Sauté chicken, then cover and finish in the oven?

French Fries · #1 08-03-2009, 04:47 PM

I'm ready to make my first "Chicken sauté chasseur". The recipe which comes from a highly trusted source suggest to first sauté the chicken pieces 10mn in a sauté pan on the stove top, then cover it and place 15mn in a hot oven.

But if I cover my sauté pan and place it in the oven, I'm concerned I'll be creating steam, right? I wouldn't want my chicken pieces to be half sauté half steamed! What's the reasoning behind this technique? Anyone has any experience doing this?

Thanks!

phatch · #2 08-03-2009, 05:03 PM

As I understand the basic dish, you'll be cooking it in the sauce to completion anyway so your concern about steam is misplaced. It's wet cooking no matter how you look at it whether in the oven or on the stove.

The oven maintains an even simmer and keeps you from messing with it until it's done properly. Lets the meat coast smoothly to completion so to say.

A browning saute and sauce building then into the oven is the format for many classic braises.

HOWEVER, your recipe has a very short oven time as you typed it. It's usually for an hour or that ball park. 15 minutes is too short for this dish in its normal form.

French Fries · #3 08-03-2009, 05:19 PM

The chicken is never cooked in the sauce. This is "Chicken sauté chasseur" - which may be different from the classic "Chicken chasseur" (I'm not sure) but this particular recipe is:

1) Sauté the chicken 10mn on stovetop
2) Finish for 15mn in the oven, covered (no sauce, no liquid in the pan)
3) Put chicken in a service dish, keep warm while deglazing the pan and making the sauce
4) Pour sauce over chicken in service dish

So it looks like it should be a dry heat method but then there's that 15mn covered in the oven that's disturbing me. I'm trying it tonight anyway, exactly how they say to do it, and will report back!

Dillbert · #4 08-03-2009, 05:49 PM

my chicken don't speak French, so there certainly the possibility that the classic dish differs - but . . .

I do fry or saute in the pan with a finish in oven all the time. some stuff covered, some stuff not.

I understand your concern with steaming - if you have developed some sort of crispy crust on the chicken, that could be an issue - but "sauted chicken to a browned state" most like will not suffer from any minor steam build up.

unless you're dealing with fairly thin strips or pounded breast, the 15 minutes does sound a bit on the short side. I wouldn't get too hung up on clock watching - 10 minute saute on the stove top could produce nicely done or burnt - hopefully you've seen the dish to know what to shoot at....

French Fries · #5 08-03-2009, 06:07 PM

Yes, I do have some pictures with the recipe. I'm not too concerned with the times as I understand all chickens are different (whether or not they speak French

), and different ovens and pans will yield different results, and I know how to tell when the chicken is done.

Thanks guys for your comments. I can't wait to give this recipe a try.

French Fries · #6 08-03-2009, 11:43 PM

Alright the dish turned out great... but I did grab the pan with my naked hand at one point while making the sauce, forgetting for a second that it had been in the oven for a while - and burned most of my fingers on my right hand. AAARRRGGGHHH!!! Oh well, live and learn.

Now the chicken was the great, the sauce was simply amazing, but wow... what an incredible amount of work for a few tablespoons of sauces that we ate in 5mn. And what an incredible amount of clean up after that. Darn!

When I opened the lid on the sauté pan there wasn't much steam at all - so it doesn't seem like that's a problem. Tasted like sautéed chicken to me.

Timing in the oven was closer to 25mn.

Dillbert · #7 08-04-2009, 07:52 AM

>>clean up and mess

yuppers, sounds like you got the French cooking part down <g>

glad it turned out well - first efforts are always a bit dicey - next time you know to adjust volumes etc. on the sauce.

here's my trick to the saute&sauce clean up bit: remove "stuff you want" from the pans, deglaze the pans immediately with water. softens / floats off most of the stuck on bits . . . . also make good gravy "lite" for the dog's kibble.

French Fries · #8 08-04-2009, 06:30 PM

Thanks Dilbert. In fact the pan wasn't that difficult to clean up. What I meant is that I used a truckload of tools and whatnot for just one dish: chicken sauté chasseur with pommes parisiennes. My sink wasn't big enough for all the dishes!

But as you said, it was my first time.

Tonight: leftovers! Hmmmmm...

I think next time I'll make double the amount of sauce. If it's going to take that long I want to be able to slather my chicken copiously!