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.
Sauté technique: high heat, quick cooking, chicken removed while moist. Brown skin deeply for fond (the sauce's foundation). Deglaze with cognac (flambé) and white wine. Sauce built in the pan: mushrooms, shallots, tomato, demi-glace. Tarragon added at the end — the defining herb of chasseur. Chicken returned to sauce only briefly to warm through.
The same chasseur sauce base applies to veal (escalope chasseur), rabbit, and eggs (oeufs chasseur). Wild mushrooms (chanterelles, cèpes) in place of button mushrooms create an extraordinary autumn version. A tablespoon of Dijon mustard whisked into the sauce at the end adds hidden depth. For restaurant-style service, sauté the chicken separately and make the sauce independently, combining only at plating. This approach produces better results than cooking the chicken in the sauce.
Overcrowding the pan, which steams the chicken instead of browning it. Overcooking the chicken by leaving it in the sauce too long. Under-reducing the wine, producing a thin, acidic sauce. Using dried tarragon instead of fresh — the difference is enormous. Not building the fond properly — the browned bits in the pan are the sauce's soul.
Le Guide Culinaire — Auguste Escoffier