Golden chicken curry with hazelnuts in an earthenware dish on a rustic wooden table with vintage Georgian setting

Glasse's Curry (First Published in English)

Name: Glasse's Curry (First Published in English)
Total time: 65 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: United Kingdom
Ingredients: 1 chicken, jointed; 3 tbsp butter; 2 onions, sliced; 1 tsp ground turmeric; 1 tsp ground ginger; 1 tsp ground coriander; 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper; 60g ground hazelnuts; 400ml chicken stock; Juice of 1 lemon

From The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy · Hannah Glasse · 1747

Verified from original source

The first curry ever published in English — a mild, hazelnut-thickened chicken curry.

Historical note: This is the first curry recipe ever published in English — Glasse's 'To Make a Currey the Indian Way'.

History

Hannah Glasse's curry recipe from 'The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy' (1747) is the first known curry recipe published in English. It reflects Britain's colonial contact with India through the East India Company. Glasse's recipe called for chicken or rabbit with coriander seeds, turmeric, ginger, and pepper—a simplified interpretation of Indian curries adapted for English kitchens. The dish was aimed at middle-class households, making exotic flavours accessible without specialised ingredients. This marked the beginning of curry's integration into British cuisine, eventually evolving into Britain's national dish, chicken tikka masala, and widespread curry consumption today.

Sources

Glasse, Hannah. The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy. 1747.
Collingham, Lizzie. Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors. 2006.
Davidson, Alan. The Oxford Companion to Food. 1999.
Spencer, Colin. British Food: An Extraordinary Thousand Years of History. 2002.
Humble, Nicola. Culinary Pleasures: Cookbooks and the Transformation of British Food. 2005.

Serves

Prep

15m

Cook

50m

Difficulty

Medium