Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2 (112 page)

Poach the chicken in wine and aromatic vegetables using the method and ingredients in the
Master Recipe, Steps 1 and 2
. When chicken is done, continue as follows.

The chaud-froid sauce—for 2 cups

A sieve set over a heavy-bottomed 2-quart enameled or stainless saucepan

6 egg yolks in a mixing bowl

A wire whip, a ladle, and a wooden spoon

1 cup
crème fraîche
or heavy cream

Salt, white pepper, and drops of lemon juice

Set cover askew, and drain chicken-cooking stock out of casserole into saucepan. Skim off surface fat, bring liquid to the simmer, skimming, then boil down rapidly until reduced to 1½ cups. Beat the egg yolks and cream to blend. Still beating, gradually ladle in driblets of the hot chicken-cooking liquid. When half has gone in, gradually beat the creamy mixture into the remaining chicken-cooking liquid in the saucepan.

Set pan over moderate heat and stir slowly and continuously with wooden spoon, reaching all over bottom of pan, for 5 to 6 minutes, or until sauce thickens
enough to film spoon with a creamy layer. (Be careful sauce does not come near the simmer and curdle the egg yolks; however, you must heat it to the point where it thickens.)

Immediately remove from heat, and stir vigorously for 1 minute to cool slightly and stop the cooking. Taste very carefully, adding salt, white pepper, and drops of lemon juice; sauce should be quite highly seasoned because flavor becomes somewhat subdued in a cold dish. Shortly before coating chicken, set saucepan in a large bowl of cold water and ice cubes; stir frequently until sauce is cool and has begun to thicken. Meanwhile, prepare the chicken for the next step.

Final assembly and serving

A chilled shallow serving dish, just large enough to hold chicken easily

For decoration:

Either
minced fresh tarragon, parsley sprigs, or watercress;

Or
1 or 2 truffles to mince and stir into the sauce with the juices from the can;

Or
a fluted mushroom cap to top each piece of chicken (Volume I, pages 510–11, for fluting and cooking)

Peel the skin off each piece of chicken, removing as much as you easily can without tearing the meat. Arrange chicken in dish. (If you are stirring truffles into sauce, do so now.) Spoon a thin layer of sauce over each piece, using about ⅓ of the sauce at this point. Cover chicken and chill for 15 to 20 minutes (or longer). When sauce has set on chicken and you are ready to continue, re-warm the remaining sauce briefly, only enough to liquefy it. Beat with wire whip until perfectly smooth, and spoon it over the chicken to mask each piece completely. Cover chicken with a bowl and chill.

Remove chicken from refrigerator about half an hour before serving (unless weather is too hot), to take off the chill; decorate as you wish with any of the elements suggested.

Waterzooi de Poulet

[Chicken Poached in White Wine and a Julienne of Vegetables, Cream, and Egg-yolk Sauce]

The preceding
chaud-froid
turns out to be an almost exact replica of the famous Belgian
bouillabaisse
of chicken,
waterzooi.
The Belgian dish is served hot, however, and the sauce is more like a soup—a
waterzooi
is ladled into deep plates, and you eat it with a knife, fork, and soup spoon. Although its general method is almost identical to that of the
chaud-froid
, as well as the
poulet en bourride
, the recipe will be easier for you to follow when you have the full details for its sauce and serving even if it means repeating familiar instructions. Accompany the
waterzooi
with boiled potatoes, French bread, and
a white Graves or Burgundy. It is a separate course, and a rich one—precede with a cold vegetable or something like the
salade Niçoise
in Volume I, page 542, and follow with fresh fruit, a fruit tart, or a sherbet.

SHOWMANSHIP

In the fine Brussels restaurants where this dish is served, the chicken is poached whole; the
maître d’hôtel
carves it in front of you, and warms the pieces of chicken in the sauce while you savor its delicious perfume. If you can carve like a master and enjoy the drama of table-top cooking, by all means
poach the chicken whole
; carve it at the table, and make the sauce as described here, but in a chafing dish.

For 4 people

Follow the Master Recipe for chicken pieces poached in white wine,
Steps 1
and
2
, but cut the aromatic vegetables into julienne matchsticks for Step 1. When chicken is done, continue as follows.

Sauce and serving

If needed: more chicken broth

6 egg yolks in a mixing bowl

A wire whip and a ladle

1 cup
crème fraîche
or heavy cream

Salt and white pepper

2 Tb rather roughly chopped fresh parsley

If you wish, a serving casserole or a soup tureen

Wide soup plates

(You should have 2½ to 3 cups of cooking stock for the sauce; add extra broth if necessary.) When you are ready to serve, beat the egg yolks and cream to blend; continue beating, and ladle in driblets of the hot chicken-cooking liquid until about 1 cup has gone in. Remove casserole from heat; swirling it with one hand, gradually pour creamy mixture back over chicken. Taste carefully, and correct seasoning.