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 Jurassienne
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 1561, Poulet Sauté Jurassienne, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Poulet Sauté Jurassienne teaches the discipline of the pan: brown chicken in butter, fry fresh pork breast hard, pour off the excess fat, then let a light half-glaze carry every savory edge.
Main Dishes
French
Comfort Food
Weeknight
Budget Friendly
25 min
Active Time
45 min cook•1 hr 10 min total
Yield4 servings
Poulet Sauté Jurassienne (Jura-style sautéed chicken) teaches one exact discipline: fat must build flavor, then leave the pan before the sauce arrives. Brown the chicken in butter, fry the fresh pork breast hard, and pour away three-quarters of the grease. Miss that last motion and the light half-glaze cannot cling; it slides beneath a greasy varnish.
The grand kitchen assumed a saucier on staff, stock never off the fire, light half-glaze waiting, and another pair of hands to fry the pork while the chicken cooked. It needed no salamander, and neither do you. For one cook, one stove, one evening, two ordinary skillets and a good prepared demi-glace loosened to a flowing half-glaze do the honest work. The brigade quantity is scaled to one chicken and four plates; the proportion of pork, the butter sauté, the draining, and the chive finish remain intact. Those are the dish. Separate sauce production was scaffolding for the brigade, so it goes.
When the Jurassienne is right, the chicken wears a bronze crust, the pork strips are crisp at their edges, and the sauce gleams rather than floats. Before you touch the pan, remember the motion that decides everything: tilt, spoon away the clear fat, and protect the brown fond beneath it.
Poulet Sauté Jurassienne belongs to the classical repertory of dishes named à la Jurassienne, linking the pan to the Jura through fresh pork rather than a heavy regional sauce. In grand kitchens, such geographical names often identified a garnish more precisely than a single household recipe, and here the signal is blanched fresh pork breast fried hard in butter, with no vin jaune, morels, or Comté. Its journey to the home table preserves that lean formula: chicken, pork, light half-glaze, and chives.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
whole skin-on chicken
Quantity
1, about 3½ pounds (1.6 kg)
cut into 8 pieces and patted dry
fresh pork breast (unsmoked pork belly)
Quantity
8 ounces (225 g), prepared according to Blanchings (No. 273)
cut into ¼-inch strips
unsalted butter
Quantity
6 tablespoons (90 ml / 85 g)
divided
prepared light half-glaze sauce
Quantity
⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon (95 ml / 100 g)
warmed
fresh chives
Quantity
1 teaspoon (5 ml / 1 g)
finely chopped
fine sea salt
Quantity
1¼ teaspoons (6 ml / 7 g)
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml / 1 g)
hot water (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| whole skin-on chickencut into 8 pieces and patted dry | 1, about 3½ pounds (1.6 kg) |
| fresh pork breast (unsmoked pork belly)cut into ¼-inch strips | 8 ounces (225 g), prepared according to Blanchings (No. 273) |
| unsalted butterdivided | 6 tablespoons (90 ml / 85 g) |
| prepared light half-glaze saucewarmed | ⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon (95 ml / 100 g) |
| fresh chivesfinely chopped | 1 teaspoon (5 ml / 1 g) |
| fine sea salt | 1¼ teaspoons (6 ml / 7 g) |
| freshly ground black pepper | ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml / 1 g) |
| hot water (optional) | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 12-inch sauté pan with lid
- •10-inch skillet
- •Instant-read thermometer
- •Heatproof bowl for rendered fat
- •Warm oval serving platter
Instructions
- 1
Ready the components
Season the dry chicken evenly with the salt and pepper, including the joint sides where seasoning is often missed. Warm the light half-glaze until it flows easily from a spoon, but do not boil it. Have the pork, butter, chives, serving platter, and a heatproof bowl for the rendered fat within reach; once the chicken is cooked, the finish moves quickly.
A wet bird cannot sauté properly. Moisture turns the first minutes in the pan into a bath, while a dry surface lets the butter and chicken brown into the fond the sauce needs. - 2
Sauté the chicken
Melt 4 tablespoons (60 ml / 57 g) of the butter in a heavy 12-inch sauté pan over medium heat. When its foam subsides, lay in the chicken skin-side down, placing the thighs and drumsticks over the stronger heat. Work in two batches if the pieces cannot sit without touching. Brown the skin for 6 to 8 minutes without fussing with it, then turn and color the second side for 3 to 4 minutes. Return all the dark pieces to the pan, lower the heat, cover, and cook for 8 minutes. Add the breast pieces and wings, cover again, and continue for 8 to 12 minutes, turning once, until the breasts register 160°F (71°C) and the thighs and drumsticks reach 170 to 175°F (77 to 79°C). Remove each piece as it becomes ready; young chicken does not reward equal cooking times.
If the butter begins to blacken before the chicken browns, lower the heat and wipe away only the burnt butter with folded paper held in tongs. Keep the brown chicken fond. Ça se rattrape. - 3
Fry the pork hard
While the chicken finishes, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the fresh pork breast already prepared according to Blanchings (No. 273), spreading the strips in one layer. Fry hard for 7 to 10 minutes, turning as needed, until fully cooked, deeply bronzed, and crisp at the edges. Pale pork brings fat but little character, so give it real color without burning the butter.
- 4
Combine and degrease
Return the cooked chicken to the sauté pan and add the fried pork strips with their butter, following the source sequence. Warm them together for 30 seconds, then tilt the pan and spoon approximately three-quarters of the clear fat into the heatproof bowl, leaving only a thin film and every brown trace of fond. This draining is not brigade scaffolding; it is the dish. If some brown juices leave with the fat, let the bowl stand briefly, skim away the clear top layer, and return the dark juices to the pan. Ça se rattrape.
Rendered fat belongs in a heatproof bowl, never the sink. You need not measure the remainder precisely; the pan should look glazed, not flooded. - 5
Swill with half-glaze
Set the pan over medium heat and pour in the warm light half-glaze. Swill it across the pan floor, scraping with a wooden spoon so the fond dissolves into the sauce, then turn the chicken once to give every piece a thin gloss. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes only; the bird is already done. If clear fat separates across the surface, lift out the chicken and spoon the fat away before boiling the sauce for 20 seconds. If the sauce tightens too far, loosen it with the hot water a teaspoon at a time.
- 6
Finish with chives
Lift the chicken onto the warm platter. Take the pan off the heat, stir the chopped chives through the sauce and pork strips, then taste for seasoning. Pour the glossy sauce over the chicken, making sure the pork reaches every serving. Bring it to the table at once. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Fresh pork breast is poitrine de porc fraîche, what most butchers now sell as unsmoked pork belly. Choose a fairly lean, even slab rather than thin breakfast slices; the strips must remain distinct after frying.
- •A light half-glaze should coat a spoon thinly, not sit on it like paste. A good refrigerated or frozen demi-glace can be loosened before measuring until it pours like light cream. Powdered gravy brings starch and salt the dish never asked for.
- •Butter is essential because its milk solids help build the nutty brown fond beneath the chicken and pork. Keep the heat controlled. We don't apologize for butter, but we don't burn it either.
- •Serve the Jurassienne with pommes vapeur, plain steamed potatoes, or buttered noodles to catch the sauce. A dry Jura Chardonnay suits the light glaze; vin jaune is magnificent, but too commanding for this restrained pan sauce.
Advance Preparation
- •Prepare and cool the fresh pork breast through Blanchings (No. 273) up to one day ahead. Keep it covered in the cold, then dry it thoroughly before cutting and frying.
- •The chicken can be cut, dried, and refrigerated uncovered for up to 8 hours. Season it only shortly before cooking so the surface stays ready to brown.
- •Have the light half-glaze measured and warmed before the chicken finishes. The final deglazing takes only a minute or two and should not wait while cold sauce is found.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 275g)
Calories
850 calories
Total Fat
68 g
Saturated Fat
28 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
39 g
Cholesterol
240 mg
Sodium
1050 mg
Total Carbohydrates
2 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
1 g
Protein
54 g
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