Golden Jubilee Chicken is a recipe that is meant to be reminiscent of Coronation Chicken.
It was served at the Queen’s Jubilee concert held behind Buckingham Palace on 3 June 2002.
The dish needed to be one that could be served cold, be eaten picnic-style, be easily prepared in very large quantities, and have wide appeal. Chefs working for the Queen submitted ten possible dishes, which were then narrowed down to two, and the Queen choose this recipe from the two. The recipe was created by Lionel Mann, one of the Queen’s head chefs.
The dish consists of pieces of cold, cooked chicken marinated then tossed in a cream sauce made from crème fraîche, ginger and lime, and served with a chilled pasta salad (the pasta salad was penne with roasted red pepper, lightly cooked thin green beans that had been just topped and tailed, lightly cooked snowpeas, spring onion and french dressing.)
As was done for the original Coronation Chicken, the recipe was released in May 2002 ahead of time so people could make it at home and for gatherings.
The dish was served free to 12,000 guests, as well as to all the performers and workers. Each person got a “hamper”, which was an insulated cool bag to keep the food cold. The bags were blue with the gold Golden Jubilee logo on them. In the hamper was a smoked salmon wrap for the starter, and Jubilee Chicken for the main course. Also included were strawberries and cream, a half bottle of champagne (Lanson brand), shortbread (Walkers brand) and a plastic fluted champagne glass, and wheat and oat biscuits (Duchy Originals brand.)
The hampers were assembled by Waitrose grocery store.