Poulet Sauté Archiduc

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •12-inch (30 cm) heavy sauté pan with lid
• •2-quart (2 L) saucepan
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Oven-safe oval serving platter

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare for pale cooking

   Pat the chicken completely dry, then season it with 1 teaspoon of the salt and half the white pepper. Let it stand for 20 minutes while you measure everything else. Heat the oven to 200°F (95°C) and place an oval serving platter inside to warm. Have the cream and prepared chicken velouté ready beside the stove, because the sauce moves quickly once the chicken leaves the pan.

2. 2

   Sweat onions without colour

   Melt 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) of the butter in a wide, heavy sauté pan over low heat. Add the onion and a pinch of the remaining salt, cover, and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring often, until thoroughly soft and translucent but still ivory. This is suer, sweating without browning. If an onion edge turns gold, remove that piece; if the pan floor colours, transfer the onions to a bowl and wipe the pan clean before proceeding. A brown glaze here will travel straight into the sauce.

   Keep the butter foaming quietly. Once it smells nutty, the heat is already too high for this dish.
3. 3

   Raidir the chicken

   Lift the onions into a bowl. Melt another 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) of butter in the same clean pan over medium-low heat. Add the chicken in a single layer, working in two batches if necessary, and faire raidir, stiffen it without browning, for 6 to 8 minutes. Turn the pieces every minute or two; the surfaces should become firm, pale, and opaque, with no golden crust. If the butter browns, remove the chicken immediately, wipe out the pan, and restart with the reserved tablespoon of butter. Ça se rattrape: the chicken may keep a small blond mark, but the sauce will remain ivory.

   Crowding traps moisture, but fierce heat creates colour. Give the pieces room and use patience, not a hotter burner.
4. 4

   Finish with the onions

   Return all the chicken and the softened onions to the pan. Cover and cook over the lowest heat that maintains a quiet sizzle, turning the pieces once, until cooked through, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the breast pieces when they reach 160°F (71°C), then hold them on the warm platter until carryover heat takes them to 165°F (74°C). Let the legs continue until at least 175°F (79°C), when the meat beside the joint feels tender. Keep the pan pale throughout; if the onions threaten to catch, add 1 tablespoon of water and lower the heat.

5. 5

   Hold the chicken

   Arrange the cooked chicken on the warmed platter, cover loosely with parchment or foil, and return it to the low oven for no longer than 15 minutes. Leave the onions and pale cooking juices in the sauté pan. This short hold replaces the grand kitchen's hot cupboard; a long hold would dry the breast before the sauce reached it.

6. 6

   Reduce the brandy

   Pour the brandy over the onions and bring it to a lively simmer over medium heat. Do not flambé it. Scrape up only the pale juices and reduce until scarcely a tablespoon remains and the sharp alcoholic smell has softened, about 2 to 3 minutes. Reduction, not flame, concentrates the brandy without disturbing the sauce's colour.

7. 7

   Add and pass sauce

   Stir in the heavy cream and prepared chicken velouté, keeping their equal measures intact. Simmer gently for 3 minutes, stirring until the onions and liquids become one creamy mixture. Set a fine-mesh strainer over a clean saucepan and press the sauce through firmly with a ladle or flexible spatula, rubbing the onions until only dry fibres remain. The strainer is the honest home equivalent of the tammy, and this passing is worth keeping because it gives Archiduc its smooth, formal finish.

8. 8

   Reduce and mount

   Tip any pale juices collected on the chicken platter into the strained sauce. Bring it to a gentle simmer and reduce until it has a stiff nappant consistency, coating a spoon generously and leaving a clean track when you draw a finger through it. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Montez au beurre, whisk in 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 43 g) of cold butter one tablespoon at a time, then whisk in the lemon juice and Madeira. Do not boil after the butter goes in. If yellow beads appear at the edge, put the optional chilled cream in a clean warm bowl and whisk in the broken sauce one spoonful at a time. Ça se rattrape.

9. 9

   Sauce and serve

   Taste the sauce and correct it with the remaining salt and white pepper. It should taste first of chicken and cream, then brandy and Madeira, with lemon sharpening the finish rather than announcing itself. Pour the sauce generously over the chicken, letting it pool around the pieces, and arrange exactly 10 thin truffle slices across the top. Serve at once. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Pale does not mean undercooked. Use a thermometer to judge the chicken and your eyes to judge the pan; the meat must cook fully while the butter and onions remain ivory.
• •Use a properly made chicken velouté, not condensed soup or an improvised cream sauce. The velouté is the foundation that gives the reduced sauce body without flour being stirred into the Archiduc pan.
• •Fresh black truffle is splendid when available, but a good whole preserved truffle is the classical pantry's honest answer outside its season. Drain it and slice it thinly. Truffle oil changes the flavour and does not replace the ten slices specified by the dish.
• •A broad, dry white Burgundy or another restrained Chardonnay suits the cream, Madeira, and truffle. Avoid a heavily sweet or perfumed wine, which will crowd the sauce.
• •Do not pour out a split sauce. The chilled-cream rescue works because it establishes a fresh emulsion before the broken sauce is introduced gradually. We don't apologize for butter, and we don't abandon it either.

Advance Preparation

• •Prepare the chicken velouté up to 3 days ahead and keep it chilled, then warm it gently before beginning the Archiduc sauce.
• •The onions can be sweated without colour up to 1 day ahead, cooled quickly, and chilled. Bring them to room temperature before they return to the chicken.
• •The chicken can be cut into serving pieces and seasoned up to 12 hours ahead. Keep it covered in the cold, then let it stand for 20 minutes before cooking.
• •The strained cream and velouté base may wait over very low heat for about 30 minutes. Reduce it and add the butter, lemon, and Madeira only when the chicken is ready to serve.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 270g)