Chef Juliette
Poulets Sautés
The master sauté for poultry: jointed chicken coloured hard in clarified butter, cooked piece by piece to tenderness, then reunited with a pan sauce made from every bronze trace of fond.
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Poulet Sauté à la Fermière
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 1553, Poulet Sauté à la Fermière, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Butter-bronzed chicken meets the fermière garnish of carrot, turnip, celery, onion, and diced ham, all finished in one cocotte with just enough veal jus to gather the fond.
Main Dishes
French
One Pot
Comfort Food
Weeknight
25 min
Active Time
55 min cook•1 hr 20 min total
Yield4 servings
Poulet sauté à la fermière (sautéed chicken with the farm garnish) teaches one clean principle: the vegetables stay pale and buttery while the chicken takes a proper bronze. That contrast is the dish. The carrot, turnip, celery, and onion are first étuvés, cooked gently in butter without browning, then finished beneath the bird with small dice of ham until sweet, savory, and glossy with its juices.
The original entry assumed a jointed bird from the larder, a veal stockpot never off the fire, and enough hands to brown in a sauté pan while a cocotte waited. Your home kitchen needs no saucier and no second pan. A prepared, gelatin-rich veal stock and one heavy cocotte replace that brigade scaffolding. For four people, one small chicken keeps the book's exact garnish: three ounces carrot, three ounces turnip, two ounces celery, half an onion, two and one-half ounces ham, then four or five tablespoons of stock at the finish. The workflow changed because the second vessel served service, not flavor; the proportions and sequence remain.
If the vegetables begin to color, lower the heat and give them a teaspoon of water. Ça se rattrape. One cook, one stove, one evening. The step that decides the whole cocotte is simple: brown the chicken deeply, and not the vegetables.
Poulet sauté à la fermière belongs to France's cuisine bourgeoise table and the classical national repertoire, where à la fermière names a garnish rather than a particular province. The title is sometimes mistaken for permission to add any country vegetable, but this entry is exact: carrot, turnip, celery, and onion half-stewed in butter, followed by diced ham and a small measure of veal stock. Practical household cookery passed into grand-kitchen shorthand, where a few lines assumed the cook already understood how to étuver the garnish and gather the roasting fond into a light jus.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
whole chicken
Quantity
1, weighing 3½ pounds (1.6 kg)
cut into 8 bone-in, skin-on pieces and patted dry
deep-orange carrot flesh
Quantity
3 ounces (⅔ cup / 160 mL / 85 g)
peeled and sliced ⅛ inch thick
turnip
Quantity
3 ounces (⅔ cup / 160 mL / 85 g)
peeled and sliced ⅛ inch thick
celery
Quantity
2 ounces (½ cup / 120 mL / 57 g)
sliced ⅛ inch thick
medium onion
Quantity
½ onion (about ½ cup / 120 mL / 70 g)
thinly sliced
unsalted butter
Quantity
6 tablespoons (⅜ cup / 90 mL / 85 g)
divided
fine sea salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon (5 mL / 6 g)
divided
granulated sugar
Quantity
Scant ⅛ teaspoon (0.6 mL / 0.5 g)
unsmoked cooked ham
Quantity
2½ ounces (½ cup / 120 mL / 70 g)
cut into ¼-inch dice
prepared unsalted veal stock
Quantity
4 to 5 tablespoons (60 to 75 mL / 60 to 75 g)
heated
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| whole chickencut into 8 bone-in, skin-on pieces and patted dry | 1, weighing 3½ pounds (1.6 kg) |
| deep-orange carrot fleshpeeled and sliced ⅛ inch thick | 3 ounces (⅔ cup / 160 mL / 85 g) |
| turnippeeled and sliced ⅛ inch thick | 3 ounces (⅔ cup / 160 mL / 85 g) |
| celerysliced ⅛ inch thick | 2 ounces (½ cup / 120 mL / 57 g) |
| medium onionthinly sliced | ½ onion (about ½ cup / 120 mL / 70 g) |
| unsalted butterdivided | 6 tablespoons (⅜ cup / 90 mL / 85 g) |
| fine sea saltdivided | 1 teaspoon (5 mL / 6 g) |
| granulated sugar | Scant ⅛ teaspoon (0.6 mL / 0.5 g) |
| unsmoked cooked hamcut into ¼-inch dice | 2½ ounces (½ cup / 120 mL / 70 g) |
| prepared unsalted veal stockheated | 4 to 5 tablespoons (60 to 75 mL / 60 to 75 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •5 to 6-quart (4.7 to 5.7 L) heavy cocotte with a tight-fitting lid
- •Instant-read thermometer
- •Tongs and a broad wooden spoon
Instructions
- 1
Heat and organize
Set a rack in the center of the oven and heat it to 375°F (190°C). Cut every vegetable before the cocotte goes over the heat, keeping the slices thin and even so carrot, turnip, celery, and onion reach tenderness together. Divide the butter into 2 tablespoons for the garnish, 3 tablespoons for browning, and 1 tablespoon held in reserve.
Uniform slices matter more than perfect shapes. Thick turnip beside thin carrot gives you one hard vegetable and one collapsed one. - 2
Étuver the garnish
Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a 5 to 6-quart cocotte over medium-low heat without letting it color. Add the carrot, turnip, celery, onion, ¼ teaspoon of the salt, and the sugar. Turn everything through the butter, cover, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring twice, until the vegetables have softened at their surfaces but remain firm at the center. They must stay pale. If an edge begins browning, add a teaspoon of water, lower the heat, and cover again. Transfer the half-cooked garnish to a bowl.
- 3
Brown the chicken
Season the chicken with the remaining ¾ teaspoon salt. Raise the heat to medium-high and add 3 tablespoons butter. Once its foam subsides, brown the chicken in two batches, skin-side down first, for 4 to 5 minutes, then for 2 to 3 minutes on the second side. Leave room between the pieces and move them only when the skin releases cleanly. They should be deeply golden but still raw inside. If the milk solids turn black and smell bitter, lift out the chicken, pour off the scorched butter, carefully remove loose black specks with paper held in tongs, and continue over lower heat with the reserved tablespoon. Ça se rattrape.
- 4
Fill the cocotte
Spoon off any loose excess fat, leaving a thin buttery film and the bronze fond on the bottom. Return the vegetables and fold in the diced ham. Spread the garnish evenly, then settle the chicken over it skin-side up, placing the legs near the hotter outside edge and the breast pieces toward the center. Pour in any juices collected from the chicken. If the reserved butter was not needed during browning, dot it over the garnish.
- 5
Finish in the oven
Cover the cocotte and bake for 25 minutes, then begin checking each piece. Continue for another 5 to 10 minutes as needed, until the breast reaches 165°F (74°C), the thigh reaches about 175°F (79°C), and the vegetables yield to a knife while still holding their shapes. If the breast finishes before the legs, lift it to a warm plate and cover it loosely while the dark meat continues. Return every piece to the cocotte before finishing.
- 6
Finish with stock
Set the cocotte over medium-low heat just before serving. Spoon 4 tablespoons of the hot veal stock around the chicken, not over its browned skin, then tilt the pot and loosen the fond with a wooden spoon. The stock, butter, and chicken juices should meet as a light, glossy jus. Add the fifth tablespoon only if more liquid is needed to gather the fond. If the jus looks watery, lift out the chicken and vegetables and let the liquid bubble for 1 to 2 minutes, then return them and spoon the jus over the garnish. Taste before adding salt because the ham has already spoken. Bring the cocotte straight to the table. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Ask the butcher to cut a chicken weighing about 3½ pounds into eight pieces. A modest bird cooks evenly with the book's quantity of garnish; an enormous breast stays in the oven too long and throws the whole proportion out of balance.
- •The source asks for the red part of the carrot because a storage carrot can have a hard, pale core. With a tender modern carrot, use all the peeled orange flesh. If the center is woody, trim it away before weighing the three ounces; the original already rejected that texture.
- •Use an unsmoked cooked ham such as jambon de Paris, not bacon. Smoke would take command of a dish meant to taste first of butter, chicken, roots, and the restrained veal jus.
- •Choose an unsalted veal stock with clean flavor and enough natural gelatin to set lightly when cold. Only a few spoonfuls enter the cocotte, so thin, aggressively salted broth has nowhere to hide.
- •A dry Mâcon white suits the buttery roots, while a light Beaujolais has enough fruit for the ham without weighing down the chicken. Serve either without ceremony.
Advance Preparation
- •The carrot, turnip, celery, and onion may be sliced up to 1 day ahead and refrigerated in separate covered containers. Dice the ham at the same time, but keep it apart from the vegetables.
- •Have the chicken jointed up to 12 hours ahead and refrigerate it uncovered on a rimmed tray. The dry surface takes better color when it meets the butter.
- •The finished dish can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. Reheat it covered at 325°F (165°C) with a spoonful of veal stock, removing the breast pieces as soon as they are hot so they remain tender.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 300g)
Calories
650 calories
Total Fat
44 g
Saturated Fat
18 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
25 g
Cholesterol
245 mg
Sodium
1020 mg
Total Carbohydrates
6 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
55 g
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