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Poulet Sauté Chasseur — Chicken in Hunter's Sauce

Poulet sauté chasseur is the archetype of the sautéed chicken preparations — jointed chicken browned in butter, deglazed with white wine and brandy, and finished with a chasseur (hunter's) sauce of mushrooms, shallots, tomatoes, tarragon, and demi-glace. The sauté technique differs fundamentally from braising: the chicken is cooked quickly at higher heat, removed while still moist and just cooked, and the sauce is built in the pan from the fond, finished, and reunited with the chicken only at the last moment. This preserves the chicken's juiciness while developing the sauce's concentration independently. Joint a 1.6kg chicken into 8 pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Heat 40g of clarified butter in a wide sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken pieces skin-side down (without crowding — work in batches) and brown until the skin is golden and crisp, about 5-6 minutes. Turn and brown the other side for 3-4 minutes. Remove breast pieces when the juices run clear (about 15 minutes total), and legs when fully cooked (about 25 minutes). Keep warm. Pour off excess fat, leaving the fond. Add 200g of sliced mushrooms and 2 finely diced shallots, sauté until golden. Flambé with 30ml of cognac. Add 150ml of dry white wine and reduce by two-thirds, scraping the fond. Add 200g of tomato concassée, 150ml of demi-glace or rich stock, and a bouquet garni. Simmer for 10 minutes until the sauce coats a spoon with a glossy sheen. Remove the bouquet garni, stir in a tablespoon of fresh tarragon (chiffonade), and swirl in 20g of cold butter for sheen. Return the chicken to the sauce and heat through briefly. The finished chasseur should be a vibrant, herbal, mushroom-enriched sauce — not thick like gravy but flowing and clinging, with the tarragon providing a distinctive anise brightness that defines this preparation across the repertoire.

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ServesFour portions
TotalAbout 55 minutes
Sourced1of 12 in BC
Cook
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I

The Market List

The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.

1.6 kg
Chicken
jointed into 8 pieces
Your own market
Salt and black pepper
to season
Your own market
40 g
Clarified butter
Your own market
For the chasseur sauce
200 g
Mushrooms
sliced
Your own market
2
Shallots
finely diced
Your own market
30 ml
Cognac
for flambéing
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
150 ml
Dry white wine
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
200 g
Tomato concassée
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
150 ml
Demi-glace or rich stock
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1
Bouquet garni
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 tbsp
Fresh tarragon
chiffonade
Origin · FrancePurely Artisan Foods · San Diego →
20 g
Cold unsalted butter
cut into pieces, for finishing
Your own market

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II

The Method

1
Joint the chicken into 8 pieces. Season all surfaces with salt and black pepper. Heat the clarified butter in a wide sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken pieces skin-side down without crowding — work in batches if necessary. Brown until the skin is golden and crisp, about 5–6 minutes; turn and brown the reverse side for 3–4 minutes. The skin must release cleanly from the pan and show an even, deep-golden colour before the pieces are turned.
From the canon — Whole butter contains three components: water (16%), milk solids (4%), and fat (80%). Clarified Butter (Beurre Clarifié) and Brown Butter (Beurre Noisette) →
2
Continue cooking, adjusting heat to maintain a steady sizzle. Remove the breast pieces when the juices run clear, after approximately 15 minutes total cooking time; remove the leg pieces when fully cooked, after approximately 25 minutes. Keep all pieces warm. This is where the dish lives or dies: the chicken must come out of the pan moist and just cooked — left in the pan beyond this point, no subsequent step will restore its juiciness. The juices at the bone must run clear, not pink.
3
Pour off the excess fat, retaining the fond on the pan floor. Add the sliced mushrooms and finely diced shallots. Sauté over medium-high heat until both are golden and any released moisture has evaporated. The mushrooms should be fully coloured, not pallid or wet.
4
Add the cognac and flambé, tilting the pan carefully to ignite or using a long match. Allow the flames to subside completely. The alcohol scent lifts from the pan and the flames die without further prompting.
5
Add the dry white wine and reduce by two-thirds over medium-high heat, scraping the fond from the pan floor with a wooden spoon. The sharp wine aroma softens and the liquid concentrates to a syrupy consistency.
6
Add the tomato concassée, demi-glace or rich stock, and bouquet garni. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. The sauce is ready when it coats a spoon with a glossy, clinging sheen — flowing and cohesive, neither thin nor heavy like a gravy.
From the canon — Demi-glace is the backbone of classical French brown sauce cookery — equal parts espagnole and fond brun reduced together by half, producing a sauce base of … Demi-Glace — Half-Glaze Sauce Base →
7
Remove and discard the bouquet garni. Stir in the fresh tarragon chiffonade. Swirl in the cold butter piece by piece over low heat, moving the pan constantly until each piece is fully absorbed and the sauce shines. Taste and adjust seasoning. The sauce should carry a clear anise brightness from the tarragon.
8
Return the chicken pieces to the sauce and heat through briefly over low heat. The chicken is ready when it is uniformly warmed — do not allow the sauce to return to a boil, which would continue cooking the meat.
III

Quality Hierarchy

01
Reserve — A free-range poulet de Bresse or equivalent label bird of 1.6 kg; chanterelles or cèpes in place of button mushrooms; a genuine demi-glace reduced from veal stock; fresh tarragon from a living plant; aged cognac for the flambé.
02
Estate — A well-raised free-range chicken; a mixture of cultivated and wild mushrooms; a rich homemade stock reduced to near-demi-glace consistency; fresh tarragon from a reliable supplier; a decent VS cognac.
03
Market — A good-quality free-range supermarket chicken; standard button mushrooms; a quality bought demi-glace or well-reduced chicken stock; fresh tarragon (essential — not dried); brandy in place of cognac.
04
House — Any whole chicken jointed at home; button mushrooms; a rich shop-bought stock reduced to concentrate it; fresh tarragon if at all obtainable; brandy for the flambé. Dried tarragon fundamentally alters the character of the dish and is not a reliable substitute.
IV

Sensory Tests

◇Sight. Chicken skin is an even, deep golden colour and releases cleanly from the pan before the piece is turned.
◇Sight. Juices at the bone run clear, not pink, when the thickest part of the piece is pierced.
◇Sight. Mushrooms and shallots are fully golden with no residual moisture in the pan.
◇Smell. After flambéing, the raw alcohol scent has fully lifted and the flames subside without assistance.
◇Smell. The white wine reduction has lost its sharp acidic aroma and the liquid smells rounded and concentrated.
◇Sight. The finished sauce coats a spoon with a glossy, clinging sheen — flowing but not thin, not heavy.
◇Where it lives or dies. The chicken must be removed from the pan moist and just cooked — breast pieces when the juices run clear at roughly 15 minutes, legs at roughly 25 — because no amount of sauce work will recover meat overcooked at this stage.
Pillar V
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The dishes this one teaches you, across the cuisines — on every recipe.
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VI

What to Pour

The pairing
Blandy's Sercial Colheita Madeira
Blandy's · Madeira
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Fortified wine
From British Columbia

Nothing from British Columbia holds against this yet.

Without alcohol

No pour without alcohol holds against this yet.

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The whole pairing
Pillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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Sourced through Provenance

The hands behind the plate.

Purely Artisan Foods
San Diego · Fresh tarragon
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