Poularde à la Hongroise

Poularde à la Hongroise (butter-roasted pullet with paprika sauce) teaches the discipline of paprika. Wake it gently in warm butter and its color deepens, its sweetness opens, and the sauce gains a warm, peppery perfume. Scorch it and bitterness takes the whole pan. That is the one true thing to know before you begin.

The original recipe assumed a saucier with velouté ready, a stockpot never off the fire, and enough hands to baste a whole poularde while someone else molded the pilaf. Here, Poëlings (No. 250) is carried out in a snug lidded cocotte, the velouté is built quickly from good chicken stock, and four small ramekins replace a drawer of timbale molds. One cook, one stove, one evening.

The elaborate wrapping with pork fat and buttered paper is brigade scaffolding and can go. The butter cooking, the absence of liquid around the bird, the final coloring, the tomato folded through the pilaf, and the extra sauceboat are the dish itself, so they stay. Your deciding moment comes when the paprika meets the butter: low heat, ten seconds, then wine at once.