Filleting Breasts of Chicken
BREAST OF CHICKEN has a delicate texture and fine, mild flavor comparable to that of veal scaloppine. Scaloppine are pounded thin to permit the most rapid cooking; boned chicken breast is too fragile to be pounded, but it can be converted into scaloppine-like slices by filleting. When you use the method described here, chicken breasts can become an inexpensive but no less fine alternative to veal, adaptable to the numerous ways one can prepare scaloppine.
1. A chicken breast is sold covered by two layers of skin, the fatty, yellow outer one, and a very thin, membrane-like inner layer. When you pull these away with your fingers you will find them attached at the breastbone and at the sides of the breast where the rib cage was connected. Cut them loose from both places and discard them.
2. Run a finger along the upper part of the breast where the wing used to be attached. Feel for an opening. You will find one where your fingertip can enter without any resistance: It is the space between the two muscles, a large one and a small one, that lie cupped, one over the other, and that constitute each half of the breast. You must detach them, one at a time. Detach the larger muscle first, severing it with a knife from the side of the breast that adjoined the rib cage, then cutting it loose from the breastbone. Repeat the procedure with the smaller muscle, then bone the other half of the breast in the same manner. You now have two separate pieces from each side of the breast: one piece flatter, larger, and triangular; the other smaller, rounder, and tapered.
3. The smaller, tapered piece has a white tendon that protrudes slightly from one end. It must be pulled out. Grasp the protruding tip of the tendon, using a bit of paper or the corner of a cloth towel because it is slippery. With the other hand press the knife blade against the muscle near the tendon, angling the blade to keep the edge from cutting. While pressing firmly with the knife, pull at the tendon, which will come out easily. Remove the tendon from the other small muscle in the same manner. Nothing more needs to be done to these pieces.
4. Place the larger muscle on a cutting board, with the side that was next to the bone facing down. Hold it flat with the palm of one hand. With the other hand take a sharp knife and slice the breast, moving the blade parallel to the cutting board, thus dividing the piece into two equal slices half its original thickness. Repeat the procedure with the other large muscle. You now have, from each whole breast, six tender fillets ready for cooking.
Ahead-of-time note You can prepare the fillets several hours or even a day or two in advance. Wrap in plastic wrap before refrigerating.
Rolled Fillets of Breast of Chicken with Pork and Rosemary Filling
For 4 to 6 servings
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ pound ground pork
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary leaves OR 1 teaspoon dried
2 whole chicken breasts, filleted as directed
2 tablespoons butter
Sturdy round toothpicks
½ cup dry white wine
1. Lightly mash the garlic with a heavy knife handle, just hard enough to split the skin, which you will remove and discard. Put the garlic in a skillet together with the oil, turn on the heat to medium, and cook the garlic until it has become colored a pale gold. Add the ground pork, salt, pepper, and the rosemary leaves. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring and crumbling the meat with a fork. Discard the garlic and, using a slotted spoon or spatula, transfer the meat to a plate.
2. Lay the chicken fillets flat on a work surface and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread the pork filling over the fillets, and roll up each fillet tightly. Fasten each roll with a toothpick inserted lengthwise.
3. Spoon off most of the fat from the pan in which you cooked the pork. (If you made the chicken rolls some time in advance, degrease the pan at that time, and reserve the juices in the pan for when you are ready to resume cooking.) Add the butter, turn the heat on to medium high, and when the butter foam begins to subside, slip in the chicken rolls. Cook them briefly, about 1 minute altogether, turning them to brown them all over. Transfer to a warm serving platter, using a slotted spoon or spatula, and remove the toothpicks.
4. Add the wine to the skillet, and while it simmers briskly for about half a minute, use a wooden spoon to scrape loose cooking residues from the bottom and sides of the pan. Pour the cooking juices over the chicken rolls and serve at once.
Ahead-of-time note The rolls can be prepared up to this point several hours in advance.
Sautéed Fillets of Breast of Chicken with Lemon and Parsley, Siena Style
For 4 to 6 servings
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter
3 whole chicken breasts, filleted as directed
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
The freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
Garnish: 1 lemon, sliced thin
1. Put the oil and 3 tablespoons of the butter in a skillet and turn on the heat to medium high. When the butter foam subsides, slip in as many of the chicken fillets as will fit loosely. Cook them briefly on both sides, less than 1 minute altogether. Transfer the fillets to a warm plate, using a slotted spoon or spatula, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Repeat the procedure until all the fillets are done.
2. Add the lemon juice to the skillet, and let it simmer briskly over medium heat for about 20 seconds, while scraping loose cooking residues from the bottom and sides of the pan, using a wooden spoon. Add the chopped parsley and the remaining tablespoon of butter, stir rapidly for 4 or 5 seconds, then turn the heat down to low and return the fillets to the pan together with any juices they may have shed in the plate. Turn them over in the pan juices 2 or 3 times, then transfer, together with the juices, to a warm platter. Garnish with the thin slices of lemon, and serve at once.
Boning a Whole Chicken
A WHOLE CHICKEN with its bones removed makes a beautiful natural casing for any stuffing. It is great fun to bring it to the table—its chicken shape less angular, more voluptuous, but intact—and to carve from it, without any effort, perfect, solid, boneless slices.
You will find nothing baffling about boning a chicken. Equipped with patience, a small, sharp knife, and of course, a chicken, you could easily figure it out for yourself. Nearly all of the bird’s carcass—backbone, ribs, and breastbone—conveniently comes away in one piece once it has been loosened from the flesh. The thigh and drumstick bones must be removed separately, and you must start with those. The wings are not worth fussing with: Their bones can be left in place.
What you must be careful about is never to cut or tear the skin, except for a single, long incision down the back, which you must make to get to the bones and which you will later sew up. Chicken skin is wonderfully strong and elastic, when intact. But any breach will spread into a yawning gap. To keep your knife from slipping and puncturing the skin, always turn the blade’s cutting edge away from the skin and toward the bone you are working on.
When you have finished boning, you’ll be faced with what looks like a hopelessly confused and floppy mass that in no way resembles a chicken. Don’t panic. When the stuffing goes where the bones used to be, the bird will fill out in all the right places and look absolutely lovely.
1. You will need a very sharp knife with a short blade. Place the chicken with the breast down, facing the work counter, and make a single, straight cut from the neck all the way down to the tail, probing deeply enough to reach the backbone.
2. Do one whole side of the bird at a time. Begin at the neck, detaching the flesh from the bones by prying it loose with your fingers and, where necessary, cutting it from the bone with the knife. Always angle the blade’s cutting edge toward the bone and away from the skin. Continue thus as you work your way down the chicken’s back.
3. When you have passed the midway point and are approach
ing the small of the back, you will find a small saucer-shaped bone filled with meat. Pull the meat away with your fingers, cutting it loose with the knife when necessary. Further on you will come to the hip joint. Use your fingers to loosen as much of the meat around it as you can, then sever the joint from the carcass with poultry shears. With one hand, hold the end of the chicken’s leg, and with the other, pull the meat away from the hip bone. When you come to long white filaments—the tendons—sever them at the bone with your knife.
4. The next joint you must deal with is the one connecting the hip bone to the drumstick. Hold the hip bone in one hand, the drumstick in the other, and snap off the hip bone at the joint. You can now remove the hip bone completely, using your knife to scrape it loose from any meat still attached to it. Whenever the knife is in your hand, always think about the skin, taking care not to tear it or pierce it.
5. Next, you must remove the drumstick bone. Start at the thick, fleshy end and loosen the meat from the bone, pulling it away with your fingers when it will give, detaching it with the knife when necessary. Sever the tendons at the bone, leaving them attached to the flesh. Work your way gently to the knobby end of the drumstick, taking care not to split the skin. As you continue to pull the meat away from the bone, you will find this part of the chicken turning itself inside out like a glove. When you are about ½ inch away from the drumstick’s knob, make a circular cut, cutting skin, meat, and tendons clear through to the bone. Grasp the bone by its knob and push it back through the leg until it slips out at the other end.
6. Return to the upper part of the back. Pulling with your fingers and scraping against the bone with the knife, free the flesh from the rib cage, moving toward the breastbone. When you reach the breastbone, leave the skin attached to the bone’s crest for the time being.
7. Joined to the wing you will find the shoulder bone. Pry the meat loose from it, using your fingers when you can and the knife when you need to, then sever the bone at the joint where it meets the wing, and remove it. With poultry shears, cut off the end segment of the wing. Do not bother to remove the bones from that part of the wing still attached to the body.
8. Bone the other side of the bird, repeating the procedure described above, until the chicken is attached to its carcass only at the crest of the breastbone.
9. Turn the chicken over so that the breast faces you and the carcass rests on the counter. Pick up the two loose sides of the bird’s flesh, and lift them above the carcass, holding them with one hand. With the knife, carefully free the skin from its hold on the crest of the breastbone. You must be at your most careful here, because the skin is very thin where it is attached to the bone, and you can easily make a slit. Keep the cutting edge and the point of the knife turned away from the skin, scraping the blade along the bone’s surface. When you have completely loosened the flesh, discard the carcass. Your boned chicken is ready for the stuffing.
Ahead-of-time note The entire boning operation may be completed a day before stuffing the chicken.
Pan-Roasted Whole Boned Chicken with Beef and Parmesan Stuffing
For 6 servings
⅔ cup crumb, the soft, crustless part of bread, cut into 1-inch pieces
½ cup milk
1 pound ground beef, preferably chuck
2 tablespoons parsley chopped very fine
½ teaspoon garlic chopped very fine
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
⅔ cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
A 3- to 4-pound chicken, boned as directed
Trussing needle and string OR a darning needle and strong cotton thread
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon butter
½ cup dry white wine
1. Put the cut-up crumb and the milk in a deep dish and let the bread steep for 10 or 15 minutes.
2. Put the ground beef, parsley, garlic, salt, pepper, and grated Parmesan into a bowl and mix thoroughly until the ingredients are evenly combined.
3. Gently squeeze the soaked crumb in your hand until it no longer drips milk. Add to the ground beef mixture, and softly knead with your hands until the ingredients are smoothly amalgamated.
4. Place the boned chicken skin side down on a work counter. Use some of the stuffing mixture to fill the places in the legs where the bones used to be. Take the rest of the mixture and shape it into an oval mass about as long as the chicken. Put it in the center of the chicken, and bring the bird’s skin around and over it, covering the stuffing completely. One edge of the skin should overlap the other by approximately 1 inch. Mold the mass under the skin with your hands to restore the chicken as closely as possible to its original shape.
5. Sew up the skin, starting at the neck and working down toward the tail. Use a sort of overcast stitch, looping the stitches over the edge of the skin. Don’t expect to do a perfectly neat job when you get to the tail, but do the best you can, making sure you sew up all openings. When done, put the needle safely out of harm’s way.
6. Choose a heavy-bottomed or enameled cast-iron pot that can subsequently contain the chicken snugly. Put in the oil and butter and turn on the heat to medium. When the butter foam begins to subside, put in the chicken, the stitched side facing down. Brown it well all over, handling the bird gently when you turn it. Add the wine, and when it has simmered briskly for about 30 seconds, sprinkle with salt and pepper, adjust heat to cook at a very slow simmer, and put a lid on the pot, setting it slightly askew. Calculate about 20 minutes per pound of stuffed chicken for cooking time. Turn the chicken occasionally while it cooks. If the cooking liquid should become insufficient, add 1 or 2 tablespoons water as needed.
7. Transfer the chicken to a carving board or large platter, letting it settle for a few minutes.
8. Spoon off all but a little bit of the fat in the pot. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons water, turn the heat up to high, and while boiling away the water use a wooden spoon to scrape loose cooking residues from the bottom and sides. Pour the pot juices into a warm saucer or small sauceboat.
9. Carve the chicken at the table, starting at the neck, making thin slices. Pour a few drops of the warm pot juices over each slice when serving. If serving the bird cold—at room temperature, that is—omit the juices.
Pan-Roasted Squab Pigeons
THE CLASSIC METHOD for cooking feathered game relies heavily on the aroma of fresh sage, as does this recipe. Also contributing intensity of flavor is the bird’s own liver, which is stuffed into the cavity. The birds are roasted in the unmistakable Italian style, in a partly covered pan over the stove, rather than in the oven, and cooked until they are tender through and through, the meat ready to fall off the bone.
For 4 to 6 servings (A generous portion would be 1 squab per person.
When preceded by a substantial first course, ½ squab is adequate,
the rest divided up for possible second helpings.)
4 fresh squab, about 1 pound each, plucked thoroughly clean (if the squab don’t come with the livers, add 4 fresh chicken livers)
1 dozen fresh sage leaves
Pancetta, cut into 4 thin strips, 1½ inches long and ½ inch wide
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
⅔ cup dry white wine
1. Remove any organs from the birds’ interior, discarding the hearts and gizzards, but keeping the livers. Wash the squab inside and out in cold running water, and pat thoroughly dry on the inside as well as the outside with cloth or paper towels. Stuff the cavity of each bird with 2 sage leaves, 1 strip of pancetta, 1 liver, a couple of pinches of salt, and grindings of black pepper.
2. Choose a saute pan that can subsequently contain the squab without overlapping. Put in the butter and oil, turn the heat on to medium high, and when the butter foam subsides, add the remaining 4 sage leaves, then the squab. Brown the birds all over, sprinkle with salt and pepper, turn them over
once or twice, then add the wine. Let the wine bubble briskly for 20 to 30 seconds, then adjust heat to cook at a slow simmer, and put a lid slightly ajar on the pan. Cook until the squab thighs feel very tender when prodded with a fork and the meat comes easily off the bone, approximately 1 hour. Turn the birds once every 15 minutes. If the liquid in the pan becomes insufficient, add 2 or 3 tablespoons of water as needed.
3. Transfer the squab when done to a warm serving platter. If serving ½ a bird per person, halve them with poultry scissors. Tip the pan and spoon off some of the fat. Add 2 tablespoons of water, turn the heat up to high, and while boiling away the water, scrape the bottom and sides of the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen cooking residues. Pour the pan juices over the squab and serve at once.
Roast Duck
THE AIM of this recipe was, when using birds with more fat than one finds on ducks in Italy, to transform them to the savory leanness of their Italian counterparts. The procedure used is borrowed in part from Chinese cooking. The duck is given a brief preliminary dunking in boiling water, and then thoroughly gone over with a hair dryer. The first step opens the skin’s pores wide, the second ensures that they stay open. When the bird roasts in the oven later, the fat melts and slowly runs off through the open pores, leaving the flesh succulent, but not greasy, while allowing the skin to become deliciously crisp. It’s a method recommended not for wild ducks, but for those farm-raised ducklings thickly engirdled by fat.
Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking Page 38