No. 1889

Chickens a la Finnoise—Sauted

Poulets Sautes a la Finnoise

Prepare and cook three chickens the same as for the chicken hunter's style (No. 1903); when three-quarters done, put in three ounces of chopped and blanched onion, and three ounces of small squares of ham, moisten with half a pint of stock (No. 194a) in order to detach the glaze and finish cooking the chickens; in case this moisture should be found insufficient, add a little more stock to it; season with sweet Spanish peppers, salt and paprika. Just when ready to serve pour in a pint and a half of veloute (No. 415) and half a pint of cream; reduce slowly until the chicken is thoroughly cooked, thicken with egg-yolks, cream, fresh butter and lemon juice. Dress the chickens inside a border of rice boiled in stock (No. 194a) and finished with a little fine butter; strain the sauce through a tammy, pour it over the chickens and trim the wings and legs with paper frills (No. 10), or serve the chickens simply with a Finnoise sauce (No. 465).

← No. 1888 Chickens a la Dumas—Sauted Chicken No. 1890 Chickens a la Florentine—Sauted →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes for a brigade with a stockpot and a sauce station already running, and he cross-references rather than repeats. Here is what the numbers stand in for and where the dish can go wrong.

The hinge: never boil the liaisonThe final thickening of egg yolks, cream, butter and lemon juice goes in off the heat or over the barest flame. Once it reaches a simmer the yolks curdle and the sauce breaks into grains; it should be brought only to about 180F, thick enough to coat a spoon.
Scale and yieldThree chickens for a Delmonico's service means three jointed birds, and market chickens of the period ran smaller than today's. For a household dish, use one 3 1/2 lb chicken cut into eight and scale the other quantities down in proportion.
"The same as for the chicken hunter's style"That is the standard sauté: the pieces seasoned and coloured in butter in a wide pan, cooked mostly through, the fat poured off. The glaze mentioned later is the browned fond on the pan bottom, which the stock is meant to dissolve.
The cross-referenced componentsNo. 194a is one of Ranhofer's standing stocks, used here both to moisten the pan and to boil the rice. No. 415 is velouté, a white roux slackened with stock and simmered until clean. A good unsalted chicken stock, lightly thickened with a blond roux, stands in for both. No. 465 is Ranhofer's separate Finnoise sauce, offered as an alternative finish.
Sweet Spanish peppersNot chilli heat. He means the mild red pepper sold then as pimiento, canned or fresh, chopped fine. Paprika is listed separately and should be sweet Hungarian, added at the end so it does not scorch and turn bitter.
MeasuresA pint here is 16 fl oz, so half a pint of stock is 1 cup, a pint and a half of velouté is 3 cups. Three ounces of onion is about one medium onion; three ounces of ham is a thick slice cut into small dice.
Blanched onionChopped onion dropped into boiling water for a minute and drained. It takes out the raw bite and stops the onion colouring or clouding the sauce.
Tammy and rice borderA tammy is a fine woollen straining cloth wrung between two people; a chinois lined with a double layer of muslin does the same work. The rice border is pilaf cooked in stock, pressed into a buttered ring mould and turned out onto the platter, with the chicken heaped in the centre. Paper frills are decorative only.
Reduction and timingDo not reduce three cups of velouté hard while the chicken sits in it. Breast pieces are done at 165F and will dry out; pull them, reduce the sauce, then return them for the final minute before the liaison goes in.

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 is organised like a professional's notebook: nearly every recipe points to another by number, because the sauces, stocks and garnishes were standing preparations in the kitchen rather than things made from scratch for a single order. The name à la finnoise, Finnish style, belongs to a loose habit of naming that also gives us à la polonaise, à la portugaise and dozens more that tell you about the garnish rather than the country. The finish here, a velouté enriched with cream and then bound with egg yolks, butter and lemon, is the classic sauce allemande liaison.