Chicken chasseur

French chicken dish
Chicken chasseur
Alternative namesPoulet chasseur, poulet à la chasseur, poulet sauté chasseur
Place of originFrance
Main ingredientsChicken, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions or shallots, wine

Chicken chasseur (lit. 'hunter's chicken') is a French dish, known in France as poulet chasseur, poulet à la chasseur or poulet sauté chasseur. It consists of fried chicken served hot, with sauce chasseur, which is based on mushrooms, onions or shallots, tomatoes and wine, and may also contain stock and various herbs.

Etymology

Chasseur is the French for 'hunter',[1] and sauce chasseur shares a multilingual connection with other cuisines. In The Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson writes that the phrase, meaning 'huntsmen-style', occurs in many languages: "Italians say alla cacciatora, Poles say bigos and the French chasseur." The term, according to Davidson, usually indicates the presence of forest mushrooms.[2] The Dictionnaire de l'Académie française dates the term chasseur to the 12th century; the dictionary refers to its culinary use, but does not give any indication of when it was first used in that context.[3] The earliest citation of the culinary use of the word in English given by the Oxford English Dictionary dates from the 1880s.[1]

History

In 1865, Bailey's Magazine recorded a dish of poulet à la chasseur served in a Parisian restaurant and costing the equivalent of half a guinea a head.[4] In Le Figaro in 1870, Eugène Morand recorded a lunch eaten by a group of army officers at which—after two types of sausage, York and Bayonne ham, fried eggs, fillet steak, and macaroni with Parmesan—they concluded the savoury part of the meal with poulet à la chasseur[5] ("Ah! quel plaisir d'être soldat!" (lit. 'Ah! What a pleasure to be a soldier'), commented Morand).[5] The dish is mentioned in the American and British press during the later years of the 19th century.[6][7]

Ingredients

Chicken chasseur is prepared using sautéed chicken, served with a chasseur sauce. All the following writers specify chopped or sliced mushrooms, and shallots or other types of onion, but vary as to the other ingredients of the sauce. Most recipes call for the addition of herbs: the most frequently specified are parsley and tarragon; others are basil, bay leaf, chervil, and thyme.

Writer Onions Tomatoes Herbs Alcohol Stock Other Ref
Beck, Bertholle and Child Shallots or green onions Fresh tomatoes Basil, parsley or tarragon White wine or dry vermouth Brown stock Garlic [8]
Paul Bocuse Shallots Fresh tomatoes Bay leaf, tarragon, thyme, parsley White wine – Celery leaves, garlic [9]
La Mère Brazier Shallots Tomato purée Chervil, parsley, tarragon White wine – – [10]
Robert Carrier Onions Fresh tomatoes Tarragon and thyme Dry white wine and brandy Chicken stock – [11]
Louis Diat Shallots Tomato sauce Parsley and tarragon Dry white wine Brown stock – [12]
Auguste Escoffier Shallots Tomato sauce Parsley Cognac and white wine Demi-glace – [13]
Jane Grigson Shallots Tomato sauce Chervil, parsley and tarragon Dry white wine Brown stock – [14]
Prosper Montagné Shallot Tomato sauce Chervil, parsley and tarragon White wine and brandy Veal stock – [15]
Édouard de Pomiane Small onions – – White wine – Bacon [16]
Stéphane Reynaud Shallots Fresh tomatoes Bouquet garni, parsley, tarragon White wine – Potatoes [17]
Madame Saint-Ange Shallots Tomato paste Chervil, parsley and tarragon White wine Beef stock – [18]
Louis Saulnier Shallots Fresh tomatoes Parsley White wine and brandy Demi-glace – [19]
Anne Willan Shallots Tomato sauce or tomato paste Parsley or tarragon White wine Brown stock – [20]
Typical ingredients for chicken chasseur

A dish with the English name "hunter's chicken" exists, but is unrelated to chicken chasseur. It consists of skinless and boneless chicken breasts wrapped in bacon, baked, and covered with barbecue sauce and melted cheese.[21]

See also

Media related to Chicken chasseur at Wikimedia Commons

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References

  1. ^ a b "chasseur". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  2. ^ Davidson, p. 121
  3. ^ "chasseur, -euse", Dictionnaire de l’Académie française. Retrieved 31 May 2023
  4. ^ "What's What in Paris", Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, December 1865, p. 336
  5. ^ a b Morand, Eugène. "Choses et autres", Le Figaro, 12 December 1870, p. 3
  6. ^ "G. A. R. Reunion", The Nebraska State Journal, 20 September 1889, p. 5
  7. ^ "Mayor's Banquet, Truro", Royal Cornwall Gazette, 2 November 1893, p. 8
  8. ^ Beck, Bertholle and Child, pp. 390–391
  9. ^ Bocuse, p. 67
  10. ^ Brazier, p. 149
  11. ^ Carrier, p. 154
  12. ^ Diat, p. 78
  13. ^ Escoffier, p. 18
  14. ^ Grigson, p. 48
  15. ^ Montagné, p. 262
  16. ^ Pomiane, p. 147
  17. ^ Reynaud, p. 238
  18. ^ Saint-Ange, pp. 59–60
  19. ^ Saulnier, p. 158
  20. ^ Willan, p. 58
  21. ^ "Hunter's chicken", BBC Good Food. Retrieved 31 May 2023

Sources

  • Beck, Simone; Louisette Bertholle; Julia Child (2012) [1961]. Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One. London: Particular. ISBN 978-0-241-95339-6.
  • Bocuse, Paul (1987). Bocuse à la Carte. New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 978-0-39-456267-4.
  • Brazier, Eugénie; Roger Moreau; Paul Bocuse; Bernard Pacaud (2015) [2004]. La Mère Brazier: The Mother of Modern French Cooking. London: Modern Books. ISBN 978-1-906761-84-4.
  • Carrier, Robert (1973). Cooking for You. London: Hamlyn. ISBN 978-0-60-037541-8.
  • Davidson, Alan (1999). The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-211579-9.
  • Diat, Louis (1946). French Cooking for Americans. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott. OCLC 1036371103.
  • Escoffier, Auguste (1907). A Guide to Modern Cookery. London: Heinemann. ISBN 9781580086059. OCLC 560604921.
  • Grigson, Jane (1975). The Mushroom Feast. London: Michael Joseph. ISBN 978-0-71-811253-0.
  • Montagné, Prosper (1976). Larousse gastronomique. London: Hamlyn. OCLC 1285641881.
  • Pomiane, Édouard de (1938). 365 menus, 365 recettes. Paris: Albin Michel. OCLC 459599806.
  • Saint-Ange, E. (2005) [1927]. La bonne cuisine de Madame E. Saint-Ange (in French). Berkeley: Ten Speed Press. ISBN 9781580086059. OCLC 1285661274.
  • Saulnier, Louis (1978) [1923]. Le répertoire de la cuisine (fourteenth ed.). London: Jaeggi. OCLC 1086737491.
  • Willan, Anne (1991). Cuisine succès: L'école de la cuisine (in French). Paris: Larousse. ISBN 978-2-03-506008-2.