No. 1843

Chicken Fillets or Wings a la Genin

Filets ou Ailes de Poulets a la Genin

Take the skin covered fillets from six chickens with the wings, and after paring them neatly, saute them in butter over a good fire, seasoning with salt and pepper; when done and a fine color, add a little finely chopped shallots and let these fry with the chicken fillets, then add some finely minced fresh mushrooms; when these have evaporated their humidity, moisten with white wine and finish with a little chicken glaze (No. 398). Dress the wings on half heart-shaped bread croutons fried in butter; add a little veloute sauce (No. 415) to the sauce, reduce and season properly, finishing it with a little foies-gras; pass through a fine sieve, pour over the fillets, sprinkle chopped parsley over and serve very hot.

← No. 1842 Chicken Fillets or Breasts, Epicurean Chicken No. 1844 Chicken Fillets or Breasts a la Harrison →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes for a brigade with stock, velouté and glaze already on the stove, so most of the work here is deciding what to substitute for the cross-referenced components. The dish itself is a fast sauté with a pan sauce.

What a "fillet with the wing" isThe breast taken off with the first wing joint still attached and the skin left on — what a butcher today would call a supreme or airline breast. Six chickens give twelve; ask for them cut this way or do it yourself from whole birds.
Chicken glaze (No. 398)Ranhofer's glaze is white chicken stock reduced until it coats a spoon and sets firm when cold. A teaspoon or two of commercial demi-glace or a well-reduced homemade stock does the same job; a stock cube does not, being mostly salt.
Velouté (No. 415)White roux slackened with white stock and simmered until it loses any floury taste. Two or three tablespoons is enough to give the pan sauce body — this is a finishing agent, not a blanket.
Don't overcook the breastsTwelve skin-on fillets will not fit in one pan. Work in batches over medium-high heat, and cook them through to 165F internal, allowing for carry-over.
Evaporate the mushrooms properlyThe line about the mushrooms giving up their humidity is the hinge of the sauce. Cook them until the pan is dry and they begin to fry again, otherwise the wine and glaze go thin and grey rather than glossy.
The foie gras finishA small piece of raw or cooked foie gras whisked into the hot sauce off the heat, then strained. It enriches and thickens. Butter mounted in the same way is a reasonable substitute if foie gras is unavailable or restricted where you live.
CroutonsSlices of firm white bread cut into half-hearts and fried in clarified butter until crisp on both sides. Fry them ahead and hold them on a rack, not on paper in a warm oven, or they soften.
Quantity and servingAs written this is a dish for twelve people at one fillet apiece, or six at two. Scale down freely; a quarter of the recipe works with three fillets, a shallot and a handful of mushrooms.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and it runs to more than three thousand numbered receipts written as cross-referenced building blocks rather than standalone recipes — hence the bare references to glaze and velouté here. Dishes in the book are routinely titled after regular patrons, actresses, financiers and civic figures of the period, though the origin of a name like "a la Genin" is not something the book itself sets out. The construction is pure haute-cuisine shorthand of its day: a fast sauté finished with shallot, mushroom, wine and a reduction, given weight by foie gras and served on fried bread so the croutons take up the sauce. The half-heart crouton was a standard garnish shape in nineteenth-century French service.