The Essential James Beard Cookbook (32 page)

Transfer the chicken to a platter. Add the vinegar to the skillet. Increase the heat to high, bring to a boil, and cook, scraping up the brown residue in the pan, until the vinegar has reduced to a thick glaze, about 3 minutes. Stir in the remaining ¼ cup of water and mix until smooth. Add ¼ cup of chopped parsley, pour the sauce over the chicken, and serve hot.

CHICKEN WITH FORTY CLOVES OF GARLIC

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

You will find that the garlic has been tamed in the cooking and acquired a delicious buttery quality. Serve with hot toast or thin slices of pumpernickel—to be spread with the garlic sauce.

8 chicken leg quarters

²
⁄
₃
cup extra-virgin olive oil

4 celery ribs, thinly sliced

6 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh tarragon or 1½ teaspoons dried tarragon

½ cup dry vermouth

2½ teaspoons salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

40 garlic cloves, crushed under a knife and peeled

Wash the chicken legs and thighs and thoroughly dry with paper towels. Put the oil in a shallow dish or a plate and turn the chicken in the oil to coat on all sides. Reserve the unused oil. Lay the sliced celery in the bottom of a heavy casserole or Dutch oven (not uncoated cast iron) with a tight-fitting lid. Add the parsley and tarragon, then lay the chicken pieces on top. Pour the vermouth over the chicken, and add 1 teaspoon salt, the pepper, and the nutmeg.

Pour the reserved oil into the casserole, then toss in all the garlic and sprinkle with the remaining salt. Put a piece of aluminum foil over the casserole and then cover to make a tight seal; or make a thick, heavy flour and water paste to seal the lid, and cover the lid and paste with another layer of foil. Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 1½ hours without removing the lid. To serve remove the foil (or break and remove the flour paste seal) and serve hot, from the pot.

BAKED MUSTARD CHICKEN

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

Editor: You will want to serve this luscious chicken with rice to be sure that you get every last drop of the creamy mushroom and mustard sauce.

Four 7-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

¹
⁄
₃
cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons Dijon or herbed Dijon mustard

1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped

½ cup finely chopped white mushrooms

1 cup heavy cream

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Dredge the chicken breasts in the flour and shake off the excess flour. Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter and the oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, turning once, until lightly browned and not cooked through, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a shallow baking dish, and spread each breast generously with mustard. Add the onion and the remaining 1 tablespoon butter to the skillet, and cook over medium heat until softened, 2 or 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook until they soften, about 2 minutes more. Blend in the heavy cream and heat through. Season with salt and pepper—start with ¼ teaspoon of salt; go easy on the pepper. Pour the mixture over the chicken, and bake in a preheated 350°F oven for about 30 minutes, or until the chicken is tender to the fork. Transfer the chicken to a platter. Stir the lemon juice into the sauce and correct the seasoning. Pour over the chicken and sprinkle with the chopped parsley.

CHICKEN LEGS WITH PAPRIKA AND SOUR CREAM

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

Editor: Chicken legs braise beautifully, and don’t dry out as quickly as chicken breasts. By another name, this would be called Chicken Paprikash.

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

6 chicken leg quarters

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 large yellow onion, chopped (1½ cups)

1 tablespoon sweet paprika, preferably Hungarian

1 cup
Chicken Stock

1 cup sour cream

Grated zest of 1 lemon

Heat the oil and butter together in a very large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add the chicken and cook, turning occasionally, until browned, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Season with salt and pepper. Add the onions to the fat in the skillet, and sauté over medium heat until lightly colored, about 5 minutes. Stir in the paprika and cook another 1 or 2 minutes. Return the chicken to the skillet, add the broth, and simmer until the meat shows no sign of pink when pierced with the tip of a sharp knife at the thighbone, about 25 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a serving platter. Stir the sour cream into the pan juices. Gently reheat but do not allow to boil. Pour over the chicken, and sprinkle with the lemon zest.

OVEN-FRIED CHICKEN LEGS

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

The pan juices from this baked dish are delicious, but don’t pour them over the chicken because you want to keep that crispness; pour them around it. Serve with a good salad and a bottle of wine. You may also serve the chicken on a bed of rice or buttered noodles if you like.

2 cups plain whole or low-fat yogurt

1 garlic clove, crushed

½ teaspoon ground ginger

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 chicken drumsticks

4 chicken thighs

1 cup all-purpose flour, yellow cornmeal, or coarsely crushed cornflakes

Combine the yogurt, garlic, and ginger in a large flat dish. Season with salt and pepper. Lay the chicken in the yogurt mixture and marinate for at least 2 hours, turning the pieces once during that time.

Remove the chicken from the yogurt. Roll each in the flour and arrange in a lightly oiled large baking pan or the bottom of a broiler pan. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 1 hour, until the chicken shows no sign of pink when pierced with the tip of a sharp knife at the thighbone, and the coating crisp and delicately browned.

CHICKEN MARYLAND

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

There are countless recipes for this dish, and which is the original I cannot tell you. Escoffier, in his book
Ma Cuisine
, calls for a chicken to be floured, coated with egg and bread crumbs, and cooked in clarified butter until golden brown. This is put on a serving plate with sweet corn fritters, potato croquettes, bacon and banana, and served with a béchamel sauce to which a little horseradish has been added. M. Escoffier also suggests serving this dish with a tomato sauce!

A more authentic source, a very old Maryland and Virginia cookbook, says the chicken should be dredged with flour and cooked in a skillet in boiling lard about 2½ inches deep and served with a gravy made with drippings from the chicken, flour, milk, and salt and pepper—this to be served with rice. The most delicious dish I have ever eaten under the name of Chicken Maryland had a crisp crust on it and was served with a smooth cream gravy and corn fritters. Here is a version that I have found successful.

Four 8-ounce chicken breast halves, bone-in, skin on

1 lemon, halved

1 cup whole milk

2 large eggs, beaten

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1½ cups dried bread crumbs

½ pound sliced bacon, cut into ½-inch pieces

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups half-and-half or 1 cup each whole milk and heavy cream

Rub the chicken well with the lemon halves. Whisk the milk, eggs, 1 teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper together in a medium bowl. Add the chicken, turn to coat on all sides, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Dip the soaked chicken pieces in the bread crumbs. Let stand for 15 minutes. Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 10 minutes. Transfer the bacon to paper towels to drain; reserve the bacon. Add the chicken to the hot bacon fat, skin side down. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, turning occasionally, until golden brown and tender, about 12 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a wire rack set over a plate to drain.

Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the skillet. Return the skillet to low heat. Whisk in the flour and cook, without browning, for about 2 minutes. Add the half-and-half and whisk until thickened and smooth. Simmer for 2 minutes, or until no raw flour taste remains in the sauce. Season with salt and pepper.

Pour the sauce on a platter. Add the chicken and top with the bacon strips. Serve hot.

Editor: The original was made with small “fryer” chickens weighing about 2 pounds each, split lengthwise. You won’t be able to find this size chicken unless they are special-ordered from a poultry farm. The recipe has been adjusted for today’s kitchens with large chicken breasts, and it is just as tasty as the original that uses split fryers.

John Beard’s Sautéed Chicken

My father, who came of stalwart pioneer stock—he crossed the continent to Oregon in a covered wagon when he was five—had many definite ideas about food and life. Not only did he have the ideas, but he worked at them with a vengeance. One of them, which became a tradition in our home, must have had its influence on me at an early age.

Father felt that he could sauté a chicken better than anyone else in the family, in fact better than anyone else he had ever known. He liked a young chicken sautéed for Sunday morning breakfast. So, early on Sunday—Father was never a late sleeper—he could be found in the kitchen complete with chicken, utensils, and an apron. No one dared set foot in the “domestic offices” until the chicken was in the pan and wafting its glorious aroma throughout the lower floor of the house. He never would keep doors closed.

Father cut the chickens, or chicken, in ten pieces and dredged them lightly with flour. He then cut several slices of bacon from “the side” (don’t think for one minute that sliced bacon was ever allowed in his house) and cut it in thin strips. These were fried out over a slow fire so that they became crisp and left a good deal of delicious fat in the iron skillet. The strips were removed to a platter, which was heating, and the pieces of chicken were lovingly lowered into the hot bacon fat. These he seared quickly, turning them and arranging them in the pan so that each morsel received the same degree of brownness and crispness.

Then the pan was covered, the flame turned low, and the chicken simmered for about 15 minutes. The cover was then removed and the pieces allowed just a few more minutes to take on additional crispness before being transferred to a hot platter.

Next came another rite: a heaping tablespoon of flour was put in the pan, after all the excess grease had been poured off, and was blended thoroughly with the little bits of goodness left in the pan. When these bits had been scraped around and melted with the flour, 2 cups of rich milk were poured in, the careful stirring began, and the seasoning was added, to Father’s taste. He loved freshly ground black pepper and seemed to have a magic touch with it, for no one else I know has ever made it blend and yet retain its individuality the way Father did. When the sauce had achieved the proper degree of thickness for him, it was transferred to a hot bowl and breakfast was announced.