To Make Sauce For Boyled Chickens

This recipe appears in a late 17th-century English manuscript cookbook, dating roughly between 1679 and 1694. During this era, English cooks were fond of combining sweet and sharp flavors, especially in sauces served with mild white meats like chicken. The use of gooseberries reflects a seasonal, local ingredient beloved for their sharp, refreshing flavor before the days of lemons were common in England. The blending of butter, vinegar, herbs, and fruit paints a picture of the early modern English kitchen—one that prized fresh garden ingredients and used them most creatively to excite the palate.

The original cook would have used an iron or copper saucepan placed over a hearth fire to gently melt the butter and combine the sauce. A small knife and wooden board would suffice for chopping the parsley, and a metal ladle or spoon to stir and pour the sauce. Boiling of parsley and scalding of gooseberries would have been done in simple ceramic or metal pots. All mixing would be by hand—no mechanical tools in sight.