The French Origins of Hannah Glasse’s ‘Fried Chicken’ Recipe

1747 saw the publication in London of the first edition of the English cookery writer Hannah Glasse’s book The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy. Glasse’s book quickly gained huge popularity, both in England and in the British colonies of North America.

In her book, Glasse rails against the upper-class English obsession with French cuisine and sought to present a simpler, more accessible, and more English style of cookery. Referring to the English elites of the day, Glasse writes: ‘So much is the blind folly of this age, that they would rather be imposed on by a French booby, than give encouragement to a good English cook!’ Despite this disparagement of French chefs, Glasse could not escape from the French influence on English cookery, as we shall see.

Among the many recipes included by Glasse, we find To marinate Chickens. This recipe, which features the frying of battered chickens in hog’s lard, has been highlighted by writers who are seeking to understand the origins of ‘Southern fried chicken’. Adrian Miller, for example, in his book Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time (2013), writes:

While it’s difficult to assert a clear African provenance for American-style fried chicken, some evidence points to Britain. The earliest written recipe that looks like the American-style preparation appeared in 1747 in Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy. The British cook-book was wildly popular in the American colonies during the eighteenth century, and American housewives who made the dish would have followed Glasse’s recipe.

Glasse’s recipe reads as follows:

Cut two chickens into quarters, lay them in vinegar for three or four hours, with pepper, salt, a bay-leaf, and a few cloves, make a very thick batter, first with half a pint of wine and flour, then the yolks of two eggs, a little melted butter; some grated nutmeg and chopped parsley; beat all very well together, dip your fowls in the batter, and fry them in a good deal of hog’s lard, which must first boil before you put your chickens in. Let them be of a fine brown, and lay them in your dish like a pyramid, with fried parsley all round them. Garnish with lemon, and have some good gravy in boats or basons.

While Glasse’s book may have been the greatest populariser of this recipe, her version is far from the earliest written example of this dish. In fact, the recipe’s origins are found in 17th century France.

In 1656, Pierre de Lune’s Le Cuisinier was published in Paris. The author was the chef to Henri de Rohan, Duke of Rohan and Prince of Léon. In the book, we find a recipe titled Marinade de poulets:

Mettez les poulets par morceaux, les faites tremper en vinaigre, sel, poivre, cloux, siboulles, laurier, faites une paste bien claire avec farine, vin blanc, jaunes d’œufs detrempez dedans, & les faites frires en lard fondu, servez en piramide avec persil frit, citrons par tranches.

Roughly translated, this recipe for A Marinade of Chickens reads as follows:

Cut the chickens into pieces; lay them in vinegar, salt, pepper, cloves, chives, and a bay leaf; make a very clear batter with flour, white wine, and egg yolks, and dip them in it; fry them in melted bacon fat, and serve them in a pyramid with fried parsley and sliced lemons.

Skipping forward a few decades, François Massialot’s Le Cuisinier Royal et Bourgeois was published in Paris in 1691. Massialot was head chef for a number of elite Frenchmen, including Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, and in the book’s preface he states that the recipes it contains ‘have all been served at court or in the houses of princes, and of people of the first rank’. The book offers another Marinade de Poulets:

Mettez vos Poulets par quartiers, & faites-les mariner au jus de citron & verjus, ou vinaigre, sel, poivre, clous, ciboules & laurier. Laissez-les dans cette Marinade l’espace de trois heures: ensuite faites une pâte claire, avec farine, vin blanc & jaunes d’œufs; trempez-y vos Poulets, & les faites frire dans du lard fondu, ou du saindoux; & servez en piramide, avec persil frit & tranches de citron, si c’est pour en faire un plat particulier.

An English translation of Massialot’s book was published in London in 1702, under the title The Court and Country Cook, in which we read:

A Marinade of Chickens.

Let your Chickens be cut into quarters, and marinated, with Lemmon-juice and Verjuice, or with Vinegar, Pepper, Salt, Cloves, Chibbols [spring onion] and a Bay-leaf or two. Leave them in this Marinade for a space of three Hours, and having made a sort of clear Paste or Batter, with Flower, white Wine and the Yolks of Eggs, dip your Chickens into it: Then fry them in Lard, and let them be serv’d up in the form of a Pyramid, with fry’d Parsley and Slices of Lemmon, if you design to make a particular Dish of them.

In the book, this dish is also referred to as A Marinade of fryed Chickens.

Louis Liger’s Dictionnaire pratique du bon menager de campagne et de ville was published in Paris in 1715. The book includes a Marinade de Poulets recipe.

The second edition of royal chef Patrick Lamb’s Royal Cookery appeared in London in 1716, and features a recipe titled To make a Marinade of Chickens. We can safely assume that Lamb himself was not the source of the recipe, as the book was published a number of years after his death (1708 or 1709) and it did not appear in the first edition. Nonetheless, a pseudonymous English chef was clearly preparing this dish in his kitchens. The recipe reads as follows:

Cut your Chickens in Quarters, and lay them to marinate for three Hours in Juice of Lemon, and Verjuice or Vinegar, Salt, Pepper, Cloves, Cives [chives] and Bay-Leafs. Then make a Batter with Flower, Salt, Water, one or two Eggs, and some melted Butter; and having well beaten all this together, drain your Chickens well and dry them with a clean Napkin; dip them in the Batter, and fry them in Hogs-Lard: When they are come to a good Colour, lay them in a Dish with fry’d Parsly, and serve them for the first Course, or Hors-d’Oeuvres; or use them for Garnishings.

Note, We sometimes drudge them well with Flower [flour] instead of dipping them in Batter; but then the Hogs-Lard must be very hot, before you put them into the Pan.

The author adds: ‘We marinate Pigeons and Partridges just as we do Chickens… We fry and use them likewise in the same Manner’. Further recipes for marinated veal cutlets and marinated fish follow a similar pattern.

This recipe is interesting in that it dispenses with the serving of the fried chicken ‘in the form of a pyramid’, as well as the lemon garnish (which would continue to appear in many recipes for this dish, including that of Glasse). The batter of Massialot (‘Flower, white Wine and the Yolks of Eggs’) is altered: ‘Flower, Salt, Water, one or two Eggs, and some melted Butter’. It is also particularly interesting in its reference to flour-breading being used as an alternative to battering. The seasoned chicken pieces are ‘sometimes’ dredged ‘well’ in flour, before being fried in hog’s lard and garnished with fried parsley. Already, in early 18th century England, then, the later canonical ‘Southern’ method of frying chicken was in use. Only the gravy accompaniment is missing, but Glasse adds that later.

Regarding the fried pigeons, they appear in a number of English cookery books, following the French example. Massialot instructs that marinated pigeons may be ‘flower’d when all over Wet; in order to be gently fried’. Glasse writes: ‘roll them in the yolk of an egg, shake flour and crumbs of bread thick all over’; Eliza Fowler Haywood, in her A New Present for a Servant-Maid (1771), states: ‘dip them in whites of eggs, and dredge them well with flour’, adding: ‘lay them handsomely in a dish, and serve them up with gravy in a sauceboat’.

In 1723, The Cook’s and Confectioner’s Dictionary, authored by John Nott, the chef for the Duke of Bolton, was published in London. In the book’s introduction, Nott notes his inclusion of ‘many Receipts, according to the Practice of the best Masters in the Arts of Cookery and Confectionary of France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and other Countries’, and states that the book would be of use to ‘British Housewives’ who wished to ‘distinguish’ themselves, as well as ‘Cooks, &c. in Taverns, Eating-Houses, and publick Inns’, and ‘those who have the ordering of noble tables’. Recipe 121 is titled To marinate Chickens:

Quarter the Chickens, and lay them for two or three Hours, to marinate in Vinegar or Verjuice, and Juice of Lemon, Salt, Pepper, Cloves, bay Leaves and Cives; then make a sort of clear Paste or Batter with Flour, White-wine or Water, the Yolks of Eggs, Salt, and melted Butter; beat all these well together, drain your Chickens, and dry them with a Cloth, dip them into it, and fry them in Hog’s Lard; and when they are well colour’d, dish them up in the Form of a Pyramid, and serve them up with fry’d Parsley and Slices of Lemon.

Two years later, an English translation of Noel Chomel’s Dictionaire Oeconomique was published in London (‘Done into English from the Second Edition, lately printed at Paris’). To have a Marinade of Chickens reads as follows:

To have a Marinade of Chickens, let them be cut into Quarters and marinaded, with Lemon Juice and Verjuice; or with Vinegar, Pepper, Salt, Cloves, Chibbols, and a Bay-leaf or two: Leave them in this Marinade for the Space of three Hours, and having made a Sort of clear Paste or Batter, with Flower, White-wine, and the Yolks of Eggs, dip your Chickens into it; then fry them in Lard, and let them be serv’d up in Form of a Pyramid, with fry’d Parsley and Slices of Lemon, if you design to make a particular Dish of them.

Vincent La Chapelle’s The Modern Cook was published in London in 1733. La Chapelle, a Frenchman, was Chief Cook to the Earl of Chesterfield. In his book, we find a recipe titled Chickens Marinet:

Take Chickens, pick, sindge, and draw them, then cut them in pieces as you do for a Fricassée of Chickens. Put them in a Stew-pan, with sliced Onions, Sweet-Basil, Parsley in Sprigs, Salt, Pepper, Cloves, a good bit of Butter, and a little Broth, the Juice of three or four Lemons, and put them on the Fire, to let them take a Relish; then take them out to drain. Whip some Whites of Eggs, dip your Chickens in it, and afterwards in Flower. You must have some Hog’s-lard on the Fire to fry them directly; when they are fry’d, dress them in their Dish, and garnish it with fry’d Parsley, and serve it hot for a Course or Bye-Dish.

This is recognisably a version of the Marinade de Poulets of La Chapelle’s predecessor Massialot, with some adjustments and additions, including a switch from battering to flour-breading before frying.

John Middleton’s Five Hundred New Receipts was published in London in 1734. Middleton, states the book, was ‘Cook to His Grace the Late Duke of Bolton’. Middleton’s many recipes include To fry Chickens:

After having cut your Chickens in quarters, lay them in Vinegar, Salt, Pepper, Cloves, Chives, and the Juice of a Lemon; then make a Batter of Flour, Milk, and Water, a little Salt, one Egg, and some good Butter; beat all well together, dry your Chickens, dip them in the Batter, fry them in Butter, and lay them in your Dish with fry’d Parsley, so serve them in small Dishes.

This recipe is of interest. While it is clearly based on the Marinade de poulets, the batter differs from previous recipes, as does the instruction to fry the battered chicken pieces in butter, as opposed to lard, which harks back to earlier English recipes for fried chicken such as that of Elizabeth Grey (1653). Also of interest is the change of name for this dish, with the frying taking precedence over the marinating.

Dictionarium Domesticum, by the English writer Nathan Bailey, was published in London in 1736. In Bailey’s book, we find a return to the ‘standard’ method of preparing the Marinade de poulets:

A Marinade of Chickens.

Cut the chickens into quarters, and marinade them in the juice of lemons and verjuice, or with vinegar, salt, clove, pepper, chibols: or a bay leaf or two: Let them lie in this marinade for the space of three hours, then having made a sort of clear paste or batter with flour, white wine and the yolks of three eggs, drop the chickens into it, then fry them in lard, and serve them up in the form of a pyramid, with fry’d parsley and slices of lemon.

Finally, in 1743, T. Read’s The Lady’s Companion was published in London. Read includes the following recipe, titled To marinate Chickens:

Take Chickens, quarter them, and lay them for two or three Hours to marinate in Vinegar or Verjuice, and Juice of Lemon, Salt, Pepper, Cloves, Bay-Leaves, and Cives; then make a Sort of clear Paste or Batter with Flour, White-Wine or Water, the Yolks of Eggs, Salt and melted Butter; beat all these well together, drain your Chickens, and dry them with a Cloth, dip them into it, and fry them in Hog’s Lard; and, when they are well coloured, dish them up in the Form of a Pyramid, and serve them up with fry’d Parsley and Slices of Lemon.

Four years later, Hannah Glasse published her version of the recipe. Glasse provides a few interesting twists. Her recipe is obviously simpler than the English variants that preceded her, although she keeps John Nott and T. Read’s title for the dish. Glasse discards the lemon juice and spring onion from the marinade; she removes white wine from the batter, but adds grated nutmeg and chopped parsley; and, perhaps most significantly, in regard to how fried chicken dishes would go on to evolve in the South, she instructs that gravy should be sent as an accompaniment.

Nonetheless, despite Glasse’s tweaking of To Marinate Chickens, this is evidently a variant of the French Marinade de poulets dish that was in print at least 91 years prior to the publication of her book. Hannah Glasse may have disliked ‘French boobies’, but her fried chicken recipe ultimately finds its origins in their culinary works.

French and English fried chicken recipes post-Glasse

Sarah Phillips’ The Ladies Handmaid (London, 1758) has a To marinate Chickens recipe, as does John Townshend’s The Universal Cook (London, 1773). Echoing the pseudonymous English author posing as Patrick Lamb in 1716, both write: ‘Some drudge them with flour instead of dipping them in batter; but then the hog’s lard must be very hot before you put them in the pan’. Post-Glasse, then, English cookery books continued to offer flour-breading of seasoned chicken pieces as an alternative to battering.

Eliza Fowler Haywood’s A New Present for a Servant-Maid (London, 1771) includes To fry Veal marinated, which employs a familiar style of marinade, flour-dredging, frying in hog’s lard, and serving with fried parsley and gravy. Haywood’s To fry Pigeons calls for pieces of seasoned pigeon to be dipped in egg whites, dredged in flour, fried in hog’s lard, and served with gravy. Her To fry Chickens recipe, however, departs from the marinade-based tradition and presents a stripped-down, basic version of fried chicken:

First make a batter for them thus: Beat up three eggs in a little salt and water, add to this a quarter of a pound of butter, nicely melted, and a sufficient quantity of flour to make it of a proper consistency. When this is ready, cut your chickens into quarters, dip them into the batter, and fry them in hog’s lard. When they are enough, lay them in a dish, and garnish it with fried parsley. Send them to table with rich gravy in a sauceboat.

This is essentially Glasse’s recipe with the marinade jettisoned. Haywood was not unfamiliar with the marinating process – indeed, she uses it in her recipes for fried veal and fried pigeons – so this approach to fried chicken appears to be a choice on her part, and this arguably constitutes an interesting innovation in the evolution of the dish.

Menon’s La Cuisinière bourgeoise was published in Paris in 1746. In 1793, a translation of Menon’s book was published in London as The French Family Cook, and includes a recipe titled To marinate Chickens. The instructions read: ‘Cut them up, and steep and fry them in the same manner as the breast of veal’.

Menon’s A Breast of Veal fried reads as follows:

Cut a breast of veal into pieces about the length of your finger: put a bit of butter mixed with a spoonful of flour into a stew-pan, with salt, pepper, vinegar, parsley and scallions [green onions], thyme, laurel, basil, three cloves, onions, carrots or turnips, and a little water; mix them over the fire till they are lukewarm. Steep your meat in this marinade three hours; and having dried and floured it, fry it of a good colour, and serve it garnished with fried parsley.

Esther Copley, in her book The Cook’s Complete Guide (London, 1810), dispenses with the marinades and hog’s lard of the French tradition and returns to older, more English methods (with some echoes of the 1653 To fry Chickens recipe of Elizabeth Grey). Copley’s To fry Chickens reads:

Cut your chickens into quarters, and rub them with the yolk of an egg; then strew on them some crumbs of bread, with pepper, salt, grated nutmeg, and lemon-peel, and chopped parsley. Fry them in butter, and when done, put them into your dish before the fire. For sauce, thicken some gravy with a little flour, and put into it a small quantity of cayenne pepper, some mushroom powder or catsup, and a little lemon juice. When it is properly heated, pour it over the chickens, and serve it up.

Despite her departure from the Marinade de poulets, the French influence remains clear, with the combination of breadcrumbs, nutmeg, lemon peel, and parsley, as well as the mushroom powder and lemon juice of the gravy, all of which hark back to the 17th century French cuisine of the kind made popular by François Pierre La Varenne. On this, see Freedman (ed, 2007), Cumo (ed, 2013), Pinkard (2009), and Peterson (2017).

Louis Eustache Ude’s The French Cook was published in London in 1813. Ude includes a number of recipes similar to the Marinade de poulets so often found in the cookery books of English writers:

Marinade of Chickens à la St. Florentin:

Take two very young fat pullets; singe them, till they be firm, cut them into pieces as if to make a fricassée; put them into an earthen-pot with a few leaves of parsley, a few slices of onion, a little salt and pepper; then squeeze a lemon over the limbs, which marinate for a couple of hours. This marinade is to be stirred every now and then. At dinner time you drain the chickens, beat the whites of two eggs, dip your pieces first into these, next into flour; cover them all over that they may all equally be made of a good colour, then fry them, but take care the dripping be not too hot, for fear the chickens should be too brown and not done through; drain them on a clean towel, and serve under them a poivrade, or la sauce aux tomates.

Friteau de Poulets gras:

This dish is prepared as that above, but is to be garnished with a few fried eggs. Serve up with the same sauce aux tomates.

Members of Chickens au Soleil, or Marinade cuite:

The marinade cuite is to be prepared in the following manner; put a little butter in a stew-pan, with four shalots, an onion, and a carrot, cut into dice, a little parsley, some few roots ditto, a bay leaf, a little thyme, clove, and some spice. Let the whole lay on the fire till the vegetables be of a light brown; then moisten a little vinegar and water. When the marinade is done enough, season it, give it a high relish, then pour it over the members of the chickens; let the whole boil for a minute or two, and then let it cool till dinner time; then drain the members, dip them into proper paste, and fry them. Serve under them a brown poivrade.

Marinade of Chickens à la Ortie:

This is the same as St. Florentin, No.35, with the only difference that you mix crumbs of bread with the flour, into which the limbs are to be dipped.

These recipes clearly stand in continuity with Glasse’s recipe, but they also differ in how the chicken should be fried. Glasse batters her chickens, but here we see three options: flour-breading, dipping in ‘proper paste‘ (a butter and flour mixture), and breading with a mixture of bread crumbs and flour.

Fouret Viard’s Le Cuisinier Royal appeared in Paris in 1822. The book includes a Marinade de Poulets recipe.

1824 saw the publication in London of Antoine B. Beauvilliers’ The Art of French Cookery, which includes two French fried chicken recipes:

Marinade de Poulets:

Cut up two roasted fowls, marinade them half an hour, (see Marinade cuite) drain and dip them into a (pâte à frire) batter, which has been made with whites only; fry the marinade as directed above; when it is enough, and of a fine colour, drain upon a cloth; dish upon fried parsley, or only with a bouquet, or small bunch on the top.

Poulets en Friteau:

Cut up two fowls as for a fricassée, put them into an earthen dish with slices of onions, branches of parsley, salt, large pepper, and the juice of two or three lemons; leave them to marinade an hour; drain them and put them into a cloth, with a handful of flour; shake them in it, and lay them upon a cover; when the friture has come to its degree, put in first the legs, a little after the breasts, and then the wings, the back, and so on till it is all in; when cooked of a fine colour, it may be served with six fresh eggs laid over, and a poivrade under it.

The first recipe calls for battering, while the second features flour-breading.

French Domestic Cookery was published in London in 1825. Authored by ‘an English Physician, Many Years resident on the Continent’, the book includes three recipes for fried chicken:

Poulet frit. — Fried Chicken:

Cut up two chickens. Then put a quarter of a pound of butter, mixed with a spoonful of flour, into a stewpan, with pepper, salt, vinegar, parsley, and green onions, thyme, bay leaf, basil, two or three cloves, onions, carrots or turnips, and a little water; mix these over the fire until they are lukewarm. Steep the chickens in this marinade during three hours; then, having dried the pieces, and floured them, fry of a good colour, garnishing with fried parsley.

Poulet frit. — Fried Chicken. Second Receipt:

Take a chicken, and having divided it in quarters, soak them with the giblets in warm water; then let them steep two or three hours over some hot cinders, in a mixture of vinegar, stock, salt and pepper, parsley, green onions, and a bay leaf; drain them, and dip them into the white of an egg whipt up; flour, fry, and serve them, garnished with fried parsley.

Poulet frit. — Fried Chicken. Third Receipt:

Singe two chickens till they are firm; cut them up; put them into a saucepan with a little parsley and sliced onion, seasoning to your taste, and adding some lemon-juice to make the whole rather acid. Let them steep in this marinade for about two hours, stirring occasionally. When you are ready to serve, drain the chickens, beat up the whites of two eggs, and dip the pieces alternately into the egg and into flour, covering them well; then fry, being cautious that the dripping is not too hot, or the chicken will be burnt and not done through: place the pieces as done on a clean cloth, and send them up dry, with fried parsley, or with a poivrade or tomata sauce.

Again, the continuity with the Marinade de poulets is clear, although flour-breading is employed, instead of battering. The first recipe is a slightly revised version of Menon’s To marinate Chickens, found in his The French Family Cook (1793).

In 1836, The Young Cook’s Guide by I. Roberts (Cook to William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester) was published in London. The book billed itself as ‘A New Treatise on French and English Cookery, Combining Economy with Elegance’ and includes a recipe titled Friture of Chicken:

Take two young chickens, cut them up as if for a fricassée, put them into a basin, with a shalot sliced, a bay-leaf, parsley, and a little spice, pepper, and salt, and a lemon squeezed over them; let the chicken remain thus for three or four hours, then drain them, beat the whites of two eggs, dip the pieces first into it, next into flour, then fry them in hot lard of a nice colour, not too brown, drain them on a clean cloth, serve under them remoulade sauce.

Again, despite a number of obvious differences, this clearly stands in continuity with Glasse’s recipe.

Alexis Soyer’s The Modern Housewife, Or Ménagère (London, 1850) also features a recipe for Fried Fowl:

When you have cut the pieces as before, put them into a basin with a little salt and pepper, a spoonful of oil, and two of vinegar, and a little chopped eschalot, stir them well in it, and let remain for half an hour, have ready a quantity of batter, and take a fork and dip each piece one after the other into it, and then let it drop into the frying-pan, in which is sufficient hot fat to cover them; fry a nice colour, and serve in the form of a pyramid, with fried parsley over, or any sauce you like under.

Isabella Beeton’s hugely successful Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management (1861) includes a Fried Fowls recipe which uses ‘the remains of cold roast fowls’:

Cut the fowl into nice joints; steep them for an hour in a little vinegar, with salt, cayenne, and minced shalots. Make the batter by mixing the flour and water smoothly together; melt in it the butter, and add the whites of egg beaten to a froth; take out the pieces of fowl, dip them in the batter, and fry, in boiling lard, a nice brown. Pile them high in the dish, and garnish with fried parsley or rolled bacon. When approved, a sauce or gravy may be served with them.

This is obviously a 19th century English cousin of the Marinade de poulets recipe. Both Soyer and Beeton are clearly harking back to the 17th century Marinade de poulets recipe, whether they realise it or not.

A final recipe of note is that found in A Second Dudley Book of Cookery and Other Recipes, Collected and Arranged by Georgina, Countess of Dudley (London, 1914). The book’s compiler, Georgina Ward, was a well-known British noblewoman, who lived a life surrounded by great wealth and luxury. Among the dishes she included in her book, we find Fried Chicken Pembroke (Pembroke refers to Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park, London, home to the Countess after the death of her husband William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley). The recipe reads as follows:

One fowl, a mirepoix consisting of bacon, carrot, onion, bay leaf, two cloves and savoury herbs, one pint of stock, two ounces of butter, half an ounce of flour, one glass of white wine, the yolks of three eggs, one whole egg, lemon juice, breadcrumbs, seasoning, frying fat and parsley.

Truss the fowl as for braising; place it on a bed of vegetables and bacon (mirepoix), with an ounce of butter in a stewpan, and let the surface of the fowl get nicely browned over a bright fire. Moisten with stock; season with pepper and salt; cover, and place in the oven for about half an hour; baste occasionally. Take up the fowl; untruss and cut into neat joints. Put the carcass into the stewpan in which the fowl has been cooking; remove the fat beforehand; add the wine, and boil up. Strain or reduce the stock a little. Cook the flour in the remainder of butter (one ounce), but do not allow it to get brown; stir in the stock; add the juice of half a lemon and let reduce to a moderate consistency (the sauce must boil at least for ten minutes). Stir in the yolks of eggs and let bind. Dip the pieces of fowl in this sauce after it has cooled; cover each piece completely and put in a drainer. When set, brush over with beaten egg; roll in breadcrumbs; fry them in hot fat a golden colour; drain, dish up, and garnish with fried parsley.

Despite the many additional elements, this is still clearly, at core, another version of the 17th century Marinade de poulets recipe.

Hannah Glasse, then, was far from the first – or last – to publish the French fried chicken recipe known variously as A Marinade of ChickensTo Marinate ChickensTo fry Chickens, and Fried Chicken.

4 responses to “The French Origins of Hannah Glasse’s ‘Fried Chicken’ Recipe”

  1. […] Marinate Chickens — demonstrably has absolutely nothing to do with Scotland. The dish, in fact, originates in 17th century French cuisine. Pierre de Lune’s Le Cuisinier (Paris, 1656) includes a recipe titled Marinade de poulets, […]

  2. […] dish known as ‘Southern fried chicken’ has a long history, stretching back to its origins in the fine dining of 17th century France and England (not, as is popularly, but wholly […]

  3. […] The French Origins of Hannah Glasse’s ‘Fried Chicken’ Recipe […]

  4. […] up with what is ultimately a truncated and rather insipid version of a dish that had existed in French and English cookery at least a far back as the early 18th […]

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