Ok. First, I laughed. Then I whispered to myself, "Yes, I AM a fan-girl, aren't I?" You always hit the nail on the head, Dale.
I may have to get a bit technical here, so please bear with me. This technique is not poaching, but it ain't sauté-ing either. Sauté means "to jump," which implies high heat cooking in the culinary world. The heat is lower--a softer--heat on the chicken. You will still get browning, but it won't be the aggressive sear of high heat. Funnily enough, this makes for a much tenderer piece of chicken to eat, which is helpful because our grocery store chickens are pretty crappy now.
Now, for this technique, you can go ahead and use a small amount (enough to lightly cover the bottom of the pan) of olive oil and ghee/clarified butter combined. If you use regular butter, the lower heat will prevent the milk solids from burning, but they will brown--adding tremendous flavor!-- and speckle your sauce, like mine did. Place the chicken skin-side-down into the butter and let it cook for about two minutes before placing a lid over the pan. This helps cook the chicken through without over-browning the skin too much.
Although my breast was essentially boneless, the leg and thigh were bone-in. Cooking the chicken under-lid helped get those bone-in pieces cooked while the collected moisture minimized the browning.
There you have it. I hope that helped. If not, maybe some time after tax day, I could make a video.
To anyone reading the comments, one more note: Tarragon is an aggressive flavor. Please use it gently. When Point's recipe says one sprig, he fucking means it. Do not be tempted and think, "He said one, but I'm going to use two or more, because I hate to waste this herb packet I just bought." When I followed his guidelines, I thought one sprig was too much, but I am not a huge fan of tarragon. It was overused in the late 70s, thrown into damn near every recipe because America was in its all-things-French phase, and I am still recovering.
I knew it couldn't be a sautée but then I wondered if it was poached (though didn't feel like that was what was meant).
I actually do have ghee waiting for me to finally be opened and used (I assume it should be refrigerated once open?) so I will use that.
And yes, much as I love tarragon, I have made the mistake of making my pinch (of dried) too big and honestly, that shit takes over! I bet you are still recovering!!
I might cheat and simply do this recipe with skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs (I always have some on hand)...
Those thighs will work perfectly with this recipe. As far as the ghee goes, please do refrigerate it after you opened it.
This will make you laugh. I edited my above comment to you three times because I typed with such passion that I made stupid grammar and writing errors. I just found another. Ahh, passion, so reliably unreliable.
If you only know how often backspace is used by yours truly ;-)
And common sense told me to refrigerate it after opening.
Yanno... I have to go to Costco later so I think I'll pick up said thighs (I buy both the boneless, skinless and "these"). None of "these" left, after all, and now I really want to try this.
Total change of subject, I made a rather spicy roasted tray of veg - So good and quite spicy! I then puréed it and it is thick enough to use as a mash, or, when I add stock, a soup. I think it would pair nicely.
Anything that soaks up a sauce will go well. Go for it! As far as the wine pairing goes, consider the Saint Vran or some other one that pairs well with a cream sauce that has a slight licorice flavor.
And in this case, as the purée is rather spicy, it might tone it down a smidge. Wine... Ah yes... I've hardly imbibed at all since January. 6 lbs and counting, thank you very much!
How the hell do you cook cut up chicken in butter for 15 minutes without letting it brown? Is it cooked in a bucket of butter?
I love that you are all fan-girl about him :)
Ok. First, I laughed. Then I whispered to myself, "Yes, I AM a fan-girl, aren't I?" You always hit the nail on the head, Dale.
I may have to get a bit technical here, so please bear with me. This technique is not poaching, but it ain't sauté-ing either. Sauté means "to jump," which implies high heat cooking in the culinary world. The heat is lower--a softer--heat on the chicken. You will still get browning, but it won't be the aggressive sear of high heat. Funnily enough, this makes for a much tenderer piece of chicken to eat, which is helpful because our grocery store chickens are pretty crappy now.
Now, for this technique, you can go ahead and use a small amount (enough to lightly cover the bottom of the pan) of olive oil and ghee/clarified butter combined. If you use regular butter, the lower heat will prevent the milk solids from burning, but they will brown--adding tremendous flavor!-- and speckle your sauce, like mine did. Place the chicken skin-side-down into the butter and let it cook for about two minutes before placing a lid over the pan. This helps cook the chicken through without over-browning the skin too much.
Although my breast was essentially boneless, the leg and thigh were bone-in. Cooking the chicken under-lid helped get those bone-in pieces cooked while the collected moisture minimized the browning.
There you have it. I hope that helped. If not, maybe some time after tax day, I could make a video.
To anyone reading the comments, one more note: Tarragon is an aggressive flavor. Please use it gently. When Point's recipe says one sprig, he fucking means it. Do not be tempted and think, "He said one, but I'm going to use two or more, because I hate to waste this herb packet I just bought." When I followed his guidelines, I thought one sprig was too much, but I am not a huge fan of tarragon. It was overused in the late 70s, thrown into damn near every recipe because America was in its all-things-French phase, and I am still recovering.
Haha! Love that you laughed.
I knew it couldn't be a sautée but then I wondered if it was poached (though didn't feel like that was what was meant).
I actually do have ghee waiting for me to finally be opened and used (I assume it should be refrigerated once open?) so I will use that.
And yes, much as I love tarragon, I have made the mistake of making my pinch (of dried) too big and honestly, that shit takes over! I bet you are still recovering!!
I might cheat and simply do this recipe with skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs (I always have some on hand)...
Those thighs will work perfectly with this recipe. As far as the ghee goes, please do refrigerate it after you opened it.
This will make you laugh. I edited my above comment to you three times because I typed with such passion that I made stupid grammar and writing errors. I just found another. Ahh, passion, so reliably unreliable.
If you only know how often backspace is used by yours truly ;-)
And common sense told me to refrigerate it after opening.
Yanno... I have to go to Costco later so I think I'll pick up said thighs (I buy both the boneless, skinless and "these"). None of "these" left, after all, and now I really want to try this.
Total change of subject, I made a rather spicy roasted tray of veg - So good and quite spicy! I then puréed it and it is thick enough to use as a mash, or, when I add stock, a soup. I think it would pair nicely.
Anything that soaks up a sauce will go well. Go for it! As far as the wine pairing goes, consider the Saint Vran or some other one that pairs well with a cream sauce that has a slight licorice flavor.
And in this case, as the purée is rather spicy, it might tone it down a smidge. Wine... Ah yes... I've hardly imbibed at all since January. 6 lbs and counting, thank you very much!