A Return to Escoffier
Tonight, I made a return to Escoffier, but with a little bit of cheating. Last time, I worked from all basic ingredients. This time, I used a cut-up chicken and used pre-sliced carrots. Between these and not making the pommes de terre à la Lyonnaise, the cooking time was much shorter. I don't remember how long it took last time, but tonight it was an hour-and-a-half from the start of cooking to when we were done eating.
Tonight's menu was poulet sauté Marseillaise (Escoffier #1566), carrottes à la Vichy (Escoffier #2062) and sautéed cucumbers with dill (Joy of Cooking, 1997, p. 371).
Poulet sauté is a wonderful approach to cooking chicken. The chicken is butchered into quarters with the wing-tips being removed, the thighs being deboned, and legs having their cartiledge removed. The chicken is then sautéed in a pan, whether or not it's "colored" depending on whether the sauce is going to be cream-based or not. Once given a sear, the garnish is added, and the pan is transferred to the oven to finish cooking. As the pieces of the chicken finish cooking (the breasts finishing first), they're removed. This is the key of the poulet sauté method: each piece of chicken is able to be cooked to its own proper doneness. Once all the pieces are cooked through, the pan is deglazed and the sauce is made.
That's the basics. The variation is in garnish and the sauce. Marseillaise has a garnish of garlic, green pepper and tomato, and the sauce is a pan sauce with white wine, lemon juice and parsley. Quite tasty.
I had much better luck with the carrots this time. I took the recipe as a guideline and just eyeballed the salt and sugar. Carrottes à la Vichy are basically glazed carrots. The carrots are braised in a mixture of water, butter, salt and sugar until the cooking liquid is reduced a glaze. Delicious.
The cucumbers were somewhat boring, but different. alycewilsonthought they were interesting. The cucumers are seeded, sliced and sautéed in in some butter and garlic. They're then braised with a small amount of liquid. The cucumbers are then finished with salt, white pepper and some dill, chives or parsley. A different way to eat cucumbers, but not an entirely exciting one.
Overall, I'd call it a success. It was enjoyable and it looked good on the plate:
Tonight's menu was poulet sauté Marseillaise (Escoffier #1566), carrottes à la Vichy (Escoffier #2062) and sautéed cucumbers with dill (Joy of Cooking, 1997, p. 371).
Poulet sauté is a wonderful approach to cooking chicken. The chicken is butchered into quarters with the wing-tips being removed, the thighs being deboned, and legs having their cartiledge removed. The chicken is then sautéed in a pan, whether or not it's "colored" depending on whether the sauce is going to be cream-based or not. Once given a sear, the garnish is added, and the pan is transferred to the oven to finish cooking. As the pieces of the chicken finish cooking (the breasts finishing first), they're removed. This is the key of the poulet sauté method: each piece of chicken is able to be cooked to its own proper doneness. Once all the pieces are cooked through, the pan is deglazed and the sauce is made.
That's the basics. The variation is in garnish and the sauce. Marseillaise has a garnish of garlic, green pepper and tomato, and the sauce is a pan sauce with white wine, lemon juice and parsley. Quite tasty.
I had much better luck with the carrots this time. I took the recipe as a guideline and just eyeballed the salt and sugar. Carrottes à la Vichy are basically glazed carrots. The carrots are braised in a mixture of water, butter, salt and sugar until the cooking liquid is reduced a glaze. Delicious.
The cucumbers were somewhat boring, but different. alycewilsonthought they were interesting. The cucumers are seeded, sliced and sautéed in in some butter and garlic. They're then braised with a small amount of liquid. The cucumbers are then finished with salt, white pepper and some dill, chives or parsley. A different way to eat cucumbers, but not an entirely exciting one.
Overall, I'd call it a success. It was enjoyable and it looked good on the plate: