flipChicken with Greek sauce from Anacharsis's supper
Chicken with Greek sauce from Anacharsis's supper
Why this dish? Vigée Le Brun recounts in her *Memoirs* this improvised supper where, having read a sauce recipe in Abbé Barthélemy's *Voyage du jeune Anacharsis*, she dressed her guests in Greek costume and had dishes served coated in a sweet sauce. The evening became so famous that rumor wildly inflated its cost throughout Paris.
A roast chicken then coated in a blond honey and currant sauce, flavored with a dash of vinegar — what the salons of the 18th century imagined a dish of ancient Greece to be.
You will hardly believe what a frenzy this supper caused in Paris. Having found in my Anacharsis a sauce of the Ancients, I wanted to regale my friends with it and had them all dress in Greek style; I coated my meats with that honey mixed with small raisins and a splash of vinegar, and I was thought ruined, so much did rumor inflate the expense! In truth, I spent almost nothing — but that evening I painted the prettiest living picture one could see.
- •Free-range chicken — a fine fowl (roast piece)
- •Honey — a few spoonfuls (sweetness of the sauce)
- •Currants (dried) — a good handful (soft fruit of the sauce)
- •Wine vinegar — a dash (touch of acidity)
- •Fine butter — a knob (binding)
- •Salt, pepper — to taste (seasoning)
Chicken with Greek sauce from Anacharsis's supper
A roast chicken then coated in a blond honey and currant sauce, flavored with a dash of vinegar — what the salons of the 18th century imagined a dish of ancient Greece to be.
Why this dish? Vigée Le Brun recounts in her *Memoirs* this improvised supper where, having read a sauce recipe in Abbé Barthélemy's *Voyage du jeune Anacharsis*, she dressed her guests in Greek costume and had dishes served coated in a sweet sauce. The evening became so famous that rumor wildly inflated its cost throughout Paris.
You will hardly believe what a frenzy this supper caused in Paris. Having found in my Anacharsis a sauce of the Ancients, I wanted to regale my friends with it and had them all dress in Greek style; I coated my meats with that honey mixed with small raisins and a splash of vinegar, and I was thought ruined, so much did rumor inflate the expense! In truth, I spent almost nothing — but that evening I painted the prettiest living picture one could see.
Ingredients (period version)
- Free-range chicken — a fine fowl (roast piece)
- Honey — a few spoonfuls (sweetness of the sauce)
- Currants (dried) — a good handful (soft fruit of the sauce)
- Wine vinegar — a dash (touch of acidity)
- Fine butter — a knob (binding)
- Salt, pepper — to taste (seasoning)
Ingredients
- Free-range chicken — 1 (approx. 1.4 kg) (main piece)
- Honey — 3 tbsp (sweetness)
- Currants — 80 g (fruit of the sauce)
- White wine vinegar — 2 tbsp (acidity)
- Butter — 30 g (binding)
- Salt, pepper — to taste (seasoning)
Method
- Soak the currants in a little warm water for 15 minutes to plump them.
- Roast the chicken in the oven (200°C, about 1 h 15 min) until nicely golden, basting with its juices.
- Meanwhile, melt the butter, add the honey, vinegar, and drained currants; let reduce for 5 minutes to a syrupy sauce.
- Season with salt and pepper, thin the sauce with a spoonful of the chicken's cooking juices.
- Carve the chicken, coat with sauce, and serve immediately, in the antique manner.
How it was made : The supper took place around 1788; Vigée Le Brun was inspired by a sauce described in Abbé Barthélemy's *Voyage du jeune Anacharsis* (1788). It is a "learned" and fanciful cuisine: not the real ancient Greek cuisine, but the idea that 18th-century scholars had of it, blending honey, raisins, and vinegar according to the sweet-and-sour taste attributed to the Ancients.
The contemporary twist : Arrange on a white plate rimmed with a Greek key pattern drawn with black sesame, and name the dish "Anacharsis's Supper" on a small calligraphed card.
Sources : Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, *Souvenirs* (1835–1837) · Abbé Barthélemy, *Voyage du jeune Anacharsis en Grèce* (1788)
Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun · Charactorium
