Chicken chasseur

Chicken chasseur
a large casserole with pieces of chicken in a tomato and mushroom sauce
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. The name derives from the French chasseur, meaning "hunter".

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 cacciatoria, 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", commented Morand – Ah! What a pleasure to be a soldier!).[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]

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

See also