce built on mayonnaise, cream and a fruit purée, usually studded with sultanas and finished with flaked almonds. It sits within a wider British tradition of curry-flavoured cold sauces developed for buffet-style entertaining. It is reported from London, where it was devised for a banquet marking the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953, and it has remained a fixture of British celebration catering and sandwich counters since. It appears widely at receptions, garden parties and as a filling for sandwiches and jacket potatoes. To prepare it, chicken is poached and left to cool, then diced. A sauce is made by softening onion in butter with curry powder, adding wine and apricot purée, then simmering briefly and cooling before it is folded together with mayonnaise, cream and lemon juice. The chicken and sultanas are stirred through the sauce, which is chilled before serving, scattered with flaked almonds. Cooks vary the strength of the curry powder, the choice of apricot jam, mango chutney or fresh apricot purée for sweetness, and the ratio of mayonnaise to cream, which shifts the dish from mild and creamy to sharper and more heavily spiced. Coriander is sometimes stirred in for a fresher finish, but the base of poached chicken, curried mayonnaise and dried fruit stays constant.