A Hen on her Nest

Name: A Hen on her Nest
Yield: Serves 8
Cuisine: United Kingdom
Ingredients: 8 eggs; ⅝ cup (1.5 dl) double cream; Salt and pepper; Salt and pepper; 3 lb (1½ kg) potatoes, peeled; 1¼ sticks (150 g) butter; ½ cup (60 g) flour; 1⅞ cups (4.5 dl) milk; 1 teaspoon ground ginger; 1 teaspoon ground mace; Parsley and thyme; Parsley and thyme; 1 boiling fowl, 5 to 6 lb (2½ to 3 kg); 4 medium onions; ½ lb (240 g) carrots

Preparation info

Serves
8

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

English Provincial Cooking

By Elisabeth Ayrton

Published 1980

About

This nineteenth-century Norfolk recipe was originally a way of cooking an old hen so that she would be tender, and also so that she would provide a good meal for a farmer’s large family.

Ingredients

1 boiling fowl, 5 to 6 lb (2½ to 3 kg)
½ lb (

Europe
United Kingdom
East Anglia
Side dish
Main course
England

Method

Boil the chicken with the carrots, onions, mace, ginger, herbs and seasoning in just enough water to cover for 2 hours. Lift out the bird and put it in a roasting tin; spread it with ½ stick (60 g) of th