Gelyne in Dubbatte: Medieval Chicken in Wine Sauce | Harleian MS 279 (c.1430)

Originally published January 23, 2016. Updated June 23, 2026.

This post has been updated as part of the 2026 Give It Forth recipe glow-up project, with expanded historical notes, revised feast placement discussion, improved formatting, internal links, and modern reconstruction guidance. AI-assisted editing was used for organization and clarity.

Gelyne in Dubatte, a medieval chicken dish finished in wine, broth, spices, vinegar, and bread-thickened sauce.

Some medieval recipes look simple at first glance, then open like a trapdoor into a much larger kitchen. Gelyne in Dubatte, from Harleian MS 279, is one of those dishes.

At its most basic, this is chicken cooked in broth, wine, spices, vinegar, and bread. Yet the recipe sits at the crossroads of roast meat, pottage, and sauce-making. The chicken is first roasted almost done, then cut into pieces and finished in a seasoned liquid thickened with bread. The result may be served as a brothy pottage, a spoonable stew, or a richer sauced dish laid over sops of bread.

When I first interpreted this recipe in 2016, I leaned toward a brothier version. Revisiting the title, manuscript placement, and Thomas Austin's glossary has made me appreciate how flexible this dish may have been. The sauce is not an afterthought. It may be the heart of the recipe.

The Original Recipe

The recipe appears in Thomas Austin's edition of Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books, from Harleian MS 279, dated to around 1430.

.xlj. Gelyne in dubbatte. — Take an Henne, and rost hure almoste y-now, an choppe hyre in fayre pecys, an caste her on a potte; an caste þer-to Freysshe broþe, & half Wyne, Clowes, Maces, Pepir, Canelle, an stepe it with þe Same broþe, fayre brede & Vynegre: an whan it is y-now, serue it forth.

A Working Translation

Take a hen and roast her until almost done. Chop her into fair pieces and put her into a pot. Add fresh broth and half wine, cloves, mace, pepper, and cinnamon. Steep fair bread in the same broth with vinegar. When it is done, serve it forth.

Historical Source Analysis

Like many recipes in Harleian MS 279, Gelyne in Dubatte combines several cooking techniques in one dish. The chicken is first roasted, then simmered in a seasoned liquid of broth and wine. This two-stage preparation allowed the cook to develop both roasted and stewed flavors, transforming a simple hen into a dish with deeper body and complexity.

The use of bread as a thickener is equally important. Medieval cooks often relied on bread, almonds, eggs, or rice flour to create sauces of varying consistency. Depending on how much bread was used and how firmly it was worked into the liquid, the finished dish could range from a brothy pottage to a smooth, spoon-coating sauce.

The inclusion of wine, vinegar, cloves, mace, pepper, and cinnamon suggests a dish intended for a household with access to costly flavorings. This is not plain boiled chicken. It is poultry finished in a luxurious, spiced, wine-rich cooking liquor.

What Does "Gelyne in Dubatte" Mean?

The title of this recipe is almost as interesting as the dish itself. Gelyne is generally understood to mean hen, chicken, or domestic fowl. Dubatte, however, is less straightforward.

In his glossary to Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books, Thomas Austin notes that Dubbatte "may be a perversion of Jus bâtarde." He also observes related spellings, including Dieubate and Gelyne endobat. This is useful evidence, but Austin's wording matters. He says may be, which means he is offering a thoughtful editorial suggestion rather than a settled conclusion.

The Jus bâtarde interpretation is attractive because wine is central to this dish. The chicken is finished in a mixture of broth and wine, sharpened with vinegar, warmed with cloves, mace, pepper, and cinnamon, then thickened with bread. If Austin's suggestion is correct, the title may point toward a wine-based sauce or cooking liquor associated with Bastard wine, a prized sweet wine known in medieval England.

There is also a second possibility. Medieval scribes wrote in hands where letters such as u, v, b, and n could be difficult to distinguish, especially in copied manuscripts. Variants such as dubatte, dieubate, and endobat may preserve a word that shifted as it moved from manuscript to manuscript.

Some modern interpreters connect the term to the Old French verb debatre, which entered Middle English as debaten. Before it meant an intellectual argument, the word could carry a physical sense: to beat, work, or reduce. In culinary terms, that interpretation would fit the action of working bread into boiling broth and wine to create a bound sauce.

Interpretive Note: Whether dubatte refers to a wine-based cooking liquor, a sauce associated with Bastard wine, or the action of beating bread into the liquid, all paths lead to the same place: the defining feature of this recipe is the sauce. The title tells us that the chicken is not merely roasted and served. It is transformed by a spiced, wine-rich, bread-thickened bath.

Feast Placement

Give It Forth Classification: Pottages & First Course Dishes

Gelyne in Dubatte appears among the pottages of Harleian MS 279, and that manuscript placement is the strongest guide to how the dish should be understood. Although modern diners may see chicken in wine sauce and think of it as a main course, the medieval recipe is built around broth, wine, vinegar, spices, and bread-thickening.

For that reason, I classify this dish as a Pottages & First Course Dish. The roasted chicken gives it substance, but the defining feature is the seasoned cooking liquor: a wine-rich, bread-thickened sauce or broth that transforms the meat. Ideally, this would be served as part of a first course or first service, alongside other pottages and sauced dishes.

Chickens in Medieval England

Chicken was familiar in medieval England, though not identical to the fast-growing birds most modern cooks know. Medieval hens produced far fewer eggs than modern laying breeds, and birds were often older when cooked. This meant medieval chicken could be leaner, firmer, and more flavorful than much of what is available today.

Chickens were commonly kept around farms and households, where they scratched for insects and scraps while also receiving grain. Capons, or castrated roosters, were especially prized for their size and tenderness, though the process was difficult and losses could be high.

This recipe would work well with a mature hen, a capon, or a modern chicken. For feast service today, I prefer bone-in chicken thighs or mixed dark meat because they remain tender and hold well in sauce.

Chicken appears frequently throughout Harleian MS 279. Readers interested in exploring additional poultry dishes may enjoy Henne in Bokenade, a comforting chicken dish thickened with eggs and herbs, or Coleys, another excellent example of medieval poultry cookery.

Modern Reconstruction: Gelyne in Dubatte

Serves: 4 as a main dish, or 6 to 8 as part of a feast course

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 45 to 60 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 pounds bone-in chicken pieces, preferably thighs, legs, or a small cut-up chicken
• 1 tablespoon olive oil or butter, for roasting
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup white wine or red wine
• 2 whole cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon ground mace
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons fresh bread crumbs, or more for a thicker sauce
• 1 teaspoon wine vinegar, white or red
• Salt, to taste
• Optional: toasted bread sops for serving

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Lightly oil or butter the chicken. Roast until almost cooked through, about 30 to 35 minutes depending on the size of the pieces. The chicken should be mostly done but not dry.
3. Remove the chicken from the oven. When cool enough to handle, cut or pull the meat into serving pieces. You may remove the bones if desired, though bone-in pieces give a richer result.
4. In a saucepan, combine the broth, wine, cloves, mace, pepper, and cinnamon. Bring to a gentle simmer.
5. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes to allow the spices to flavor the liquid. Remove the cloves.
6. Stir in the bread crumbs gradually, whisking or stirring constantly so they dissolve into the liquid rather than forming lumps.
7. Add the vinegar and taste for salt. Continue simmering until the sauce reaches your preferred consistency.
8. Add the chicken pieces to the sauce. Simmer gently until the chicken is fully cooked and has absorbed some of the flavor of the broth and wine.
9. Serve in bowls as a brothy pottage, or place the chicken over toasted bread sops and ladle the thickened wine sauce over the top.

Reconstruction Notes

My original 2016 interpretation produced a flavorful, brothy dish, somewhere between a pottage and a light stew. That remains a defensible reading. The recipe appears among the pottages, and the instruction to add broth and wine suggests a dish with plenty of liquid.

After revisiting the recipe, I now believe a thicker interpretation is equally plausible. The bread is not just garnish. It is a thickener. Medieval cooks frequently used bread to create sauces ranging from loose broths to smooth, spoon-coating gravies.

If I were preparing Gelyne in Dubatte today for a feast, I would seriously consider serving it over toasted sops. The bread beneath the chicken would catch the wine sauce beautifully, while also echoing medieval habits of serving sauced foods with bread. This version would make the dish easier to plate and easier to serve at scale.

White wine gives the dish a lighter, sharper flavor. Red wine makes it richer and darker, bringing it closer to something a modern cook might recognize as a distant cousin of coq au vin. Both are good. The manuscript simply says wine, so the choice may depend on taste, budget, and feast context.

The Steward's Table

This recipe scales well for feast service because the chicken and sauce can be prepared separately and combined shortly before serving. For best results, roast or bake the chicken ahead of time, prepare the sauce in a large pot, then finish the chicken gently in the sauce before service.

Need help scaling historical recipes for a feast? Visit The Steward's Table for additional historical recipe scaling resources.

Ingredient	4 Servings	12 Servings	24 Servings	48 Servings
Chicken pieces	2 lb	6 lb	12 lb	24 lb
Chicken broth	1 cup	3 cups	6 cups	12 cups
Wine	1/2 cup	1 1/2 cups	3 cups	6 cups
Whole cloves	2	6	12	24
Mace	1/8 tsp	3/8 tsp	3/4 tsp	1 1/2 tsp
Black pepper	1/8 tsp	3/8 tsp	3/4 tsp	1 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon	1/4 tsp	3/4 tsp	1 1/2 tsp	1 tbsp
Bread crumbs	3 tbsp	9 tbsp	1 cup plus 2 tbsp	2 1/4 cups
Wine vinegar	1 tsp	1 tbsp	2 tbsp	1/4 cup

Feast Service Notes

• This recipe holds well in warming cabinets and chafers.
• The sauce may be prepared a day ahead and reheated gently.
• Chicken thighs are recommended for large feasts because they remain moist longer than breast meat.
• For a more historically resonant presentation, serve over toasted sops of bread.
• The sauce will continue to thicken as it rests; reserve additional broth for adjustments during service.
• For a brothy pottage-style service, use the quantities above. For a thicker sauce, increase the bread crumbs gradually and stir well before adding more.

Humoral Notes

From a medieval dietary perspective, chicken was generally considered a wholesome and relatively light meat, especially compared with heavier red meats. Wine and warming spices such as cloves, mace, cinnamon, and pepper would increase the warming qualities of the dish.

The vinegar adds sharpness and helps balance the richness of the broth and chicken. This combination of wine, spice, and acidity would have made the dish especially suitable for cooler weather or for a feast where rich meats needed a lively sauce to keep them from feeling heavy.

Serving Suggestions

Serve Gelyne in Dubatte with good bread, sops, or trenchers to catch the sauce. It would pair well with other fifteenth-century dishes such as braised greens, cabbages, apple muse, or rys.

For a feast, I would serve this as a sauced poultry dish within a first or second service, acknowledging its pottage roots while allowing the roasted chicken to remain the centerpiece.

Explore More Medieval Poultry Recipes

Chicken appears frequently throughout Harleian MS 279, reflecting its importance in medieval English cookery. Readers interested in additional poultry dishes may enjoy Henne in Bokenade, a comforting chicken dish thickened with eggs and herbs, or Coleys, another excellent example of medieval poultry cookery.

For an overview of several reconstructed poultry dishes from the collection, see Five Medieval Chicken Soups to Nourish the Soul.

Why This Recipe Matters

Gelyne in Dubatte illustrates several hallmarks of fifteenth-century English cookery. A simple roasted chicken is transformed through wine, vinegar, imported spices, and bread-thickened sauce into a dish suitable for a feast table. The recipe also demonstrates how medieval cooks blurred the distinction between pottage and meat course, creating foods that could function as both nourishment and display.

Perhaps most importantly, the recipe preserves a culinary mystery. Whether dubatte refers to a wine-based sauce, a cooking technique, or something else entirely, the title reminds us that medieval recipes often contain clues that modern cooks are still attempting to unravel six centuries later.

Final Thoughts

This remains one of my favorite kinds of medieval recipe: practical, flavorful, flexible, and just mysterious enough to keep the research interesting. The 2016 version proved that the dish was delicious. The 2026 revisit shows that there is still more to learn from the title, the sauce, and the way the recipe sits inside Harleian MS 279.

Whether served as a brothy pottage or as chicken over sops with a thickened wine sauce, Gelyne in Dubatte deserves a place on the "must serve at future events" list.

Red junglefowl, one ancestor of the domestic chicken.

Sources and Further Reading

• Austin, Thomas, ed. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books: Harleian MS. 279, Harleian MS. 4016, and Extracts from Ashmole MS. 1429, Laud MS. 553, and Douce MS. 55. Early English Text Society, 1888.
• Harleian MS 279, recipe xlj, Gelyne in Dubatte.
• Medieval Cookery, Dan Myers, Gelyne in Dubatte.
• Give It Forth, Harleian MS 279 Collection.
• Give It Forth, The Steward's Table.

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