Suprêmes de Volaille Financière

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •12-inch (30 cm) heavy skillet
• •Two 1-quart (1-liter) saucepans
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •14-inch (36 cm) oval serving platter

Instructions

1. 1

   Stage the service

   Have the referenced garnish and sauce fully prepared before beginning this finishing recipe. Take the suprêmes from the cold for 20 minutes, heat the oven to 200°F (95°C), and place a 14-inch oval serving platter inside to warm. Set out two small saucepans, the croûtons, a ladle, and serving spoons. Once the chicken enters the skillet, nothing else should require chopping, measuring, or searching.

   Warm the platter, not the cooked chicken. Holding finished suprêmes in the oven dries them before the garnish reaches the table.
2. 2

   Fry matching croûtons

   Trim each slice of pain de mie into an oval approximately matching one suprême. Melt the unsalted butter in a wide skillet over medium heat and fry the croûtons for about 2 minutes per side, until deep gold, crisp at the edges, and saturated with butter without becoming greasy. Transfer them to a wire rack. If they soften while waiting, return them to the dry skillet for 30 seconds per side just before plating. We don't apologize for butter.

3. 3

   Warm the financière

   Set the prepared garnish from Poularde à la Financière (No. 1474) in one small saucepan with 1/4 cup of its sauce. Cover and warm over the gentlest heat until the quenelles are hot through, reaching 165°F (74°C) at their centers. Warm the remaining sauce financière from Poularde à la Financière (No. 1474) separately until it flows in a glossy ribbon and naps the back of a spoon, then take both pans off the heat and cover them. Do not boil the garnish. If the sauce tightens into a paste, Ça se rattrape: whisk in unsalted chicken stock one tablespoon at a time. If it is thin, remove the garnish and reduce the sauce alone so the delicate pieces do not overcook.

4. 4

   Prepare the suprêmes

   Pat the suprêmes thoroughly dry. If one end is much thicker, flatten it gently between sheets of parchment until each breast is an even 3/4 inch (2 cm); even thickness is what lets the surface bronze before the center dries. Season both sides with the salt and white pepper immediately before cooking.

5. 5

   Sauté in clarified butter

   Heat a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat and add the clarified butter. When the surface shimmers, lay in all four suprêmes with space between them. Cook without shifting them for 3 to 4 minutes, until the undersides are richly golden, then turn and reduce the heat to medium. Baste with the clarified butter and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes, until the centers reach 162°F (72°C). If the exteriors color before the centers catch up, lower the heat and turn the breasts every 30 seconds. Lift them out, cover loosely, and rest for 3 minutes; confirm that carryover heat brings them to 165°F (74°C), returning them briefly to the skillet if necessary.

6. 6

   Build the crown

   Remove the warm platter from the oven. Arrange the four croûtons as a crown, narrow ends pointing toward the center, and set one suprême on each in the same direction. Spoon the hot financière garnish generously into the middle, keeping the quenelles, mushroom heads, cocks' combs and kidneys, truffle, and olives visible rather than burying one beneath another. Coat the suprêmes and garnish with the hot sauce financière, letting a little pool into each croûton while its outer edge remains crisp. Serve at once. À table!

Chef Tips

• •The garnish is the whole argument. Poularde à la Financière (No. 1474) supplies its chicken mousseline quenelles, grooved mushroom heads, cocks' combs and kidneys, truffle slices, blanched olives, and truffle-scented sauce. Replacing that assembly with mushrooms alone produces a pleasant chicken dish, but not this one.
• •Buy cocks' combs and kidneys already cleaned and cooked from a specialist supplier, often preserved in a jar or tin. The brigade had hands for cleaning and repeated blanching; the prepared product is the honest home equivalent and preserves the source without turning dinner into a butchery lesson.
• •Clarified butter matters because its milk solids have been removed, allowing the suprêmes to take strong color without scorched specks. Clarify ordinary unsalted butter yourself or buy plain clarified butter, but avoid strongly flavored ghee.
• •Serve a firm white Burgundy or a dry Champagne. Either has enough acidity for the butter, demi-glace, and truffle while leaving the chicken and delicate quenelles in command.

Advance Preparation

• •The garnish and sauce from Poularde à la Financière (No. 1474) may be prepared one day ahead and chilled separately in covered containers. Reheat them once and gently, loosening the sauce with a little stock only if necessary.
• •Trim the suprêmes and cut the bread ovals up to 6 hours ahead. Keep the chicken covered in the cold and the bread airtight at room temperature; season the chicken and fry the croûtons close to serving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 300g)