In English, it translates to casserole-roasted chicken with bacon, onions and potatoes – far less pretty!
This was my second attempt at a recipe from Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”. I do not normally mind time-consuming recipes, so long as the end result is worth it. My one comment so-far on the recipes is that often they involve steps that seem fussy or unnecessary. But maybe I’m just doing it wrong?
This recipe is a bit more time consuming – each element has to be prepared before being combine in the casserole. However, I think it’s worth doing for the potatoes alone! I’ve suggested a few shortcuts that I think wouldn’t compromise the end result too much.
The chicken remains succulent and tender through this method of cooking. The potatoes are little ovals of deliciousness – they literally fall apart on your fork, but have been infused with the butter, bacon and herbs. I ate the lion’s share of potatoes when I made this…but I do love my carbs! The juices in the pan would be great mopped up with a thick slice of rustic bread.
Overall, I think this recipe is worth the effort. It’s French cooking at its best – simple ingredients, slow cooking and LOTS of butter.
Poulet et Cocotte Bonne Femme
By: Leah
This recipe is taken from Julia Child's seminal cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". I must confess prior to reading Julia and Julia and seeing the movie I didn't know who Julia Child was - I am not a child of the 60s and I don't even know if her tv show was shown in Australia. I have a few observations about this recipe. Firstly, I found it very difficult to turn the chicken when it was browning, which resulted in me breaking the skin (apparently a big no-no). Secondly, our chicken was apparently far larger than the one Julia envisages, and our oven not as hot, so it took nearly 3 hours for the chook to cook. Finally, a "bulb baster" or a pastry brush would have been very useful to have on hand!
- Prep Time:
30 min - Cook Time:
240 min - Ready In:
4 h, 30 min
- 3 mediums Bacon rashers, diced
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 1 whole Chicken (vary your cooking time according to size)
- 3 mediums Onions, whole and peeled
- 10 smalls Potatoes, peeled and cut into large thick ovals
- 3 tbsps Butter
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 medium Herb bouquet with 4 parsley sprigs, 1/2 bay leaf, 1/4 tsp thyme, tied in washed cheesecloth
- In a large casserole dish (I used our dutch oven. Whatever dish you use must have a lid) saute bacon in 1 tbsp of butter until very lightly browned. Remove to a side dish but leave the butter/fat liquid in the dish.
- Add some oil to the pan (this will stop the butter from burning).
- Brown the chicken in the hot fat. Start by putting the chicken in breast down. Brown for about 3 minutes. The butter should be hot but not burning.
- Turn the chicken on on side - Julia recommends using wooden spoons or a towel. I can vouch from experience that metal tongs are far from ideal!
- Continue browning by first turning the chicken on its back then onto the other side. You want the chicken to be nice and golden all over, particularly on the breast and legs. The process takes between 10 and 15 minutes.
- Remove the chicken to a side dish and then pour the fat out of the dish (I don't know how necessary this is - if your butter isn't burnt I don't see why you can keep that as it will have lots of flavour.
- Preheat the oven to about 160*C but remember this depends upon your oven. Our oven was not very hot so we needed to turn the temperature up further.
- Whilst the oven is preheating, boil and salt a pot of water. Drop in the whole onions and boil for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside. As I used normal onions rather than baby ones, I cut them into quarters at this point.
- Put your potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil. Drain immediately. This just par-boils the potatoes and removes some of the starch.
- In your casserole dish heat the 3tbs of butter, or add a tbsp to your existing butter mixture, until foaming. Add the drained potatoes and roll them around over a moderate heat for about 2 minutes - this helps evaporate the moisture.
- Move the potatoes to the edges of the pot then salt the browned chicken and then place it breast up in the casserole dish. It will rest amongst the potatoes.
- Scatter the bacon and onions over the potatoes. Add the herb bouquet (I didn't bother with the cheesecloth, just added the herbs in whole and picked them out at the end).
- Baste all the ingredients with the butter in the casserole dish, cover the chicken with alfoil and then put the lid on the casserole dish.
- Heat the casserole on top of the stove until the contents are sizzling, then place in the middle level of the oven and roast (Julia suggests this will only take about 1hr20 mins - as I said, ours took nearly 3!)
- You should keep an eye on the chicken and baste with the juices a few times. The chicken should be done when the juices run clear.
- Serve with green beans and carrots.
25.01.10 | 
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