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[Chicken in Elderflower Sauce]
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Take chicken and hens and scald them; cut them into pieces, and cook them; when they are cooked, thicken with egg yolk and almond milk; then take elder f lowers and add salt and grind them together in a mortar. On a fish day, make the mixture with a quantity of burbot or other fish. Gather the flowers in season, when they are in full bloom, and keep them until they are dry; then grind them and keep them for the whole year. A-N.A 24
Dried elderflowers are most easily found at health food stores nowadays; if you can find fresh ones in season, usually June, they will be whiter and make a prettier sauce, but not necessarily a tastier one.
Chicken in Elderflower Sauce
| Imperial | Metric | Ingredient |
| 2 1/2 lbs | 1100 g | chicken, cut up |
| 2-4 oz | 3 dl | ground almonds |
| 5-6
¼-½ cup |
5-6
1 dl |
clusters elderflowers
or dried elderflowers |
| 1 tsp | 1 tsp | salt (or to taste) |
| 4
or 1 tbsp and 2-3 |
4
or 1 tbsp and 2-3 |
egg yolks
or rice flour and egg yolks plus |
| optional: | ||
| 1/8 tsp | 1/8 tsp | ground ginger
(not in original recipe, but advisable) |
- Poach chicken or fish in salted water, simmering until cooked (35 minutes for chicken, no more than 10 for fish).
- Strain the broth and use 2 cups to draw up almond milk (see introduction, xxi).
- If using fresh elderflowers, strip carefully from their green stems at the last minute (this is the most burdensome part of the whole procedure, but you must try to get out all bits of green and grind the elderf lowers with the salt; add to the almond milk.
- If using rice flour (to supplement the smaller quantity of egg yolks), mix it with a little cold water and stir in. Beat the almond milk/ elderf lower mixture into the (beaten) egg yolks; stir this sauce over fairly low heat until it thickens, avoiding boiling especially if not using rice flour.
- Season with ginger, as desired. Skin the chicken pieces, or remove any skin and bones from fish, and cover with the sauce to serve. Reheat (gently) if necessary.