Mary Berry's Unexpected Secret Ingredient For The Juiciest Chicken Traybake

To use Mary Berry’s recipes is to discover secret ingredient after secret ingredient. 

For instance, there’s her weekday-friendly substitute for a lasagne roux. There’s her flavourful tomato soup addition, too.

So it should have come as no surprise that one of the Cordon Bleu-trained chicken tray bakes is packing a seriously zesty punch, too. 

Which is?

As a part of her Mediterranean all-in-one chicken recipe, which “takes only minutes to put everything together then it sits in the oven for under an hour with no fussy finishing off to do and only one pan to wash up,” the GBBO legend uses preserved lemons. 

Chef, cookbook author, and restaurant owner Yotam Ottolenghi swears by the ingredient, which he calls the “ultimate flavour bomb.” 

“It pairs well with oily fish, grilled meats, or roasted vegetables,” Ottolenghi adds.

Perhaps that’s why Mary Berry loves pairing it with her roasted olives, chicken, courgette, bacon, and anchovy dish. 

“The preserved lemons really give a lovely citrus tang to the dish and are well worth using,” she says.

The chef also uses the ingredient for her crusted salmon sauce, featured in Love To Cook. 

Can I make them myself?

I’ve tried making sourdough, kombucha, stock, and loads more, and let me tell you ― when it comes to that sweet effort-to-reward ratio, pickles always win out. 

Prepping preserved lemons takes about 20 minutes and involves scrubbing and quartering the fruit before covering them in a lot of coarse salt and a little sugar. 

I like to do this in an airtight jar with the lemons and salt tightly packed; otherwise, you might have to cover the segments in salt again after a day. 

Once you’ve left the lemons like that for a week or so, add some aromatics (I like rosemary, bay leaves, and pink peppercorns) with enough lemon juice to cover the lemon segments. 

Leave that concoction for about four weeks (patience is very much rewarded here ― a longer ferment leads to tastier lemons) in an airtight container stored in a cool, dark spot. 

Ottolenghi’s recipe for the delicacy involves adding olive oil when you chuck your herbs in ― you can see his here. 

But if you don’t have a month or so to ferment your own lemons, Mary Berry’s advice is welcome ― “if you can’t find them use one sliced lemon instead,” she writes.