“‘Hungry again?’ he asked.  There was still half a honeyed chicken in the center of the table.  Jon reached out to tear off a leg, then had a better idea.  He knifed the bird whole and let the carcass slide to the floor between his legs.  Ghost ripped into it in savage silence.” -A Game of Thrones

Thoughts:

Yum. The sauce reduces down to a thick, syrupy consistency, which melts ever so slightly when drizzled over the hot chicken.  The raisins soak up the sauce, and become absolutely delicious little morsels.  Combine a bite of the chicken, dripping with the juice from the plate, with a plump raisin, and you’re golden.

Bottom line?  Omnomnom!

 

Medieval Roast Chicken Recipe

This was a recipe that gave us some difficulty; Absurd, when it seems so straightforward.  However, there appear to be no recipes for “honeyed chicken” from a surviving period cookbook.  At last, we found a recipe that we could work with.  Thank you Ancient Romans!  Now, you say that ancient Rome is not the Middle Ages, and you are correct.  However, we use what we can.  And really, it’s honeyed chicken.  Are you really going to hold that against us?

Our changes:  Since this dish is mentioned in The North, we took out a few things that were more Roman than Stark.  We started with Apicius’ recipe for Chicken in Honey and Dill Glaze (Apicius, 6.8.2).  Instead of white wine vinegar, we substituted apple cider vinegar, and added raisins, assuming that raisins are easier to come by in The North than are grapes.  We eliminated the dill and date syrup for the same reason. Also, absolutely no fish sauce with our chicken.  This left us with ingredients as follows:

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken for roasting
• olive oil/butter (~1 Tbs)
• salt

Sauce:

• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup honey
• Dash of mint, dried or fresh (abt. 1 tsp.)
• Small handful of raisins
• ~1 Tbs. butter

Rub the chicken down with olive oil/butter and salt.  This makes the skin crispy and delicious.  Cook in an oven at 450 degrees F for approximately an hour, or until the juices run clear, and the thick meat of the breast is no longer pink.

While your chicken is roasting away in the oven, combine all ingredients in saucepan and allow to simmer until the raisins plump and the sauce reduces slightly.  Remove from heat, and when the chicken is done, spread the sauce and raisins over the bird.

Enjoy!