-
1
Season all 8 chicken pieces with salt and pepper. In a wide braising pot, heat the butter and goose fat together over medium-high heat until the foam subsides. Lay the pieces skin-side down without crowding and sear to a deep, even gold on all sides. The skin must be fully coloured before the pieces are removed and set aside.
-
2
Reduce the heat to medium. Add the shallots to the same pot and sweat in the residual fat, stirring occasionally, until fully translucent and soft with no colour. Add the sliced mushrooms and raise the heat to sauté them until golden and any released liquid has evaporated.
-
3
Add the Marc de Gewurztraminer or Cognac and immediately flambé, tilting the pot or using a match. Allow the flames to die out completely. The alcohol must be burned off at this stage; a raw spirit harshness in the finished sauce indicates the flambé was omitted or insufficient.
-
4
Pour in the full 750 ml of Riesling, then add the bouquet garni of thyme, bay, and juniper berries. Return the leg and thigh pieces to the pot. Cover and braise gently at 160 °C for 30–40 minutes, then add the breast pieces and continue for a further 15 minutes, until the thighs register 75 °C on an instant-read thermometer. The breast pieces must not overcook.
-
5
Lift out all chicken pieces and keep warm. Strain the braising liquid through a fine sieve into a wide saucepan, pressing the solids. Discard the bouquet garni. Reduce the strained liquid over high heat by half; the colour deepens to a pale amber and the aroma concentrates to Riesling first, juniper a ghostly presence behind.
-
6
This is where the dish lives or dies: whisk in the 200 ml of crème fraîche — not double cream, whose absence of acidity would collapse the balance against the wine — and continue to reduce over medium heat until the sauce coats the back of a spoon cleanly and holds a clear line drawn through it. Taste: Riesling must be the dominant note, cream the second, juniper a background presence. If using the egg yolk liaison, temper the yolks with a ladleful of the hot sauce, then whisk into the pot off the heat; do not allow the sauce to boil again.
-
7
Return the chicken pieces to the sauce to warm through without simmering. Serve immediately over spätzle or steamed potatoes, the sauce spooned generously over each portion.