Ina Garten-Inspired Chicken Piccata

Compiled by Igor Kukolj, Editor. Nobody here has cooked this — how these are made.

There is no roux, no cornflour and no cream in a piccata, yet the sauce is meant to coat the chicken. The thickener is already in the pan.

The flour that comes off the cutlets during frying stays in the fat, and when the wine hits it, it does exactly what a roux does. That is why the recipe tells you to dredge the chicken and not simply to season it. Shake the cutlets down to bare skin before frying — which most people do, out of a general instinct that excess flour is bad — and there is nothing in the pan to thicken anything, and the sauce comes out watery.

Coat them properly, tap off only the loose surplus, and leave the browned flour in the pan when you deglaze.

Capers and lemon go in off the heat

Both are volatile. Capers simmered for five minutes turn muted and slightly bitter, and lemon juice loses its brightness the moment it boils. Build the sauce, take it off the hob, then add them. The difference is the whole character of the dish.

Cold butter to finish, off the heat

Whisked in cold, in cubes, the butter emulsifies and the sauce turns glossy and clings. Melted in over heat it splits into oil. Take the pan off, add it a few pieces at a time, swirl until each disappears.

Pound the breasts thin

A 1 cm cutlet cooks through in six minutes and stays juicy. A whole breast takes long enough that the outside is dry before the middle is safe — and piccata is supposed to be a fifteen-minute dish.

Storing

Two days, though the sauce will not survive reheating intact — butter emulsions break. Warm the chicken separately and make a fresh spoonful of sauce if it matters.