Dinner-Party Chicken Prep Advice, Please

[tirgoddess]

Making this for my siblings and their spouses, total of 8 people. How far ahead can I cook the chicken and finish dish just before sitting down to eat? (I have made this recipie many times, just don't want to be cooking too much at cocktail time.) Suggestions appreciated!

https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/chicken-thighs-with-creamy-mustard-sauce

[Tropicalsenior]

Because of my age limitation I often make my meal in stages and this sounds like an excellent recipe for that. I would say that you could probably make the chicken and the sauce in the morning, heat the sauce and reheat the chicken in the sauce. I would probably make double the sauce to make sure that it covers the chicken while you're reheating. Or if you're worried about the chicken not getting hot enough, you could pop it in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes before you return it to the sauce.

[AlaMoi]

chicken thighs are a bit more forgiving that white meat - 'make ahead' seems entirely doable.

since it gets reheated, I would only cook the thighs to about half done - then prep the whole dish and chill. 

I agree with Tropicalsenior - make extra "sauce" - and perhaps a bit thin to start, as it will thicken on re-heat.

 

then reheat at a low temp - high temps in my experience makes for tough meat(s).

~235'F - _covered_ - for a longish time. 

2.5 lbs of chicken+sauce, I'd be guessing at 60-70 minutes to heat thru from chilled + finish temp the thighs.

 

hold off on the fresh parsley until service.

[TdeV]

If you cook the chickent thighs sous vide, all the prep work will be done!

 

See Serious Eats for possible cooking temperatures.

 

My personal experience is that spicing (mustard, lemon) can wear out over a long cook, so you may want to refresh your spices,

or,

cover raw chicken with s + p, cook it sous vide, chill it in ice and then refrigerate. (Serious Eats says you can hold the cooked chicken for up to 4 days.)

 

On the day of serving, make the spice/sauce

 

In a very, very, very hot pan add a few drops of high heat oil (Grapeseed), wipe out with paper towel.

 

Brown the skin for only 30-90 seconds (the chicken is already cooked)

 

 

@rotuts ? @weinoo ?

 

 

 

[Smithy]

2 hours ago, TdeV said:

On the day of serving, make the spice/sauce

 

In a very, very, very hot pan add a few drops of high heat oil (Grapeseed), wipe out with paper towel.

 

Brown the skin for only 30-90 seconds (the chicken is already cooked)

 

Overall, I think your proposed procedure sounds well worth trying, and I'm going to try it myself with this wonderful-looking recipe. However, I have a question that may also occur to @tirgoddess: granted, the chicken will have been cooked, but it also will have been chilled. How would you suggest warming the chicken before putting it in that "very, very hot pan"? Allow to come up to room temperature? Put the sous vide package into a warm water bath before the final prep stage?

 

Of course, this all assumes that @tirgoddess has access to sous vide equipment. In case that isn't true, I hope others will weigh in on non-sous-vide techniques.

 

Edited to add: in reviewing the topic, I see @AlaMoi had a non-sous-vide suggestion above. Sorry, didn't mean to ignore that post!

[TdeV]

Yes, @Smithy, I warm viands in a sous vide bath set at 5ºF or so below original cooking temperature.

[KennethT]

When I make some kind of traditional chicken curry for a dinner party, I make the chicken curry traditionally - usually at least the week before if not even more, then once finished, I transfer everything to a zip lock bag, then hold in the waterbath at like 160F until pasteurized.  Then, I quick chill and put the bag in the fridge where it can safely keep for at least 3 weeks.  Then, I'll reheat in the waterbath at like 140F or sometimes I'll set the bath to 130 and leave it in there longer so I don't have to worry whether it's fully reheated or not.

 

This way, the curry is at the texture I'd want traditionally, the chicken is fully but not overcooked, and it was all done long ago so no stress....  I'm actually planning to do some of that this weekend as we're having people over on the 25th....

[tirgoddess]

Thank you all for these tips. This dish comes together quickly, I am trying to figure out how to cook the chicken and keep it warm (not to dry out). Then re-heat and add sauce right before serving. Increasing the sauce is a great idea. It is absolutely delicious, think French provincal, that can be dressed up. Enjoy the autumn season!