Poularde Petite Mariée

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •5- to 6-quart (4.7 to 5.7 L) oval cocotte with a tight lid
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Shallow skimmer or slotted spoon
• •Warm rimmed serving platter

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the bird

   Heat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Pat the poularde dry, tuck the wing tips underneath, and tie the legs together loosely so the bird sits compactly. Season the cavity and exterior with 1 teaspoon of the salt. Leave the onions, carrots, and potatoes whole; matching their sizes matters, but turning them into decorative little footballs does not. That was brigade labor, not flavor.

   Choose vegetables small enough to cook whole. If one carrot or potato is much larger than its companions, halve it lengthwise so everything becomes tender at roughly the same pace.
2. 2

   Pack the cocotte

   Set the poularde breast-up in a snug 5- to 6-quart cocotte, with the thighs sitting low. Arrange the six onions, six carrots, six potatoes, and peas closely around it, preserving the source entry's order by putting every vegetable in at the beginning. Pour 2½ cups (590 ml) of the white chicken stock around the bird, reserving the remaining 1/2 cup (120 ml). The liquid should reach between one-third and halfway up the bird. Bring it slowly to a frémissement, the barest tremble, then cover tightly.

   If the measured stock barely covers the pot floor, the cocotte is too broad. Move everything to a smaller vessel instead of adding water; the little quantity of stock is deliberate.
3. 3

   Poach at a tremble

   Transfer the covered cocotte to the oven and maintain the frémissement for 50 to 70 minutes. Check the peas after 8 minutes and lift them into a covered warm bowl as soon as they are sweet and tender. Begin checking the onions, carrots, and potatoes after 25 minutes, removing each with a skimmer when a small knife enters without force; moisten them with a spoonful of cooking liquor so they do not dry. Baste the breast twice during cooking. If the liquid breaks into a hard boil, pull the cocotte from the oven, uncover it for 2 minutes, and add a splash of the reserved cool stock before continuing at 300°F (150°C). Ça se rattrape. The bird is ready when the breast and innermost thigh both register at least 165°F (74°C), with the thigh preferably reaching 170 to 175°F (77 to 80°C).

   Trust the thermometer over the clock. A true poularde and a young roasting chicken have different proportions, and gentle poaching makes visual doneness difficult to judge.
4. 4

   Lift and strain

   Lift the poularde onto a warm rimmed platter and cover it loosely for 15 minutes. Transfer any remaining vegetables to the covered bowl. Pour the cooking liquor through a fine-mesh strainer into a heatproof jug, skim away the surface fat, and return the liquor to the cocotte. A bare poach leaves the liquor clean and fragrant; a rolling boil clouds it and tightens the meat.

5. 5

   Reduce the liquor

   Boil the strained cooking liquor uncovered until only 3/4 cup (180 ml) remains, usually 12 to 18 minutes. Watch the final minutes closely and taste from a cooled spoon: it should be strongly chicken-scented and rounded, not salty or sticky. If it goes too far, loosen it with the reserved unsalted stock, 1 tablespoon at a time. This reduction is not scaffolding. It is the flavor that distinguishes the dish from chicken merely served with cream sauce.

6. 6

   Marry the sauce

   Lower the heat and whisk the prepared Sauce Suprême into the reduced liquor in three additions. Bring the mixture only to a gentle simmer and cook for 2 to 4 minutes, until it is nappant, meaning it coats the back of a spoon in a smooth ivory layer. If it remains thin, simmer it a little longer; if it tightens too much, add reserved stock by the teaspoon. Should the surface look greasy after too much heat, pull the cocotte off the burner and whisk in a teaspoon of cool stock until the sauce comes together again.

7. 7

   Coat and serve

   Taste the sauce and use the remaining salt only if needed. Return the poularde to the center of the warm cocotte and arrange the six onions, carrots, and potatoes around it, with the peas scattered among them. Spoon the Sauce Suprême generously over the bird and vegetables, leaving the shapes visible beneath their glossy coat. Warm everything over the lowest heat for 2 minutes without allowing the sauce to boil, then carry the cocotte to the table and carve the bird there. À table!

Chef Tips

• •A poularde is a well-fleshed young hen with more fat and tenderness than an ordinary small chicken. Ask a good butcher, but if none is available, use a plump young roasting chicken within the stated weight; a very large bird will still be cooking after the vegetables have surrendered.
• •Use unsalted white chicken stock. The cooking liquor is reduced hard, and every grain of salt concentrates with it; a heavily seasoned carton can turn harsh before the liquor develops enough body.
• •Freshly shelled peas give the dish its proper spring sweetness. Outside their season, frozen petits pois are the honest cousin: add them for the final 5 minutes of poaching rather than at the beginning, because they are already blanched before freezing.
• •The clock begins with the Sauce Suprême and white chicken stock already prepared, exactly as the classical entry assumes. Keep the Sauce Suprême as its own finished preparation; the reduced liquor is married into it here, not used to rebuild it.
• •Serve with a dry white Burgundy or a restrained Loire Chenin Blanc. Both have enough freshness for the sauce and enough body for the poularde without trampling the young vegetables.
• •Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours and keep them for up to 2 days. Reheat carved slices and vegetables very gently in the sauce with a spoonful of unsalted stock; boiling dries the breast and can make the sauce greasy.

Advance Preparation

• •Prepare the white chicken stock up to 3 days ahead and the Sauce Suprême up to 1 day ahead. Chill both promptly and reheat the sauce gently before beginning the final marriage.
• •The poularde may be salted 4 to 8 hours ahead and refrigerated uncovered. This seasons the meat more evenly; take it from the cold about 30 minutes before cooking.
• •Peel the onions and carrots up to 6 hours ahead. Scrub the potatoes and hold them separately in cold water, then drain them well before cooking. Shell the peas shortly before they enter the cocotte.
• •The cooking liquor may be strained and reduced up to 30 minutes before serving. Hold it off the heat, then return it to a simmer before whisking in the Sauce Suprême.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 590g)