Poulet Sauté Cynthia

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •12-inch (30 cm) heavy sauté pan or skillet with a lid
• •Small flexible whisk
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Sharp paring knife
• •Warm oval serving platter

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the raw fruit

   Cut the top and bottom from the orange, then follow its curve with a sharp knife to remove every strip of peel and white pith. Working over a bowl, cut between the membranes to release 10 suprêmes d’orange, raw orange sections freed from their membranes. Peel each grape with the tip of a paring knife and remove any seeds you find. Keep both fruits raw, covered, and close to room temperature; blot away loose juice before serving so it cannot thin the sauce.

   Choose firm, cold grapes. Their skins lift more cleanly, and the peeled fruit keeps its shape instead of collapsing under the knife.
2. 2

   Ready the chicken

   Pat every chicken piece completely dry, then season evenly with the salt and pepper. Set a serving platter in a 200°F (95°C) oven to warm. Measure the glaze, lemon juice, and curaçao now, and keep the five tablespoons of finishing butter cold; once the reduction is ready, the sauce must move without delay.

3. 3

   Sauté the chicken

   Melt two tablespoons of the sautéing butter in a wide, heavy skillet over medium heat. When it foams, add the thighs and drumsticks skin-side down and brown them for 6 to 8 minutes, then turn and cook for 4 minutes. Remove them briefly and brown the breasts and wings skin-side down for about 5 minutes, then turn them for 2 minutes. Return the dark pieces, lower the heat to medium-low, cover slightly ajar, and cook until the breasts and wings reach at least 165°F (74°C) and the thighs and drumsticks reach about 175°F (79°C), removing each piece as it is done. Use the reserved tablespoon of sautéing butter as needed between batches. If the butter turns black or smells bitter, lift out the chicken, wipe the pan, add the reserved butter, and continue; scorched milk solids have no place in the sauce.

4. 4

   Dish the chicken

   Arrange the cooked chicken skin-side up on the warm platter and hold it in the switched-off oven, uncovered or very loosely tented. Pour away the loose cooking fat from the skillet but leave the brown film attached to its floor. That film is the fond, the foundation of the sauce; golden brown is useful, while black is bitter.

5. 5

   Reduce the Champagne

   Return the skillet to medium-high heat, pour in the Champagne, and scrape up the fond with a wooden spoon as the wine boils. Reduce it by exactly half, from ½ cup to roughly ¼ cup (60 ml), until the bubbles tighten and the sharp smell of raw wine softens. If the fond proves black when the wine loosens it, strain the Champagne into a clean saucepan and leave the burnt specks behind. Better a lighter sauce than a bitter one.

6. 6

   Add the poultry glaze

   Whisk the light poultry glaze into the reduced Champagne and bring it just to a simmer, only long enough to dissolve and combine. The base should taste concentrated and lightly coat a spoon while still flowing freely. If it has tightened to a syrup, loosen it with one teaspoon of Champagne or water before adding any butter.

7. 7

   Monter au beurre

   Take the pan completely off the heat and wait about 20 seconds. Monter au beurre means whisking cold butter into a hot reduction to form a smooth emulsion: add the chilled butter one cube at a time, whisking each nearly smooth before adding the next. Return the pan to the lowest heat only for a few seconds if the butter stops melting, and never let the sauce boil. If yellow butter pools on the surface, put one teaspoon of cold Champagne or water in a clean bowl and whisk the broken sauce into it one spoonful at a time. Ça se rattrape. Once the sauce is glossy and butter-gold, whisk in the lemon juice and dry curaçao in thin streams. Taste for salt, and do not reboil.

8. 8

   Sauce and surround

   Pour the sauce over the chicken immediately. Arrange the peeled grapes and 10 raw orange sections around it at the last moment, exactly as the original directs; do not simmer them in the sauce or their freshness disappears. Carry the platter straight to the table. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Use a dry brut Champagne, not a sweet bottle. It need not be dear, but it must taste good enough to drink because reduction magnifies both its virtues and its faults. Pour the same Champagne at the table.
• •A low-salt prepared chicken demi-glace is the honest home equivalent for light poultry glaze from a stockpot kept constantly working. Avoid salty bouillon paste; the Champagne reduces and the glaze concentrates, so excess salt becomes severe before the butter can soften it.
• •Dry curaçao is orange peel liqueur with a firm, slightly bitter edge. Avoid blue curaçao and syrupy orange liqueurs, which make the sauce sweet when it should remain bright and dry.
• •Peeling seedless grapes may look like brigade fuss, but here it is the dish, not scaffolding. Bare grapes and membrane-free orange sections meet the sauce without leathery skins interrupting its texture.
• •The mounted sauce is made for immediate service. If leftovers must be reheated, lift away the fruit and warm the chicken and sauce over very low heat with a teaspoon of water, whisking gently. Never let the sauce boil.

Advance Preparation

• •Cut and season the chicken up to 8 hours ahead, then refrigerate it uncovered. The dry surface browns more readily; take the pieces from the cold about 20 minutes before cooking.
• •The grapes and orange sections can be prepared up to 2 hours ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator. Bring them toward room temperature and blot them dry before the chicken reaches the platter.
• •Measure the poultry glaze, lemon juice, and curaçao before cooking, and cube the finishing butter early enough to chill it thoroughly. Do not make the mounted sauce ahead; its gloss and perfume belong to the final minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 295g)