Traditional British Food, Part 8: Lancashire Chicken Salad

In Lancashire, there is a traditional dish called Hindle Wakes, which is a cold, prune-stuffed chicken slathered in cold lemon-cream sauce. It was supposedly brought to Lancashire (Bolton-le-Moors, specifically, parish church pictured above) in the fourteenth century by Flemish weavers.* I thought this was a rather fussy and baroque recipe, better suited to a Victorian picnic than a weeknight dinner in twenty-first century Kansas. So, I turned it into a sandwich, because I thought that the flavor combination sounded interesting. Thankfully, I was not disappointed. The sandwiches turned out to be very tasty and not difficult to make. I've adapted my recipe from Jane Grigson's Hindle Wakes recipe.

Lancashire Chicken Salad


For 4 people:

½ tablespoon butter
½ tablespoon flour
¼ cup milk
½ cup (homemade) chicken stock
5 tablespoons heavy cream
Juice and zest from half of a lemon
3 cups cooked chicken, shredded
½ cup pitted prunes, chopped
1 sprig parsley, minced
4 croissants, split and lightly toasted
4 leaves of crisp lettuce (such as iceberg)

In a saucepan over medium-low heat, make a roux with the butter and flour then add the stock then milk. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the cream, lemon juice and zest, and heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Remove the sauce from the stove and stir in the chicken and prunes, along with the parsley.

Line one half of each toasted croissant with lettuce and top with chicken salad. Top with other half of croissant.

Print

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Last night, I went to the introductory lecture of the Jane Austen Challenge at Watermark. There were at least forty people there! I think the challenge is going to be fun. Paul and I are going to the showing of Becoming Jane on Friday.

I've also finished the back of my Lady's Jumper from Knitting Fashions of the 1940s. My goal is for it to be ready by the fall.

*Jane Grigson, British Cookery (Ipswich: W S Cowell Ltd, 1984), 146; photo from Earth in Pictures website