Danish Parsley Chicken
- Total Time
- 1 hour 15 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 4fresh Cornish hens, 1¼ to 1½ pounds each, with giblets
- 2 to 3teaspoons salt as needed
- 1cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1large bunch parsley with stems, washed and drained
- 1 to 1½cup water
- 1½cups heavy sweet cream
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
689 calories; 67 grams fat; 37 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 21 grams monounsaturated fat; 5 grams polyunsaturated fat; 2 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 2 grams sugars; 20 grams protein; 612 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Sprinkle chickens inside and out with salt. Divide stick of butter in fourths and put piece inside each chicken. Add giblets and pack each cavity with fourth of parsley. Close cavity with skewers or truss closed.
- Step 2
Heat remaining butter in Dutch oven or casserole until foam subsides. Brown chickens, using wooden spoons to turn, until golden brown all over. This will take about 15 minutes.
- Step 3
When chickens are browned, add 1 cup water to Dutch oven; cover. Braise slowly for about 45 minutes or until chicken is almost falling off bones. Check during cooking, adding water if juices have evaporated. Remove chicken to heated platter. Remove trussing and discard parsley.
- Step 4
Pour cream into casserole with cooking juices. Bring to boil, stirring and scraping up brown bits. At exact moment when sauce has thickened and butter has separated from cream, pour into heated sauceboat.
- Step 5
Serve chickens whole or cut in half with sauce on side. Boiled new potatoes are traditional accompaniment.
- To be truly authentic, this chicken should be served with a sauce in which the butter has separated from the cream.
Private Notes
Comments
Learned this recipe while I was an exchange student in Copenhagen. My Danish mother used a whole chicken, seasoned the cavity with salt, pepper and a bit of sugar. Lots of parsley. Browned in butter and then braised in chicken stock. When done, remove the bird from the liquid and thicken it with a simple roux. Debone the still warm chicken and squeeze the parsley juice into the gravy. Arrange the meat on a platter and top with some of the gravy. Top wi chopped parsley....no stems.
I made this per the directions and it was tasty, but there was too much fluid in the braising pot to make a decent gravy, there were no ‘browned bits’ and even with the addition of cream, and the flavor of the gravy was not what I thought it should be. The hens were good but I will find another way to cook them.
This took much longer than the recipe stated, and was not worth the time. Granted, I'm not a huge fan of Cornish hens, but I love a good cream sauce. Unfortunately, this recipe didn't deliver the latter, and the former took about 30 minutes longer than the recipe indicated.
Learned this recipe while I was an exchange student in Copenhagen. My Danish mother used a whole chicken, seasoned the cavity with salt, pepper and a bit of sugar. Lots of parsley. Browned in butter and then braised in chicken stock. When done, remove the bird from the liquid and thicken it with a simple roux. Debone the still warm chicken and squeeze the parsley juice into the gravy. Arrange the meat on a platter and top with some of the gravy. Top wi chopped parsley....no stems.