No. 1894

Chickens a la Maryland—Sauted

Poulets Sautes a la Maryland

For this dish choose small one pound chickens, split them open through the back, pare nicely (Fig. 353) and season, rub over with flour, then immerse in beaten eggs and bread-crumbs. Heat some clarified butter in a sautoir, fry the chickens in it very slowly to cook and attain a fine color, then finish cooking them in a slack oven for ten minutes. Dress the chickens on a bechamel sauce (No. 409), reduced with cream, and garnish the top with small corn fritters (No. 1349) and slices of broiled bacon, decorate the legs with paper frills (No. 10).

← No. 1893 Chickens a la Marengo—Sauted Chicken No. 1895 Chickens a la Montesquieu—Sauted →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer's version is closer to the original Maryland dish than the deep-fried bird most people picture: flour, egg and crumb, a slow butter saute, a brief finish in the oven, and cream sauce underneath rather than poured over. A few of his terms and assumptions need translating.

One-pound chickensThese are poussins or spring chickens, and the nearest supermarket equivalent is a Cornish game hen of 1 to 1 1/4 lb. A standard 4 lb broiler split down the back will not cook through by this method; if that is all you have, use bone-in halved breasts and leg quarters and extend the oven time.
Split through the backCut down either side of the backbone with shears, remove it, and press the bird flat, cracking the breastbone. Spatchcocking gives an even thickness so the crumb coating and the meat finish together.
SautoirA straight-sided saute pan, wider than it is deep. Any heavy skillet that holds the birds without crowding will do; cast iron holds the low, even heat this recipe depends on.
Clarified butterThe instruction is not decorative. Whole butter over the long slow fry this needs will brown its milk solids and blacken the crumbs. Clarify it, or use half butter and half a neutral oil.
Slack ovenA cool oven, conventionally read as somewhere in the 250-300F range; Ranhofer gives no figure, so the number is a modern equivalent. The frying does the colouring; the oven only finishes the interior. Ranhofer allows ten minutes for one-pound birds.
Cook to temperatureTake the thigh to 165F on an instant-read thermometer. Small birds move fast at the end and the crust hides how far along they are.
Bechamel reduced with creamNo. 409 is Ranhofer's bechamel; its exact composition is not given here. Reducing it with cream gives a sauce thick enough to sit under the chicken without soaking the crust. Make it slightly looser than you want, as it tightens as it cools on the platter.
GarnishesCorn fritters and broiled bacon recur in versions of Maryland chicken and are worth keeping, though the accompaniments vary between sources. The paper frills on the drumsticks are pure service-room dressing and can be skipped.
YieldRanhofer gives no quantity; reckon one small bird per person.

A Little History

Chicken a la Maryland is an American regional dish that had entered the international restaurant repertoire by the turn of the twentieth century, and Ranhofer's position at Delmonico's in New York may have helped it along: The Epicurean (1894) set out a great many American dishes in French kitchen language for a professional readership. The accompaniments usually associated with the name -- cream sauce, corn in some form, and bacon -- appear in Escoffier's Guide Culinaire and from there on hotel menus well beyond the Chesapeake. Ranhofer's arrangement sets the chicken on the sauce rather than napping it, which keeps the crumb crust from softening.