Poulet Sauté Piémontaise

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 12-inch (30 cm) sauté pan with lid
• •3-quart (2.8 litre) heavy saucepan for risotto
• •Small light-coloured saucepan for beurre noisette
• •3-cup (720 ml) timbale mold or smooth bowl
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •White-truffle shaver or very sharp mandoline

Instructions

1. 1

   Reduce the pale glaze

   Pour the gelatin-rich stock into a small, wide saucepan and hold it at a quiet simmer until it reduces to 1 tablespoon (15 ml), thick enough to coat a spoon in a pale, sticky film. Keep the heat moderate so the edges don't scorch or turn mahogany; this is a pale meat glaze, not a dark demi-glace. If it tightens before the rest of the dish is ready, loosen it with a teaspoon of water and keep it warm. If you already have an unsalted pale meat glaze, simply melt and measure the required tablespoon.

2. 2

   Ready butter and bird

   Melt the 4 tablespoons of sautéing butter gently, skim away the foam, and pour the clear golden fat away from the milky sediment. The old kitchen kept clarified butter beside the range; doing this once is the honest home equivalent, because it lets the chicken brown briskly without burned milk solids. Pat the chicken completely dry, then season it with 1½ teaspoons of the salt and all the white pepper. Warm an oval platter, a 3-cup timbale mold, and a separate serving plate in a 200°F / 95°C oven.

3. 3

   Brown the dark meat

   Heat the clarified butter in a heavy 12-inch sauté pan over medium-high heat. Lay in the thighs and drumsticks skin-side down and leave them undisturbed for 5 to 6 minutes, until deeply golden; turn and brown the second side for about 3 minutes, then transfer them to a tray. Sauté means the pieces cook briskly in a shallow film of hot fat, gaining colour without stewing in their own juices. If the butter begins smoking, lift the pan from the heat and lower the flame. If it smells acrid, wipe out the blackened specks and add fresh clarified butter before continuing.

4. 4

   Run the two pans

   Set the chicken stock for the risotto over low heat. In a 3-quart saucepan, melt 2 teaspoons of the risotto butter and soften the onion for 3 minutes without colouring it. While the onion cooks, brown the breast pieces and wings in the sauté pan, skin-side down for 4 to 5 minutes and then on the second side for 2 minutes. Remove them briefly. Stir the rice into the onion for 2 minutes, until every grain is hot and edged with translucence, then add the risotto wine and let it evaporate. Return all the chicken to its pan, lower the heat to medium-low, and cover it loosely. Add hot stock to the rice one ladle at a time, stirring often and waiting until each addition is nearly absorbed before adding the next. Between ladles, turn and check the chicken. Transfer each piece to the warm platter as it finishes: breasts at 165°F / 74°C and thighs at 176 to 180°F / 80 to 82°C.

   The rice needs frequent attention, not frantic stirring. Add a ladle, turn the chicken, then return to the rice. Two pans, one cook, one stove, one evening.
5. 5

   Finish the truffle timbale

   Continue adding stock until the rice is tender but retains a small firm point at its centre, about 17 to 19 minutes from the first ladle. It should flow slowly rather than stand in a dry heap. Take it off the heat and beat in 2 tablespoons of butter and the Parmigiano-Reggiano. If it becomes stiff, loosen it with a spoonful of hot stock; ça se rattrape. Finely grate one-third of the white truffle into the rice and season with the remaining salt. Butter the warm timbale mold with the reserved teaspoon of butter, spoon in the risotto without crushing it, and invert it onto its separate warm plate. Shave the remaining truffle over the timbale at the last moment.

6. 6

   Swill and glaze

   Once the chicken is dished, pour excess fat from the sauté pan while leaving its bronze fond in place. Add the 3 tablespoons of white wine and swill it across the hot pan, scraping up every savoury trace. Let the wine reduce for 30 to 45 seconds, just until its raw edge disappears, then stir in the tablespoon of melted pale meat glaze. Bring it to one brief simmer and pour it over the chicken. This is a small, concentrated coating, not a lake of sauce. If it becomes too sticky to pour, loosen it with a teaspoon of hot risotto stock.

7. 7

   Brown butter at last

   Put the 5 tablespoons of finishing butter into a clean, light-coloured saucepan over medium heat. It will melt, foam, then quiet as tawny specks gather underneath. Swirl the pan and remove it from the heat the instant the butter smells of hazelnuts and reaches a clear nut-brown colour; its own heat will carry it further. If the specks darken too quickly, pour the butter through a fine strainer into a cool cup at once. Ça se rattrape while it is brown, but scorched butter must be remade. Pour the finished 2 ounces of beurre noisette over the glazed chicken, scatter the parsley over it only now, and carry the truffle risotto separately. À table!

   Do not whisk the beurre noisette into the wine glaze. The source puts it over the bird at the last, where its toasted aroma remains distinct, and that sequence is the dish.

Chef Tips

• •Choose a young chicken of moderate size. An enormous roasting bird gives you breast pieces that finish long after the wings and makes the sauté pan impossible to manage; careful staggering matters more than an extravagant bird.
• •The pale meat glaze must be unsalted or very lightly salted before reduction. Ordinary boxed stock can become brutally salty when reduced to one spoonful, so use a gelatin-rich unsalted stock or a prepared pale glaze whose seasoning you control.
• •Fresh white truffle is seasonal and cannot be replaced invisibly. If it isn't available, serve the chicken with a plain Parmesan risotto and call the change honestly; bottled truffle oil gives perfume without the living complexity that makes the Piémontaise garnish.
• •Use a dry white wine with enough acidity to lift butter but no obvious sweetness or heavy oak. Pour the same wine at the table, or choose a restrained white Burgundy that won't trample the truffle.
• •The pan sauce is meant to coat, not smother. White wine, one spoonful of meat glaze, then the separate pour of beurre noisette: adding cream, flour, or extra stock changes the concise architecture of the source.

Advance Preparation

• •The pale meat glaze can be reduced up to 3 days ahead, chilled, and rewarmed with a teaspoon of water if it sets too firmly. It also freezes well in tablespoon portions.
• •The chicken may be jointed and dried a day ahead. Keep it covered in the cold, then bring it out 30 minutes before cooking so the pieces lose their deepest chill.
• •Measure the rice, grate the cheese, chop the onion and parsley, and warm the stocks before guests arrive. Do not cook the risotto or make the beurre noisette ahead; both finishes depend on the final minutes.
• •Keep the white truffle whole and cold in a sealed container lined with dry paper. Brush it clean and shave it only when the risotto is ready, because its perfume begins fading as soon as it is cut.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 430g)