Suprêmes de Volaille Arlésienne

Suprêmes de Volaille Arlésienne (chicken breast fillets with Arles garnish) teaches separation. The aubergine and onion must stay crisp at their edges, the tomatoes must remain bright and whole, and the delicate sauce belongs beside the chicken rather than poured over all that careful frying. Arles brings olive oil to the garnish, while clarified butter gives the floured suprêmes their golden crust.

The original kitchen assumed a saucier on staff, a stock never off the fire, several cooks tending separate pans, and a salamander waiting above the range. This entry never calls upon that salamander, because frying makes the crust. At home, good unsalted chicken and veal stocks are reduced together, with a little gelatin restoring the body that long extraction once supplied, then tomatéd with enough purée to be distinctly seen and tasted. A rack in a low oven replaces the brigade's hot pass, and the whole arrangement is scaled to four. One cook, one stove, one evening.

Multiple hands and a ready-made half-glaze were brigade scaffolding, so those can go. The order of the garnish cannot: aubergine below, suprêmes above, tomatoes and fried onion in small heaps, sauce served separately. Before the first roundel meets the pan, bring the oil fully to temperature and keep it there. Lukewarm oil makes greasy vegetables; steady heat makes Arlésienne.