Suprêmes de Volaille Richelieu

Suprêmes de Volaille Richelieu (chicken breast fillets in a crisp egg-and-crumb coat, finished with parsley-lemon butter and black truffle) teaches one true thing: the crust must set the instant it meets clarified butter. If the fat is merely warm, the crumbs drink it; when the fat is properly hot, the coating seals around the juicy suprême and turns evenly gold.

The brigade entry assumed its breading preparation and clarified butter already stood at the range, with another pair of hands to slice the truffle. It asks for neither a saucier nor a stock kept constantly on the fire, and it needs no salamander; adding a reduction or broiled finish would bury its precision. At home, three shallow dishes, a wide skillet, and a low oven for holding the first batch do the work honestly. The perpetual mise en place and brigade volume are scaffolding, so they go. The complete à l’anglaise coat, clarified butter, half-melted beurre maître d’hôtel, and four slices of truffle on every breast are the dish, so they stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.

For four servings, keep the breasts evenly thick and fry only two at once. Crowding drops the heat and spoils the crust. Test the clarified butter with one loose crumb before the first suprême goes in; that tiny sizzle decides the whole plate.