Hey guys! This is me the Bombay Chef Varun Inamdar
and welcome to 'Get Curried'
Today's recipe is a french classic
that I have always wanted to show you.
Chicken Fricassée
A little thing about Chicken Fricassée,
it's possibly one of the most popular french things
that you can see, eat
in most of the restaurants
internationally as well as in India.
Let's begin.
Chicken Fricassée may sound astronomical
but trust me there is nothing to this recipe.
Extremely simple,
very simple flavours,
and that's where you have one of the most amazing classic Chicken dishes.
First things first,
we need to make a stock.
In the stock pot
the first ingredient that goes in
is vegetable Oil, regular cooking Oil
not too much because we are making a stock.
Now why we are adding this Oil in a stock recipe
is because we want all the fat from the Chicken to also start rendering.
Technically when you make stock in a restaurant or a hotel kitchen
you always make it in like a huge cauldron
and when I say huge, I mean like a 1000-1500 liter pot
which is generally like a electric kettle
So in that, you add in a little Oil
you add in the Mirepoix and the Chicken
Now you would be wondering what Mirepoix is?
Mirepoix is M-I-R-E-P-O-I-X.
Its basically a combination of Carrots
Red Onions and Celery.
These three things together
is Mirepoix.
So let's add this in.
What's important here
is to draw the flavours from all these things.
So Celery,
you are not using the leaves
Yeah?
You can leave this for you garnishes and things like that.
What we need
are these stalks.
So something like this
you snip off the leaves
keep them for later use or discard them
and throw these Celery sticks into the pot.
So that's the first step.
The second step is to take
the carcass of a Chicken
and place this also in the pot.
Now the whole idea of placing the carcass
at this stage is so that
it starts rendering it's own fat.
Chicken also has it's fat
When that starts rendering you will start realizing
that you get a film of Oil or fat in its liquid state
which precipitates or rises on top of the Oil.
When you keep it to rest at room temperature
and later when you refrigerate it
all that fat converts and solidifies.
So you just fold it
remove the fat and what you get at the bottom is stock.
Now how much you roast the bones
is what defines the color of the stock.
If you bare just kind of pan fry it or pan stir it
you get like a white stock.
If you continue roasting it
you get like a brown stock.
You keep doing and keep going further
you start getting deeper and deeper notes of the stock.
So in this case, we will keep it absolutely neutral.
Let's pan fry all of this.
Once this just gets like a tinge of brown
we will add in the water
and that's where you get a light brown stock.
So eventually the color of a Chicken Fricassée
it's light brown, it's almost cream in color.
and that's exactly how we want it.
Somewhat, maybe,
a darker shade of a Mushroom is what we are looking at
for the eventual final dish.
While doing this, it's also important to start scraping all the brown bits
because trust me that's where all the flavour lies.
Once the scraping is done, let's add in cold water.
When I say cold water, I actually mean cold water or Iced water
because what happens in that case is
now imagine all of this is hot
the moment you add in cold water
it drops down the temperature immediately
and after that when you cook it for twenty- twenty five minutes
the temperature slowly starts rising
and while the temperature keeps rising it also starts building the flavour
and drawing out all the flavour
from the Vegetables and the bones,
very important.
At this stage, we are not flavoring this or seasoning this
So no Pepper at this stage, no Salt at this stage
because stock has to be neutral.
Technically, you call it the 'fond' or the foundation of cooking.
So keep it neutral
So whoever is using it
does not have to really mind about the flavoring or the seasoning
because there would be somebody who has already added Salt in this
you just pick like a ladle from it
add to the recipe
which already has Salt.
So Salt plus Salt
you don't want that to happen
so keep this neutral.
I am making this recipe
only for a Chicken Fricassée today
what I am doing is adding in some flavours
which are typically associated with Chicken Fricassée.
Thyme
fresh Thyme of course
and
Oregano.
These are my personal two favorites when it comes to
Chicken Fricassée
so I am adding it here
because like I said, I have made the stock only for the Fricassée.
Eventually when you start making the gravy or when you start making the dish
you will realize that, that could be slightly untoward
in your mouth in terms of a bite.
So keep it separate let all the flavours get drawn into the stock
and that's where you have the most amazing Chicken stock.
So let's get this cracking first
One quick stir
and leave it aside for twenty minutes
so that this continues cooking
and by that time what we are going to do is
dredge the chicken
and pan fry it
what is dredging what is pan frying?
Let's see it now.
Let's heat a pan
on moderate flame.
While that is happening,
take the pieces of Chicken,
you can use boneless pieces, you can use Chicken on bone,
Curry cuts
choice is completely yours.
These are assorted cuts
so that's where I am
To this, I am going to add in freshly cracked Black Pepper.
Well this recipe is more on the creamier side
it has a nice creamy note to it.
So little Pepper is just perfect.
Salt.
And finally to this
I am adding in Refined Flour.
Now the whole idea of adding in refined Flour
to this recipe or to this chicken
is to ensure that all the pieces of Chicken
are nicely enveloped in the refined Flour
so let's add that.
This is called
dredging the Flour.
So remember dredging
the term that I was talking about
while doing that
ensure that all the pieces
are rolled into the flour.
Let's take Oil
and Butter in the pan.
There we go.
And to this, like a little knob
of Salted Butter.
Before the Oil
and
Butter mixture starts burning
we are going to start placing the pieces of Chicken.
Like a minute and a half
on one side
on high flame
and you will see that the surface of the Chicken
just kind of begins to beautifully caramelized.
At this point, let's give it a flip
Do not over brown this
because in that case
the Fricassée will get darker and you do not want that to happen.
Similarly, let's turn this
and pan fry this on the other side as well.
Once the Chicken gets this lovely color
move on to the next step
and that is
add in the Mushrooms.
Now in this case, of course, I am using Button Mushrooms
which are washed and cleaned.
Just cutting these into quarters.
When we make this recipe in a larger batch
or traditionally actually
we pull the pieces of Chicken out,
we re-saute the Mushrooms
and then add the Chicken back.
So I am making it easier for you
so that you do not have to
work with too many vessels.
After the Mushrooms
we sear this
add in the remaining butter.
Along with this some more flavoring
beginning with
Cloves of Garlic
and Bay leaves.
Let's stir this
and on high flame ensure
that all of this
starts getting that layer of color
that caramelized note
which like I said earlier
is very important for this recipe.
Once the pieces of Mushrooms have also browned
just scrape it lightly like so
and add in the Chicken stock.
Now as you may have seen this recipe in a lot of photographs
or you may have seen this in a lot of restaurants.
The eventual look of this
is saucy.
You want Chicken, you want Mushroom
and you want that sauce that literally coats the back of your spoon
Now considering all of that
and considering the fact
that the Chicken is still undone
just barely fifty percent done
This is going to take at least fifteen to twenty minutes
on medium flame to cook.
So let's give this a stir.
So the stock also needs to be added in accordance
with that keeping in mind
the eventual texture of this recipe.
if you go wrong
it's absolutely fine
because even if the stock is lesser at this stage
you always have stock.
If you are running out of stock
at any point in time
you can add in water
so remember this, do not get scared.
Allow this to cook for twenty minutes
but before that, I am going to add in some cooking Cream
and this in a lot of ways brings in that signature color
of the Fricassée.
One quick swirl like so.
A quick sprinkling
of Black Pepper Corn
freshly crushed
and this
ladies and gentlemen, now continues cooking for a further twenty minutes
or till the Chicken is completely well done.
Now you may ask
we serve this with what?
Parsley Rice is just perfect.
Stay tuned and keep watching
more such, quick, simple, easy
and stunning recipes only on 'Get Curried'
This is me the Bombay Chef Varun Inamdar
signing off.