127 replies to this topic

[PS]

When I went in October, we stayed in one of the cheaper rooms above the shop (perfectly acceptable room, if a bit on the pricey side. We did it for convenience's sake though, and the breakfast was very good). George Blanc's domination of Vonnas did strike me as being similar to Rick Stein's effect on Padstow, but I have no problem with that at all.

We had dinner in L'Ancienne Auberge, and the poulet a la grandmere Blanc as depicted above was delicious. I forget how the rice was done - was it just boiled rice with butter? It was simple, yet ideal for getting to grips with the sauce. It's all in the sauce, but as bleudauvergne points out, the bird has spent a good hour or so bubbling away flavouring that sauce. If nothing else, the AOC should provide the buyer with confidence that the chicken has been raised in a humane way to a reliable standard.

It was quiet in L'Ancienne Auberge on the midweek evening we were there - maybe only 3 or 4 couples, but Georges Blanc rocked in (presumably while things were a bit quiet in the main restaurant) to speak to a couple who were obviously his friends. On the way over he spoke to each couple in the restaurant, which I had to admire as he managed a good minute talking with us despite our schoolboy-standard french. Seemed like a nice guy on the basis of our in-depth chat!

I bought Cuisine en Famille from his shop. It's been very good so far - helps my french food vocab and proved very easy to follow once I got attuned to the idioms.

[bleudauvergne]

Yes, the recipe for that chicken is in the book we both bought, Philip, on page 137. For one bird of about 2kg, he uses 1 liter of thick fresh cream, 100 g. butter, an onion, 10 white mushrooms, 2 cloves of garlic (unpeeled), a glass of white wine, a squeeze of lemon juice, & a bouquet garni. After crisping skin of the chicken in butter, and adding the quartered onion, mushrooms, garlic, bouquet garni, he deglazes with the white wine, then adds the the cream and simmers until he's ready to strain it. Just before he serves it, he brightens it with the lemon juice, adjusts the seasoning and serves it.

edited to add a photo that was taken at Les Halles in Lyon:

Edited by bleudauvergne, 03 December 2004 - 01:52 AM.

[PS]

Great photo as ever Lucy - Les Halles in Lyon has got to be one of the finest markets on Earth! I wandered round there last October and wished I was staying self-catering rather than in an hotel...

Inspired by all this, I attempted an approximation tonight, using skin-on chicken breast fillets and half measures of the ingredients suggested in the book. It was pretty damn good, if I say so myself, although I think the chicken was a little bit overcooked and somewhat lesser to the Poulet de Bresse (a barn-reared beast from Angus in East Scotland, I'm afraid). Judging from your photo, I suspect the sauce has enjoyed a blitz from a bar blender to lighten it up a bit - that's what I did anyway, and it helped lift it. I didn't have any cock's combs either.

I feel a pleasant glow of success tonight - cooking in French! If my high school french teacher could see me now!

[bleudauvergne]

Philip - About the chicken coming out dry, I've noted that Blanc recommends leaving the breast on the carcass until just before serving, for all of this Poulet de Bresse recipes, which could possibly contribute to its retaining more juices. It might be worth a try to do this the next time you prepare the dish with whatever kind of bird you use.

About the rice at the restaurant, it was plain buttered rice.

I did the fricasee with the fois gras sauce - EASY! The cooking temp is so hot I thought it was a typo but it works, it's easy, and it comes out beautifully. Don't be tempted to turn down the temp and don't overestimate the amount after the initial 15 mins covered in the hot oven. The time goes fast. I blended the fois gras with the butter in the blender - mainly because I wanted to make sure it was completely homogenized. I finished the sauce by incorporating the fois gras/butter with a whisk - to keep things less messy. The butter and fois gras thickened up the sauce like magic and it was a beautiful foamy beige color from both the deglazing and the fois.

Another thing to mention is the garlic. I didn't feel that the garlic had enough time to roast, according to the recipe. So I pierced all over the unpeeled bunch of cloves with a fork and gave it a minute on high in the microwave to get it started before tossing it in with the chicken after the initial 15 mins. I cooked it an additional 15, but it would have been fine with a final cooking of 10 minutes only after adding the wine (the final cooking time is not mentioned in Blanc's recipe. I estimated, because the oven temp was so high that it blasted searing heat in my face every time I opened the oven, I could not conceivably keep opening it up and checking the juices.)

I took photos up to the point where it went into the oven at the beginning but since I also had guests I was not organized enough to take photos in the last 5 minutes before serving.

I am going to do this again and get photos because the dish is really gorgeous, so simple, but beautiful in its simplicity. I served it on a platter with a big mound of rice in the center which I had initially stirred in hot goose fat before adding the cooking water to keep it from sticking. (I managed to get my serving without rice to remain reasonable in my efforts to stick to my personal regime).

It's worth noting that children adore this dish. As I finished the sauce, the 4 year old son of our guests was following my every move as he watched at the kitchen door, giving his commentary. As I removed the carrots, herbs, etc. and He said "Who's that for? I don't like sauce. What's that? I don't like fois gras. I don't like chicken." then he was served his part of a breast with rice and smothered in ample sauce. He went silent and then came out with a big smile and cheered "c'est SUCCULENT!" with his hands in the air in victory. A lovely child.

Edited by bleudauvergne, 03 December 2004 - 01:51 AM.

[marcus]

Allard was one of the very first restaurants I visited in Paris. My girlfriend (now my wife) and I had gone in the early 1980s.

In the early 80s, Allard was a 2 star Michelin restaurant, the only true bistro that I know of that ever received this rating. In the Lyonnais mere tradition, the reverse of what one normally sees in France, Fernande was in the kitchen and Andre managed the front of the house. Andre died relatively young and Fernande soldiered on in the kitchen, there was some decline and the restaurant lost a star. The restaurant lost another star and was eventually sold, and although it has always kept its same menu, the quality declined significantly. There have been recent reports that the restaurant has improved and is now quite good, but I haven't been in many years.

[PS]

Lucy - thanks for the translation advice! I tried it again with on-the-bone breast/wing pieces and it was much more succulent. I can see Cuisine en Famille getting much more use over the coming months.

I hope I've managed to stick my name in the signature below to avoid anyone having to call me by my username, which was chosen far too quickly - select in haste, repent at leisure.

[John Whiting]

Allard was one of the very first restaurants I visited in Paris. My girlfriend (now my wife) and I had gone in the early 1980s.

There have been recent reports that the restaurant has improved and is now quite good, but I haven't been in many years.

For an unhappily negative response from a week ago, see my "Eating History" thread, immediately adjacent.

[bleudauvergne]

Allard was one of the very first restaurants I visited in Paris. My girlfriend (now my wife) and I had gone in the early 1980s.

There have been recent reports that the restaurant has improved and is now quite good, but I haven't been in many years.

For an unhappily negative response from a week ago, see my "Eating History" thread, immediately adjacent.

Link here

[marcus]

For an unhappily negative response from a week ago, see my "Eating History" thread, immediately adjacent.

My old memories of Allard are so wonderful that I haven't seriously considered returning and risking further disappointments under the new regime. Thanks to your review, I absolutely will not return.

[MobyP]

Lucy - please remember us for photos the next time you make that dish. I have some foie in the freezer, so I might give it a shot.

I bought my first PdB yesterday and roasted it last night, Ducasse style. The breast meat was beautiful, fragrant, delicate. The thigh and leg meat though was slightly tougher than I expected. More fibrous. Of course, in the fancy places they usually only serve the breast - but what's the classical thing to do with these sorts of thighs? Throw them in the oven for another 10 minutes?

[Schneier]

My mother's time-honored poultry roasting technique involved cooking the dark meat for a little extra time after she carved the bird. Makes a lot of sense.

I have been looking for Poulet de Bresse here in the Loire, but can't find it anywhere. Maybe it doesn't get this far West.

Bruce

[TarteTatin]

It is now possible to find chickens raised in the Bresse style in restaurants in New York, raised in Pennsylvania by a French couple.
Here's the link from eGullet NY http://www.post-gaze...rubin0810p1.asp

[John Whiting]

My mother's time-honored poultry roasting technique involved cooking the dark meat for a little extra time after she carved the bird.  Makes a lot of sense.

The chicken brick method, which I've mentioned before, gets around this problem completely. The thighs end up simmering directly in their own juices, while the breast meat above is still being steamed. It's simply braising within a very small enclosed space. If you want crisp breast skin, a short blast with the lid off accomplishes it, but with a certain loss of juiciness. It's a trade-off.

EDIT: As a method of making chicken with forty cloves of garlic, it is unsurpassed.

The disadvantage of carving and then cooking further is that the juices have been released.

Edited by John Whiting, 09 August 2004 - 01:14 AM.

[Gary Marshall]

Great photo as ever Lucy - Les Halles in Lyon has got to be one of the finest markets on Earth! I wandered round there last October and wished I was staying self-catering rather than in an hotel...

Inspired by all this, I attempted an approximation tonight, using skin-on chicken breast fillets and half measures of the ingredients suggested in the book. It was pretty damn good, if I say so myself, although I think the chicken was a little bit overcooked and somewhat lesser to the Poulet de Bresse (a barn-reared beast from Angus in East Scotland, I'm afraid). Judging from your photo, I suspect the sauce has enjoyed a blitz from a bar blender to lighten it up a bit - that's what I did anyway, and it helped lift it. I didn't have any cock's combs either.

I feel a pleasant glow of success tonight - cooking in French! If my high school french teacher could see me now!

i've been craving a roast chicken for ages, this has pushed me over the edge!

was just wondering about simmering the cream even though there's a lot of it (a litre of cream!!) is there not danger of splitting it?

did you just simmer it on the hob on a low flame?

cheers

gary

[PS]

Yes - just on the hob on a low flame. I'm not sure about the chemistry of all this, but maybe the fact that it's creme fraiche means that it doesn't split?

There is certainly a lot of creme fraiche involved, but it's worth it! I had quite a sizeable amount of sauce left over at the end, which proved to be a good sauce for serving up some sauteed mushrooms in the next day (and even for spreading for on some bread )

[Gary Marshall]

ahh, so it's creme fraiche not double cream?

thanks

gary

[PS]

Gary - there is a recipe for this on the internet somewhere that gives fresh cream as the ingredient, but I've double checked in my Georges Blanc book and it does say "creme fraiche", and when I cooked the dish it tasted not too far away from what we had in Vonnas.

[Bux]

I'm not sure about the equivalent creams in the US, the UK and France, but in the US, heavy cream can be boiled without curdling or separating. Milk cannot. I don't know at what point the percentage of butterfat will be enough to prevent it from curdling. Come to think of it, when you say splitting, you may mean separating not curdling. I've not seen cream separate from heating.

[Gary Marshall]

my fault for not being specific,

i was just checking as reducing a litre of cream is not something i'd do on a regular basis and obvioulsy different creams in (the uk single, double or fraiche) all react differently to heat ie reduce quickly, not at all, split (granted that may be milk!), so just checking i'd got the right stuff and knew what to expect!

thanks philip for the clarification,i made a simple saute with noilly prat, double cream and lemon juice with rice but i'll give the full georges blanc version a go soon!

cheers


gary

Edited by Gary Marshall, 09 August 2004 - 01:38 PM.

[MobyP]

I'm not sure about the equivalent creams in the US, the UK and France, but in the US, heavy cream can be boiled without curdling or separating. Milk cannot.

I believe it works on a fat to liquid ratio. I was told that you could reduce UK double cream by about 50% before it will split (although it does get rather claggy). Perhaps the US heavy cream has a similar fat content?

[Carlsbad]

I've tried to resist (and have so far), but have to post this. I had a Bresse chicken en vessie (sp?) at Bocuse in 1989, that I still remember so fondly. Talk about a rich cream sauce. My wife has often said we can never return (and we haven't) because it couldn't be as good.

[MobyP]

Carlsbad - more description! How was it prepared? What was the texture? The garnish? The aromas, the flavours?

[Carlsbad]

They brought the chicken out on a serving cart- the pig's bladder was blown up like a balloon. They parked the cart next to our table, and then punctured the bladder, letting out an aroma I remember as that of just black truffles and chicken. The waiter removed the chicken, carved it very nicely and placed it on a plates with some stuffing I remember as having vegetables and forcemeat. The chicken had been poached in the bladder so there was no crisp skin, just luscious chicken meat and the stuffing, served with this incredibly rich cream sauce. It seems like there was more on the plate- some vegetables and maybe some rice, but the chicken is the thing I remember.

[Poppy Quince]

My sister, husband and I had lunch a few weeks ago at Les Fontaines, on rue Soufflot in Paris, an always reliable place for a simple meal. After sharing with me my favorite endive salad with bleu cheese, my sister ordered a poulet de Bresse roti. She was served what appeared to be a simply roasted but nearly entire bird along with a goodly hunk of potatoes Anna. Staring horrified at it, she bet she wouldn't be able to eat half. Twenty minutes later we were looking down at the stripped carcass, with sister swearing that it was the best chicken she'd ever eaten in her life and she simply hadn't been able to stop until she'd finished it all. Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to have gotten a taste, but that's what I'm ordering next time.

[smorris291]

My wife and I shared the Poulet de Bresse at the restaurant at the Hostellerie de Levernois (outside of Beaune) a couple weeks ago. It was our last nice meal in France, and after seeing it on the menu at a few different places, we decided to go for it.

This poulet was simply prepared, just slathered in butter and roasted. When it arrived, it was so big we thought that there was no way we could finish the whole thing. One of the best parts about ordering this dish was watching the server completely dismantle the bird in front of us using just a small carving knife and a large spoon. We each were given some of the bird with a helping of, without a doubt, the best mashed potatoes I've ever had. After we'd devoured the first portion, the server cleared our plates, then returned with a smaller helping of potatoes and gave us the rest of the chicken. We were stuffed, but of course we finished the entire thing.

It was fantastic. Of course, the downside is that I'm not quite as excited to get the roasted chicken from Costco...

[bleudauvergne]

We made a comsomme de Poule de Bresse with a one year old hen. I used only a bouquet garni containing a bit of sage. The eCGI class "On Consomme" was strictly followed.





It would have been better alone without the truffle raviolis.

[cru]

The best is in Burgundy @ La Cote d'Or. The 3 star restaurant of the late, great Bernard Loiseau. Still the best after his passing. Pulled from a pot, carved tableside, aroma of truffles fill the air. First the white meat, an hour later the dark meat. Unbelieveable!

[bleudauvergne]

Today is Wednesday, the day I can get Poulet de Bresse from the producer. I think I'll pay a visit to him today to see what he's offering. All this talk about French cooking has got me in the mood for a nice poulet de B. And I'll try a new recipe tonight.

[Ptipois]

You may not find this easily if you live in Lyon, and they are not easy to find elsewhere either, but I've regularly found poulets de Challans to be superior to most poulets de Bresse. The quality of poulet de Bresse really depends on the producer: it may be sublime, or just chicken.

[chefzadi]

Poulet de Bresse site.

It's kind of campy, the visuals I mean.