Coleys (Chicken Cullis): Medieval Chicken Bone Broth & Restorative Soup – Harleian MS. 279
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| Harleian MS. 279 (c.1430) — .xxvj. Coleys — Chicken Cullis |
What is “Coley(s)” / Cullis? A medieval restorative made by cooking a capon until tender, then enriching the broth with the meat, bread, and the “liquor of the bones.” Think early bone-broth technique with a comforting, spoonable finish.
Originally published 5/12/ 2019 Updated 5/13/2026
In Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery Books (Harleian MS. 279), Coleys calls for not only the broth from boiling the capon but specifically the liquor of the bones—a clear nod toward longer extraction and collagen, much like today’s bone broth. French sources, including Du fait de cuisine, even frame coulleys as food for the sick: nourishing, mild, and easily digested.
This is not a clear soup. It is closer to a spoonable medieval chicken soup, a savory porridge, or a soft restorative broth thickened with bread. The result is mild, warming, and practical: a dish that uses the bird thoroughly and turns broth, meat, bones, skin, and bread into something sustaining.
