POULET SAUTÉ [Sautéed Chicken]
For: frying chickens In a true sauté the cut-up chicken is cooked entirely in butter, or butter and oil, with seasonings. No liquid comes in contact with it until the very end. It is a quick and delicious way to cook chicken, but should be served as soon as possible after it is done or it loses the fresh and juicy characteristics of a sauté. The fricassees, however, as they cook in a sauce, take well to reheating.
Servings
6
Passive Time
35minutes
Servings
6
Passive Time
35minutes
Ingredients
Brown deglazing sauce
Instructions
  1. Dry each piece of chicken thoroughly. It will not chicken brown if it is damp.
  2. Place the casserole or skillet over moderately high heat with the butter and oil (360 degrees for an electric skillet). When you see that the butter foam has almost subsided, add as many chicken pieces, skin-side down, as will fit easily in one layer. In 2 to 3 minutes, when the chicken has browned to a nice golden color on one side, turn it to brown on another side. Regulate heat so fat is always very hot but not burning. Remove browned pieces as they are done and add fresh ones until all pieces have browned.
  3. Season the dark meat with salt, pepper, and optional herbs. (The wings and breasts are done later, as they cook faster.) If the browning fat has burned, pour it out of the casserole and add the fresh butter. Place over moderate heat (300 degrees for an electric skillet). Add the dark meats, cover the casserole, and cook slowly for 8 to 9 minutes.
  4. Season the white meat, add it to the dark meat, and baste the chicken with the butter in the casserole. Cover and continue cooking for about 15 minutes, turning and basting the chicken 2 or 3 times.
  5. The meat is done when the fattest part of the drumsticks is tender if pinched and the chicken juices run clear yellow when the meat is pricked deeply with a fork.
  6. Remove the chicken to a hot serving platter. Cover and keep warm for 2 to 3 minutes while finishing the sauce.
  7. Remove all but 2 or 3 tablespoons of fat from the casserole. Add the shallots or onions and cook slowly for 1 minute. Pour in the optional wine, and the stock. Raise heat and boil rapidly, scraping up coagulated sauté juices and reducing liquid to about ⅓ cup. Correct seasoning. Off heat and just before serving, swirl in the enrichment butter and optional herbs.
  8. Arrange around the platter whatever vegetables you have chosen. Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve.
  9. (*) FOR A WAIT UP TO HALF AN HOUR
  10. Finish the sauce except for its final buttering. Arrange the cooked chicken in an enameled, glazed, pyrex, or stainless steel casserole and baste it with the sauce. Cover loosely and set over barely simmering water. Just before serving, and off heat, tip casserole, add enrichment butter, and baste the chicken with the sauce.
  11. (*) PARTIAL COOKING IN ADVANCE
  12. The chicken may be browned, the dark meat cooked for 8 to 9 minutes, and the white meat added and cooked for 5 minutes more. Then set the casserole aside, uncovered. About 10 to 15 minutes before serving time, cover and finish the cooking on top of the stove; or heat the casserole and set it in a preheated 350-degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes.
Recipe Notes

A NOTE ON DISJOINTING THE CHICKEN:
French chicken is disjointed so that each wing includes a strip from the lower part of the breast. The breast minus ribs is cut in two, crosswise. The drumsticks are separated from the second joints. This makes 8 good serving pieces, plus the back cut in two, crosswise, if you wish to include it.
American chicken is usually disjointed into 2 drumsticks, 2 second joints, the 2 halves of the breast, and the 2 wings with no breast meat attached. So that the breasts will cook evenly, slip a knife under the ribs and remove them. Each breast half may be chopped in two, crosswise, if you wish.

WINE AND VEGETABLE SUGGESTIONS:
These are the same as for roast chicken.