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Fricassée de Poulet á l'IndienneFricassée de Poulet á l'Indienne
January 18, 2022 | Updated March 30, 2022 | Laura Ehlers
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✽ Recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I | Julia Child ✽
Julia Child Recipe 187 | 341 recipes to go!
✽ Curry Sauce [Fricassée de Poulet á l'Indienne], p. 261
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✽ Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I was written by Julia Child who co-authored with Simone Beck & Louisette Bertholle and was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1961. You can buy Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I which contains these recipes here. (affiliate link)
The purpose of this Julia Child section of my blog is to document my journey of learning how to cook. To show my successes, my failures, and what I learned along the way.
Since I didn't create these recipes (if only!), I do not post exact amounts of ingredients or word-for-word instructions. If any of these recipes spark your interest, I highly recommend you buy Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking (affiliate link). It's a great investment and learning tool and contains hundreds of classic recipes.
What you will find on my blog is:
✽ Butter Count & Cost Total
✽ Recipe Rating
✽ Answers to Questions about Recipe
✽ Fun Facts about Recipe or an Ingredient Used
✽ The Recipe Process
✽ Step-by-Step and Final Photos of Recipe
I hope that you enjoy reading my thoughts, learn something new, and leave inspired to try a new recipe. Bon appétit!
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Butter Count & Cost: Curry Sauce
✽ Butter Count: +9 tablespoons
✽ Cost: $15.41 [~$3.08 per serving]
Check out the total Julia Child butter count & cost here!
→ Looking for a different Julia Child recipe? Here's a list of all of the completed and pending Mastering the Art of French Cooking recipes!
The same thing, but this time add 2 tablespoons of curry powder.
This recipe has been a long time coming. When I made the first chicken fricassée, I was exhausted. It's not necessarily a complicated dish- it just requires a lot of steps and a lot of dishes. Between cooking, taking pictures, filming, and clearning up the kitchen, I was ready to put my feet up.
This, of course, made it difficult to find the motivation to continue on with the poultry chapter. You see, after the old-fashioned chicken fricassée there are three more variations. Each of the variations have you make the dish in the exact same way but just change the sauce by adding in different seasonings.
As you are probably aware by now, we added in curry powder this time.
Curry Sauce Recipe Rating
✽ Laura's Rating: 9
✽ Brian's Rating: 9
What I've learned in my culinary experience so far is that there are some recipes that require a lot of steps, and every single one of them is necessary to get an amazing outcome.
And then some recipes require a lot of steps, and there's really no change in the result. This recipe is worth it all- the stewed mushrooms, the braised onions, the sauteing of vegetables at the beginning, the sauce, and the precise cooking of the chicken pieces.
Now the old-fashioned chicken fricassée was amazing, but the addition of the curry powder really knocked up the flavor. If you're a fan of curry powder then I highly recommend this recipe!
Chicken Fricassee with Curry Powder: Questions & History
✽ What does curry powder consist of?
Curry powder is a combination of spices, and there's really not an official recipe for making it. Most of the include turmeric, cumin, ginger, and pepper. You may also find coriander, ground mustard, cinnamon, cardamom, plus some other spices included as well. It is both savory and sweet.
✽ Curry Powder History:
Curry powder was invented by the British in the late 1700s and is not used in authentic Indian cooking. Curry powder was the British way of trying to mimic dishes that tasted similar to Indian dishes.
In addition, curry powder does not contain ground curry leaves. When making an Indian curry, garam masala is usually used- not curry powder.
✽ What should you serve with Chicken Fricassee?
The cookbook suggest serving chicken fricassee with rice or noodles. I chose to serve this curry chicken with rice, and it was quite delicious together. Julia also recommends buttered peas or asparagus for a vegetable option.
Looking for more Julia Child chicken recipes?
→ Check out all of the poultry recipes that I've completed so far!
Fun Chicken Fricassée Facts
✽ What is chicken fricassee?
Julia describes a fricassée as halfway between a sauté and a stew. First the chicken is cooked in butter then liquid is added for the chicken to simmer.
✽ How long has chicken fricassee been around?
Recipes for fricassée date back all the way to the year, 1300, in a medieval French cookbook called Le Viandier. In 1490, a recipe is specifically called a "friquassee."
✽ To brown or not to brown?
In modern recipes, you may see instructions to brown the meat during the sauté step, but the traditional recipes require that the meat does not brown.
✽ Abraham Lincoln's favorite food
Chicken Fricassée was one of Abraham Lincoln's favorite foods.
How to Make Julia Child's Fricassée de Poulet á l'Indienne
✽ Step 1: Cut-up + Dry Chicken
First step- cut-up your whole chicken. I was a little rusty when butchering this chicken. I feel like I was getting pretty good at it, and then I wait 6 months and BOOM. All skills are gone.
Well, not all the skills, but I did struggle a bit. Alas, I got through it.
✽ Step 2: Cook Vegetables + Chicken in Butter
Now, the trifecta- onions, carrot, and celery- get cooked until tender.
Next up we will put those chicken pieces into the pan as well, and they cook for a few minutes, turning every minute. Some recent recipes instruct you to brown the chicken in this step, but the traditional recipes, such as this one, do not. You want the skin to be a light yellow in color.
✽ Step 3: Add Curry Powder
At this point, the curry powder is sprinkled onto the chicken and mixed in.
✽ Step 4: Cook Slowly
The heat is lowered and the chicken is cooked for 10 minutes making sure not to deepen the color. As you can see in my pictures, I went a little over the golden yellow stage on some parts of the pieces, but in true Julia fashion, the show must go on.
✽ Step 5: Seasonings + Flour
Seasonings and flour are sprinkled onto the chicken and cooked for a few minutes longer.
✽ Step 6: Simmer in Wine + Stock
Now for the stew part of the fricassée. It's all then removed from the heat and boiling chicken stock, dry white vermouth, and an herb bouquet are added. It will simmer for about half an hour until the chicken is done.
✽ Step 7: Make the Sauce
Once it's done simmering, the chicken is removed, and it's time to make the sauce.
The fat from the cooking liquid is removed, and it's boiled down until it will coat the back of a spoon.
✽ Step 8: Add in Egg Yolks + Cream
The thick hot cooking mixture is whisked into egg yolks and whipping cream.
✽ Step 9: Boil Sauce
The sauce is boiled for one minute, and lemon juice, salt/white pepper, and nutmeg are stirred in.
✽ Step 10: Add in Onions + Mushrooms
The chicken is arranged in casserole with white-braised onions and stewed mushrooms. The sauce is to cover all of it.
✽ Step 11: Reheat + Enrichment Butter
Right before serving, the casserole simmers slowly until chicken is heated through, and >enrichement butter is added.
✽ Step 12: Decorate with Parsley
Lastly, it is garnished with sprigs of parsley and served with rice or noodles.
Whew! If all of those steps are followed, you'll end up with this deliciously flavorful chicken dish. It is quite the comfort food!
*This blog, Laura The Gastronaut, and this post were/are not endorsed or supported by Julia Child or The Julia Child Foundation.
Category: Julia Child, Poultry Cuisine: French
Keywords: chicken with curry sauce, julia child chicken, chicken indienne recipe, curry sauce recipe, chicken fricassee recipe
✽ Did you make this recipe too?
→ Let me know by leaving a comment below and sharing on Instagram. Tag @laurathegastronaut and hashtag it #laurathegastronaut.
More Julia Child Chicken Recipes:
✽ Old-fashioned Chicken Fricassee (the original Julia Child chicken fricassee)
✽ Sauteed Chicken (this sauteed chicken is so good)
✽ Poulet Roti a la Normande (this roast chicken has the best stuffing)
→ Check out all of the completed Julia Child poultry recipes!
✽ You can find this recipe and all the other Julia Child recipes I make in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I (affiliate link). Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I was written by Julia Child who co-authored with Simone Beck & Louisette Bertholle and was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1961.
✽ Check out my Julia Child Recipe Checklist to see a list of all my completed and pending recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking!
Bon appétit!
January 18, 2022 by Laura Ehlers
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