Broiled Spring Chicken
Split a 2- to 2 ½-pound broiler down the back, clean it, dry it well, and season it with salt and pepper. Brush the skin generously with melted butter. Cook the bird on a rack in a broiling pan in a preheated broiling oven, skin side toward the heat, until the skin is golden brown. Turn the chicken, spread the underside with butter, and continue to cook under moderate heat for about 35 minutes, brushing often with more melted butter. Remove the chicken to a warm serving platter, and keep it warm.
Add a little chicken stock or water to the butter and juices that drip into the pan under the rack and cook all together on top of the stove, stirring and scraping in all the crusty brown bits that cling to the pan. Pour the sauce over the chicken and garnish the platter with broiled tomatoes or mushrooms, broiled bacon or ham, or simply with water cress.
The so-called frying chicken, of medium size, plump and fleshy, is sautéed and adapted to many garnishes, to make poulet sausé chasseur, poulet sauté à la bourbonnaise, poulet sauté aux champignons, and so on, depending upon the sauce and the additional ingredients used. Thus prepared, it will serve three or four persons.
The proper pan in which to sauté chicken is a heavy metal skillet with low flaring sides. Use clarified butter for the fat, if possible, or good salad oil, or fresh pork or beef drippings. So far, the directions for sautéing chicken resemble those for sautéing meats, which I gave in an earlier chapter of this series; but from this point the process differs. Never cook chicken in smoking hot fat. Very hot fat shrivels the skin and cooks the flesh near the skin so quickly that it is dried out before the flesh near the bone is thoroughly cooked. Simply heat the fat through and cook the bird over moderately low heat, I find that the white meat will cook in seven or eight minutes less than the dark, and I remove the breasts from the pan as soon as they are done. The wings take three or four minutes longer than the breasts, but not so long as the dark meat; they, too, should be removed before they become over-cooked and lose their succulence.
To Prepare Chicken for Sautéing
Remove the drumsticks and the second joints in one piece, and with a small pointed knife dégagez—that is, loosen—the skin at the drumstick end and push it back a bit so the bone protrudes. This will prevent the thin layer of skin that clings to the end of the bone from becoming dry and brittle during the cooking. Lay these pieces skin side down on the cutting board, and with the dull edge of a large knife, crack the cartilage between the drumstick and second joint without breaking the skin. Pull out the bone from the second joint and make an incision down the flesh of the inside of the drumstick. The whole piece will lie flat on the pan and will cook more evenly.
Cut off the wings. Remove the breast meat in three pieces, one on each side and one in the center, cutting where they separate naturally. Leave the back in one piece (there is little to eat on it, but it flavors the sauce and makes a support on which the legs, breasts, and wings may be arranged on the serving platter). Wipe the pieces dry and season them with salt and pepper. Dredge them with flour, if you like, but be sure to shake off every bit of surplus flour, because loose bits are apt to drop off in the pan and scorch, thus spoiling both the appearance and flavor of the sauce.
Poulet Sauté à la Bourbonnnaise
Prepare a 2 ½ to 3-pound chicken for sautéing and season the pieces with salt and pepper. Melt 2 tablespoons clarified butter in a skillet and in it cook the chicken, skin side down, until it is golden brown. Turn the pieces, add 6 small onions and 6 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced, and sprinkle all with 2 tablespoons chopped parsley. Add 1 ½ cups cream, bring the liquid to a boil, stirring, and cover the skillet. Simmer the chicken slowly for about 30 minutes, until it is thoroughly cooked. Remove the chicken to a heated serving dish. Stir into the pan juices ¼ cup cream and 1 tablespoon butter kneaded with ½ tablespoon flour. Cook, stirring, for a minute or two, correct the seasoning with salt and white pepper, and finish the sauce with 2 tablespoons Cognac. Pour the sauce and vegetables over the chicken.