Here's a copy of Pellaprat's recipe, and another of Mrs. Beeton's. Beeton's give some evolutionary, non-French context, and some historical (or a-historical) remarks. In any case, Beeton's is not exactly Pellaprat -- and with wine as an afterthought yet. Clearly, styles change and there's no reason you shouldn't take the dish and run with it. Pellaprat was a great modernizer and collector, and am sure he -- or whomever he caged this recipe from -- did.
Here's Beeton (ca 1861):
Poulet a La Marengo.
INGREDIENTS.— 1 large fowl, 4 tablespoonfuls of salad oil, 1 tablespoonful of flour, 1 pint of stock No. 105, or water, about 20 mushroom-buttons, salt and pepper to taste, 1 teaspoonful of powdered sugar, a very small piece of garlic.
Mode .— Cut the fowl into 8 or 10 pieces; put them with the oil into a stewpan, and brown them over a moderate fire; dredge in the above proportion of flour; when that is browned, pour in the stock or water; let it simmer very slowly for rather more than 1/2 hour, and skim off the fat as it rises to the top; add the mushrooms; season with salt, pepper, garlic, and sugar; take out the fowl, which arrange pyramidically on the dish, with the inferior joints at the bottom. Reduce the sauce by boiling it quickly over the fire, keeping it stirred until sufficiently thick to adhere to the back of a spoon; pour over the fowl, and serve.
Time .— Altogether 50 minutes. Average cost , 3s. 6d.
Sufficient for 3 or 4 persons.
Seasonable at any time.
A FOWL À LA MARENGO.— The following is the origin of the well-known dish Poulet à la Marengo:— On the evening of the battle the first consul was very hungry after the agitation of the day, and a fowl was ordered with all expedition. The fowl was procured, but there was no butter at hand, and unluckily none could be found in the neighbourhood. There was oil in abundance, however; and the cook having poured a certain quantity into his skillet, put in the fowl, with a clove of garlic and other seasoning, with a little white wine, the best the country afforded; he then garnished it with mushrooms, and served it up hot. This dish proved the second conquest of the day, as the first consul found it most agreeable to his palate, and expressed his satisfaction. Ever since, a fowl à la Marengo is a favourite dish with all lovers of good cheer.
[I copied this from the University of Adelaide web site, and edited the spacing very slightly before pasting it here]
In my opinion, the story is more likely apocryphal than not.
Moving right along into the modern era, here's the Pellaprat recipe (ca 1915):
CHICKEN MARENGO
3-1/2 pounds chicken legs and breasts
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
flour
1/4 cup olive oil or salad oil
3 tbs butter
1 cup chicken stock
12 small white onions, peeled
1/2 cup sliced green pepper
1 cup well-drained Italian canned tomatoes, or 4 peeled, seeded, and quartered fresh tomatoes
1/2 cup pitted black olives
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/4 pound sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup dry white wine
Rub chicken with 1 tsp of the salt and black pepper. Dredge in flour. Brown in 1/4 cup oil and 1 tbs butter. Add the next 6 ingredients. Cover and simmer in 45 minutes or until the chicken is tender. Saute mushrooms in remaining 1 tbs of butter and add to chicken along with wine 5 minutes before cooking time is up. Adjust . Serve with rice. Makes 6 servings.
[Very slightly edited for abbreviations]
CF The Great Book of French Cuisine, Henri Paul Pellaprat, Over 2000 recipes by the director of the Ecole de Cordon Bleu, Paris; Vendome Press, 1982; edited by Kramer and White, further adapted for the American kitchen by Day.
N.B. This and Pellaprat's Modern French Culinary Art are differently titled versions of exactly the same book... sort of. The French original was L'Art Culinaire Moderne, originally published in 1915 and more or less constantly updated through Pellaprat's lifetime, and even afterward. Various English editions are more complete than others, and if you're buying a copy, I suggest buying one with the most recipes and illustrations possible -- and not buying the Jeremiah Tower version which was heavily redacted with the idea of losing recipes which weren't sufficiently contemporary. Too bad, because they not only provide a window into their time but why let Jeremiah make that decision for you?
My 1982 book better reflects the late fifties and sixties than the date of publication. I think that's because the pictures were taken for and from an earlier, 1966 British edition (which I had and lost). Pellaprat, as much as anyone else, taught me to cook. But the recipes and presentations (go for the lavishly illustrated!) are stuffy and old fashioned. Of course you can improvise and evolve. He most certainly would have. I'm not sure if I'd change anything here though, except for transubstantiating sliced to fluted. Maybe cippolinis instead of pearl onions. Otherwise, what's not to like?
I'm not sure, but I think my older book had a Chicken Marengo illustration. This one, alas, does not.
I'm not sure who impressed the importance of fluting the mushrooms on me -- it's certainly not in this edition if it was in Pellaprat at all. Probably the chef from a joint where I worked in the early seventies, who may have been the most rule-driven cook of all time.
BDL
Edited by boar_d_laze - 7/22/11 at 11:58am
