No. 1828

Chicken a la Delisle-Broiled

Poulet Grille a la Delisle

Split a chicken in two through the back after having drawn, singed and cleansed it well; trim it nicely, remove the lights and season with salt and prepared red pepper (No. 168), dip in melted butter, then roll in bread-crumbs and broil over a slow fire; serve on a garnishing prepared as follows: Peel four medium tomatoes, cut them in four, press out the seeds and fry in butter with finely shredded green peppers, adding a little kneaded butter (No. 579), let simmer until thoroughly done. Prepare a low oval border of Piedmontese risot (No. 739) with parmesan; unmold on a dish and lay the tomatoes in the center with the broiled chicken on top; trim the drum sticks with frills (No. 10), and serve very hot.

← No. 1827 Chicken Breasts a la Chevreuse Chicken No. 1829 Chicken a la Irving—Broiled and Stuffed →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer assumes a charcoal broiler and a kitchen with numbered cross-references at hand. The dish is a spatchcocked chicken, crumbed in butter, on a risotto border filled with stewed tomato and pepper.

The hinge: a slow fireButtered breadcrumbs on a split chicken will scorch long before the thigh is cooked, which is why the original insists on a slow fire. Keep the bird well away from direct heat — indirect grilling or a low oven finish — and take the thigh to 165F/74C; the crumbs should be deep gold, not black.
Splitting through the backRanhofer halves the bird through the back rather than spatchcocking it whole. Cut down the backbone, open the bird out and press it to an even thickness so the breast and leg finish together. A bird of about 3 to 3 1/2 lb will serve two.
"Remove the lights"The lungs, which sit as spongy pink pads against the ribs on either side of the backbone. Modern birds usually arrive with them gone; if not, scrape them out with a fingernail or the tip of a knife.
Prepared red pepper (No. 168)One of Ranhofer's own cayenne-based seasoning preparations, made up in advance elsewhere in the book. Straight cayenne cut with salt does the same job; use it sparingly, since the crumb coating concentrates it.
Kneaded butter (No. 579)Beurre manié — equal weights of soft butter and flour worked to a paste, whisked into the tomatoes to bind their liquid. A teaspoon of each is plenty for four tomatoes.
Piedmontese risotto (No. 739)A firm, cheese-heavy risotto cooked in stock, not the loose all'onda style. It has to be stiff enough to hold an unmolded oval border, so cook it drier than you would for eating on its own and let it cool a few minutes before turning it out.
Green peppersMost likely sweet green bell pepper here, shredded fine, rather than a hot chili. Seed and peel them, or at least soften them well in the butter, since they cook far more slowly than the tomato.
Frills (No. 10)Paper cuffs slipped over the ends of the drumsticks, purely decorative and easily skipped. If you want them, cut a strip of parchment, fringe one edge, and roll it into a cylinder.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of some thirty years as chef at Delmonico's, and it works as much like a catalogue as a cookbook: several thousand numbered entries, endlessly cross-referenced, written for professionals who already knew the drill. Names like "à la Delisle" and the neighboring "à la Irving" reflect the house habit of attaching a patron, a performer or a public figure to a plate — and here it is the garnish rather than the cooking method that the name identifies. What dates this particular dish is the garnish itself: a risotto border molded into an oval ring with stewed tomato and sweet pepper spooned into the well, a piece of high-Victorian plate architecture that has almost entirely vanished from restaurant cooking. The broiled split chicken underneath, on the other hand, is the same technique a grill cook uses now.