Queen's Jelly

More Queen's Jellies from Lydia.  Mine seems to be the winner.

God Save the Queen -- Part IV

Coronation Chicken

Sandra thought we would just hang the Queen's mould on the wall.   But really who could resist.  Behold,  our take on Coronation Chicken.

Originally, Coronation Chicken was "invented" by Constance Spry (and Rosemary Hume, who invented many of Spry's recipes.)  Actually, their recipe was a take on Jubilee chicken, a similar dish served for the Silver Jubilee of George V.

Coronation Chicken is usually mixed with a curry mayonnaise, but we felt the curry would have give the Queen a bit of a jaundiced look and we did not want anything to distract us from her regal form.  Might we suggest a curry mayo on the side.  (Though a nice horseradish sauce is our favorite.)

Our recipe is from one of our favorite cookbooks, Cross Creek Cookery.  We started out with Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' Mother's Jellied Chicken.  MKR's  Mama did not believe in adding such frivolousness as cucumbers and pimentos, but we felt them a must have for this particular presentation.

The Queen was quite tasty and the perfect dish for Diamond Jubilee festivities.  God Save The Queen; but not too long as the jelly tends to toughen.

God Save the Queen -- Part II

Harry Lowe (seen above in his dapper Auburn days) is a consummate Southern storyteller.  The story of Molly Hollifiled Jones is one of my favorites.


DISCLAIMER:  There really was a Molly Hollifiled Jones in Auburn.  She was a minor poet, taught Latin, and gave money to Auburn.  Whether she is the same woman in this story...well it is a story.  A true story.  A real story.  I am just not sure which part is true and which part is real, but here goes.

The Molly Hollifield Jones Story

Molly Hollifield Jones' parents ran a boarding house in Opelika, Alabama which housed a lot of Auburn students.   Molly Hollifield Jones helped her parents run the boarding house.  Like many single Southern women, she took care of her parents at the expense of her own social life.  By the time her parents were gone, Molly Hollifield Jones was, as we say in the South, a woman of a certain age.  Most women would have stayed on as a spinster, but Molly Hollifield Jones had a boarder that caught her eye and they were married.  With no one left to look after, Molly Hollifield Jones and her new husband went on the Grand Tour.   When they returned, all the ladies of Opelika wanted to hear about the trip.  A luncheon was held and Molly Hollifield Jones talked about England and Germany, Italy and Spain and finally she asked about France.

"Tell us about the food in France.  We hear is wonderful," said a guest.

Molly Hollifield Jones looked a bit disgusted.

"Well," she said, "I don't know what all the fuss is about.  We were in France nearly two weeks and in all that time no one ever served us a congealed salad."


Harry Lowe and I love that story and thus began our quest for the perfect Molly Hollifield Jones Dinner.  A Molly Hollifield Jones Dinner consists of drinks to dessert with every single dish being congealed.   It is perfect summer faire.  To this end, we have collected old recipe booklets filled with jellied foods.  We even like to experiment; a favorite dish being my Deviled Oeufs en Potlikker Gelée.


The second I saw the Queen, I knew there would be an edition to our jellied collection...