Today we’re making one of my favorite stovetop chicken dinners: Chicken Francaise, AKA Chicken Francese, AKA Chicken French.
What is Chicken Francaise?
Chicken Francaise is thin chicken cutlets dredged in egg and flour, fried, and served with a simple (and delicious) lemon, butter, and white wine sauce. Typically it’s paired with pasta, but rice lovers, feel free to swap out that pasta for rice. Italian immigrants in the area swapped the veal in the French-inspired Italian dish, Vitello alla Francese for the more economical and readily available chicken, and Chicken Francese was born. In practice, it seems to be more like ¯_(ツ)_/¯. Just as this recipe is a delightful melting pot of cultural influences, so too is the pronunciation. I’ve heard everything from FRAN-sayze to frahn-say-zee from chefs. Most common seems to be fran-sayze (with an Italian start and French ending). And if you’re too worried about saying it wrong, just remember, Chicken French is also correct.
Chicken Francaise is an intensely lemony experience. The first time I tried it, after bite one, I was pretty sure didn’t care for the aggressively bright tartness of the sauce. But, by bite three, when my tastebuds adjusted their expectations, I was like, this is all I want to eat for the rest of my life. 😉 So I highly recommend it, but know what you’re getting in to.
Make sure you’re cooking with chicken that has been prepared correctly. This recipe calls for chicken breasts that have been butterflied and pounded to 1/4-inch thick. This is because the breading on thicker chicken will burn before the meat cooks through. 1/4-inch is thinner than you might think, so double check your first piece with a ruler if you are unsure. Depending on the size of your chicken breasts and the size of your pan, you will probably have to cook your cutlets in batches. Between each batch, remove the pan from heat and wipe it out with paper towels so that leftover fond (the brown cooked-on bits left in the pan) does not burn and smoke. You’ll also wipe out your pan before making your sauce so that the dark fond does not give you a cloudy, brownish lemon butter sauce.
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