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La Belle Cuisine
Julia Child on Sautéed Chicken
 
The Way to Cook
Julia Child, 1994, Alfred A. Knopf
Preparation for Cooking – and a Solemn Warning
“Why be careful? Preparation details are taken up in each section, but we must
all be very careful indeed with raw poultry, especially chicken, because of
harm-
ful bacteria. Bacteria, including salmonella, are killed at a temperature of
140
degrees F – when the chicken is still almost raw. Thus there is no worry
about cooked chicken as long as careful precautions are taken during its
preparation."
"How
to proceed.
Before you begin, set a cutting board – dishwasher-safe plastic recommended – on
an ample spread of newspapers. Get out all the knives, string, seasonings, and
other utensils you will be needing, including a dozen or more
sheets of paper
towels. Then unwrap the chicken at the sink, let hot water run
over it inside
and out, washing the giblets as well. Dry it in paper towels, set it
on the
cutting board, and go to work. If you want to touch anything else but
your
chicken and its utensils, wash your hands first. When you are through,
place
cutting board and
all utensils in the sink, wrap the newspaper in a
plastic bag,
and dump it. Wash everything to do with the chicken thoroughly,
including
yourself, in hot soapy
water. Don’t forget the kitchen towels – put
them in the
wash while you are
cleaning up the chickenry, or you’ll forget them.
Sautés
“Among the easiest, quickest, and most attractive ways to do chicken is to sauté
it – meaning to brown it in a frying pan, then to season it, cover the pan, let
it
cook slowly 20 to 25 minutes, and it’s done/ It will have produced some nice
brown
juices in the pan, which, literally in a flash and with a dollop of wine,
you
turn
into a perfect little sauce. That’s primal cooking of the very best
sort… Before
getting into the actual cooking, here are some hints on pre-
preparing the chicken.
Buying and preparing the chicken for sautéing
“How wonderfully convenient that we can buy what we want in the way of
chicken
parts – all breasts, all wings, all thighs, or the whole chicken cut
into little
pieces for a little of each. Buying by eye and guessing at appetite
capacity
seems the best rule for amounts, and I shall arbitrarily count on
2 1/2 to 3
pounds of assorted chicken parts for 4 people. A minute of simple
surgery on
some of the parts [described and illustrated in the cookbook]
will make for
easier cooking and eating.”
Master Recipe
Sautéed Chicken
“All sautés start out this way, and following the master recipe are
a number of variations and additions to start you on your own course.”
For 4 servings
2 1/2 to 3 pound frying chicken parts
2 to 3 tablespoons clarified butter or olive oil,
or 2 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
A big pinch of tarragon or thyme, optional
Optional deglazing sauce
1 tablespoon minced shallots or scallions
1/2 cup chicken stock (see Special Note)
1/2 cup dry white wine or dry
white French vermouth
1 or 2 tablespoons butter for
final sauce, optional
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley,
chives, or tarragon, optional
Special Equipment Suggested:
A heavy-bottomed 12-inch frying pan or casserole about
2 inches deep with a tight-fitting cover; a wooden or
plastic spoon and fork for turning the chicken
Browning the chicken – about 5 minutes. Be sure the
chicken is well dried or it will not brown properly. Set the frying pan over
moderately high heat; add the oil and/or butter. When it is very hot but not
smoking, lay in the chicken pieces skin side down. (Do not crowd the pan; there
should be a little air space between each piece for proper browning; do the
chicken in two batches if necessary.) Turn the chicken every 20 seconds or so,
allowing it
to color a fairly even walnut brown on all sides [illustrated in cookbook].
If you’ve a mixture of white meat (breasts and wings) and dark (legs and thighs)
remove the white meat to a side dish after browning; it takes a little less time
to cook than dark meat.
Finishing the cooking. Cover the pan, lower the meat to moderate, and if
you’ve removed the white meat, cook the dark meat slowly (it should sizzle
gently) about 6 minutes, turning once. Then return the white meat to the pan.
Baste the chicken pieces with the accumulated fat and juices in the pan; season
the chicken lightly with salt, pepper, and optional herbs. Cover the
pan again and cook another 6 minutes. Turn the chicken, baste again, and
continue cooking 7 to 8 minutes more, basting once again.
When is it done? The chicken is done when the thickest parts of the
drumsticks and thighs are tender when pressed, and when the juices of any piece
of chicken pricked with a fork run clear yellow with no trace of pink –
it should still be juicy.
Deglazing sauce – 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the chicken pieces to hot plates
or a platter. Rapidly spoon all but a tablespoon of fat out of the sauté pan.
Stir in the tablespoon of minced shallots or scallions and cook for a few
seconds over high heat, stirring. Pour in the 1/2 cups of chicken stock and
of wine, and boil, scraping up coagulated juices from the bottom of the pan;
continue boiling and swirling the pan for a moment until the liquid has boiled
down to the almost syrupy stage. Remove the pan from the heat and, if you wish,
swirl in a tablespoon or two of butter by spoonfuls – to smooth out and enrich
the sauce. Pour the sauce over the chicken, strew on the optional herbs, and
serve as soon as possible.
Ahead-of-time note: Sautéed chicken is at its best when served almost at
once. It may be browned in advance, but if you allow it to cool and then reheat,
it will always taste like reheated precooked chicken. Sautéed chicken
is delicious cold, however.
Dieting note. Sautéed chicken is not designed for dieters, although
thoroughly degreasing the final juices and removing the chicken skin after
sautéing will dispense with a number of calories…
Julia's Variations on Sautéed
Chicken...
Featured Archive Recipes:
Daniel Boulud's Chicken Grand-mère Francine
Jacques Pépin's Chicken Chasseur
Jacques Pépin's Sauteed Chicken Maison
James Beard's Raspberry Chicken
Jean-Georges's Sauteed Chicken with Figs
Joël Robuchon's Sauteed Chicken with
Onion and Tomato Sauce
Julia's Simple Saute of Chicken with Herbs
Lutece's Chicken Fricassee with Shallots
Alva Double-Garlic Chicken with
Overnight Tomatoes
Chicken Legs Puttanesca
Chicken Sauté with Artichokes and Pancetta
Tarragon Chicken
A Tribute to Julia Child
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