flipSunday Chicken Fricassee
Sunday Chicken Fricassee
Why this dish? On Sundays, the large Pissarro family gathered around a more generous dish. A hen simmered with garden vegetables and a little local cider was the affordable luxury of a modest but close-knit household.
A farm hen cut into pieces and simmered slowly with onions, carrots, and a splash of cider until the sauce becomes velvety. The one-pot dish that turns an ordinary Sunday into a family celebration.
On Sunday, you see, we let our hair down a little: Julie kills an old hen and puts it in the pot ever so gently with the carrots and onions from the far patch. She pours in a good glug of cider, for we are in apple country here, and it gives the sauce a touch of sweetness that delights the little ones. We wait for this moment all week, around the table full of children, and I truly believe that the light of a Sunday in Éragny is worth all the feasts of Paris.
- •Farm hen — one (braised meat)
- •Onions — two or three (base)
- •Garden carrots — a handful (garnish)
- •Local cider — a good glass (braising liquid)
- •Bouquet of herbs (thyme, bay, parsley) — one (aromatics)
- •Lard — a spoonful (fat)
- •Flour — a pinch (thickener)
Sunday Chicken Fricassee
A farm hen cut into pieces and simmered slowly with onions, carrots, and a splash of cider until the sauce becomes velvety. The one-pot dish that turns an ordinary Sunday into a family celebration.
Why this dish? On Sundays, the large Pissarro family gathered around a more generous dish. A hen simmered with garden vegetables and a little local cider was the affordable luxury of a modest but close-knit household.
On Sunday, you see, we let our hair down a little: Julie kills an old hen and puts it in the pot ever so gently with the carrots and onions from the far patch. She pours in a good glug of cider, for we are in apple country here, and it gives the sauce a touch of sweetness that delights the little ones. We wait for this moment all week, around the table full of children, and I truly believe that the light of a Sunday in Éragny is worth all the feasts of Paris.
Ingredients (period version)
- Farm hen — one (braised meat)
- Onions — two or three (base)
- Garden carrots — a handful (garnish)
- Local cider — a good glass (braising liquid)
- Bouquet of herbs (thyme, bay, parsley) — one (aromatics)
- Lard — a spoonful (fat)
- Flour — a pinch (thickener)
Ingredients
- Free-range chicken cut up (or thighs) — 1.2 kg (braised meat)
- Onions — 2 (base)
- Carrots — 4 (garnish)
- Dry cider — 250 ml (braising liquid)
- Bouquet garni — 1 (aromatics)
- Butter — 30 g (fat)
- Flour — 1 tbsp (thickener)
- Salt and pepper — to taste (seasoning)
Method
- Brown the chicken pieces in butter in a Dutch oven; set aside.
- Sauté the chopped onions, add the carrots sliced into rounds, sprinkle with flour and stir.
- Return the meat to the pot, pour in the cider and a little water, add the bouquet garni, salt, and pepper.
- Cover and simmer over low heat for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes until the meat falls off the bone.
- Remove the bouquet, adjust the sauce, and serve hot with bread or potatoes.
How it was made : In 19th-century farms, poultry was only eaten on festive days, sacrificing an older bird that no longer laid eggs. Long simmering in cider or wine tenderized the tough meat—hence these slow-cooked Sunday dishes.
The contemporary twist : Serve the fricassee in a large cocotte at the center of the table, convivial sharing style, with a farmhouse cider from the same bottle used in the sauce.
Camille Pissarro · Charactorium
