No. 1887

Chicken a la Dodds—Sauted

Poulet Saute a la Dodds

Cut up the chicken as explained for sauteing chicken (No. 1906), and put the pieces in a sautoir with four ounces of butter, cook without browning, and add four ounces of small squares of onions; place it on the fire for a few seconds to cook the onions without letting attain color; then add two teaspoonfuls of curry, and two tablespoonfuls of flour; season with salt and pepper, moisten with a pint and a half of stock (No. 194a), and let boil and simmer quite slowly; when done, drain pare well the pieces, and place them in a saucepan. Strain the sauce and reduce it with some good cream; pour this over the chicken. At the first boil dress in the shape of a pyramid and cover with a part of the sauce, reserving the remainder for the sauce-boat. Boil some rice in water for ten minutes, drain and press it into a buttered mold furnished with a cover; place it in a slack oven for fifteen minutes, and just when ready to serve, unmold it on a dish, and send it to the table with the chicken.

← No. 1886 Chickens a la Diva—Sauted Chicken No. 1888 Chickens a la Dumas—Sauted →

For the Modern Kitchen

A mild curried fricassée in French dress: the chicken is stewed white, the sauce finished with cream, and rice moulded alongside. Two details carry the dish — nothing is allowed to take color, and the sauce is reduced separately after the meat comes out.

Keep it whiteThe butter, chicken and onion are all cooked without browning, which means gentle heat throughout. If the flour and curry catch color the sauce turns muddy and tastes scorched rather than mild.
SautoirA straight-sided shallow pan; a 12-inch saute pan or a wide braiser does the same work. It needs to hold the pieces in one layer or they steam instead of cooking evenly.
Weights and volumesFour ounces of butter is one stick, half a cup. Four ounces of onion is a small to medium onion, diced small. A pint and a half of stock is three cups by American measure.
Curry powderCommercial curry powder of this period was generally a mild blend rather than a hot one. Stir it into the butter with the flour and let it cook a minute so the raw spice edge goes.
"Drain pare well"The phrase is garbled in the original; it most likely means lift the pieces out and trim off any ragged skin, cartilage or bone splinters before they go into the clean saucepan. The point is a tidy pyramid on the plate.
Reducing with creamStrain the cooking liquid and reduce it with good cream, as the recipe directs, until it coats a spoon; keep the heat moderate so the cream does not break.
Slack ovenRoughly 250-300F. The moulded rice is only being held and set through, not baked; fifteen minutes covered at that heat is enough.
The riceTen minutes in plenty of boiling water leaves long-grain rice underdone on purpose — it finishes in the buttered mould in the oven. Butter the mould thoroughly or it will not turn out cleanly.
YieldOn a chicken of roughly 3 to 3 1/2 lb, cut into eight or ten pieces, this should serve about four. Send the reserved sauce separately as directed.

A Little History

This is from Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894), the vast compendium he assembled from his years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, where recipes were often named for patrons, performers and regular customers; the identity of the Dodds behind this one does not appear to be recorded. The dish shows how curry powder had been absorbed into French restaurant cooking by the later nineteenth century: it is treated not as an Indian dish but as a seasoning for a white fricassee, thickened with a roux, moistened with stock and finished with cream, then served with rice. The rice is moulded and turned out as a separate garnish, and the remaining sauce goes to the table in a boat.