This was served as part of the second course at the Ymir 2023 feast, plattered alongside the White Fricassee of Chicken for a deliberate contrast of dark meat with a sharp green sauce against white meat in a rich liaison sauce.

Introduction

Roasted chicken thighs with a pureed green sauce of parsley, sorrel, bread, ginger, and vinegar. Green sauce is one of the most broadly attested sauces in medieval European cooking — versions appear across English, French, and German sources spanning centuries, and it arguably survives today in dishes like chimichurri and salsa verde. The number of sources I’ve included here reflects that ubiquity – I’ve taken aspects of all of them for the redaction.

Sources

A Book of Cookrye (1591)

Take sorell and beat it in a morter, and put in Vergious and strain it through a strainer, then cut fine Sops of white bread and lay them in a dishe, and put the sorrell sauce to the bread, put sinamon, ginger, and Sugar, with butter to your sauce, then roste your Chickins and serve them forth.

A Noble Boke Off Cookry Ffor a Prynce Houssolde or Eny Other Estately Houssolde (1468)

To mak vert sauce tak parslye mynte sorell cyves and sauce alone then tak bred and step it in venygar do ther to peper and salt and grind them and temper them upe and serue it.

Le Viandier de Taillevent (J. Prescott, trans.)

Green Sauce. Take bread, parsley and ginger, crush well, and steep in verjuice and vinegar.

Marx Rumpolt, Ein new Kochbuch (1581)

Sauce of green parsley made with toasted bread and vinegar ground together, pepper and salt it a little, so it becomes good and well tasting. […] Take watercress and wash it clean, then grind on a rubbing stone, dissolve with wine vinegar, and stir pepper, ginger, and a little Salt, with it, like this it is good and well tasting.

Discussion

Chicken thighs rather than whole birds — a practical choice for budget and portion control, and much easier on the diners. Nobody wants to carve a whole chicken at a feast table, and carvers to send around to each table are not available.
The thighs were dry-brined with salt and spices overnight, arranged on sheet pans, brushed with melted butter, and roasted at 425°F. I pulled them at an internal temperature of 175°F — higher than the standard recommendation, but dark meat benefits from the extra heat for crispy skin and a non-rubbery texture.
I used jarred sorrel in the green sauce, which turned out to be a happy choice — the preserved sorrel had a sharp, lemony flavor that gave this version a distinctive character compared to the parsley-dominant green sauces I’ve made in the past.
Bread was used as the sauce thickener, following the original sources. The sauce was pureed smooth and adjusted for spice — it should be sharp and a little lemony, not too salty.