No. 1885

Chickens a la d'Antin—Sauted

Poulets Sautes a la d'Antin

Prepare two small chickens of two pounds each, by cutting each one into five parts and tossing them in a sautoir with clarified butter over a moderate fire; cook when needed four artichoke bottoms, drain and mince, then put them in with the chicken, also two chopped, blanched shallots, two ounces of finely shredded cooked ham and some minced truffles and mushrooms. Pour off the fat and replace it by veloute sauce (No. 415) and meat glaze (No. 402), adding chervil, chives and a little finely cut up tarragon leaves, white wine and Madeira, reduce to a proper degree, then dress the chickens and cover with a part of the sauce, trim the drumsticks with paper frills (No. 10) and serve the remainder of the sauce separately.

← No. 1884 Chickens a la Bourguignonne—Sauted Chicken No. 1886 Chickens a la Diva—Sauted →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes for a professional brigade with a stocked larder, so the recipe assumes you already have velouté and meat glaze on hand and knows exactly what "five parts" means. Everything else is straightforward sautéed chicken.

Cutting into five partsTwo legs, two wings with a portion of breast attached, and the remaining breast/carcass piece. With modern 2 lb birds you can simply use two legs and two breast halves per chicken, bone in, skin on.
A sautoir over moderate fireA straight-sided sauté pan wide enough to hold the pieces in one layer. Moderate heat here means colouring the chicken gently in butter without hard browning, roughly medium; allow roughly 20-25 minutes, to 165F at the thigh.
Clarified butterUsed because whole butter scorches at sauté heat. Ghee works identically, or half butter and half neutral oil.
Velouté (No. 415) and meat glaze (No. 402)Velouté is a white stock thickened with a blond roux; meat glaze is stock reduced to a syrup. Substitute a good chicken velouté and a spoonful of commercial demi-glace or reduced stock. Figure roughly 1½ cups sauce for two birds.
Artichoke bottomsFour fresh bottoms are the original intent, turned and boiled in acidulated water. Frozen artichoke hearts or good jarred bottoms, drained and patted dry, are a fair stand-in; canned hearts in brine are too soft and too sour.
TrufflesFresh black truffle is the assumption. Truffle in oil or paste is a different flavour and belongs added off the heat at the end, not simmered. Omitting it leaves a perfectly coherent dish.
Wine quantitiesNone are given. About ½ cup dry white wine and 2-3 tablespoons Madeira for two chickens will reduce to the right consistency without overwhelming the velouté.
HerbsRanhofer adds chervil, chives and tarragon along with the wine, before the sauce is reduced; tarragon in particular loses its anise character with long reduction, so you may prefer to add them once the sauce has reduced, off the boil.
Yield and serviceTen pieces serves four to five. Paper frills on the drumsticks (No. 10) are period presentation and can be skipped without loss.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894) records the kitchen of Delmonico's in New York, and this entry sits in a long run of sautéed chicken preparations distinguished only by their garnish — Bourguignonne on one side, Diva on the other. The name is usually taken to refer to the d'Antin title, borne by an eighteenth-century French ducal family, though the attribution is traditional rather than documented; the practice of attaching aristocratic and celebrity names to garnishes was standard in the grande cuisine Ranhofer had trained in, and by the time he was cooking in America such names functioned less as history than as shorthand on a menu. The garnish here — artichoke bottoms, shallot, ham, truffle, mushroom, finished with white wine, Madeira and fines herbes — is the tell of a restaurant kitchen with a mise en place already built: the recipe is really an assembly instruction, since the velouté and meat glaze it depends on each occupy their own numbered entry earlier in the book.