Chicken Fricassee – German Style

Have you ever heard of Fricassee? It is a ragout with chicken in a white sauce and several specific vegetables. The classic version only uses chicken, mushrooms and white asparagus. Some recipes are using capers as well. As for typical German dishes, the choice of ingredients varies from region to region.
Recipes for fricassee can be found as far back as the earliest version of the medieval French cookbook Le Viandier from around 1300. In 1490, it was first referred to specifically as “friquassée” in the print edition of Le Viandier  It is a word of French origin, although the exact etymology is unclear. It is theorized to be a compound of the French frire (to fry) and casser or quasser (to break in pieces).
This German chicken recipe is a stewed dish typically made with poultry, but other types of white meat (like veal, rabbit, or Cornish game hen) can be substituted. It is cut into pieces and then cooked in a gravy, which is then thickened with butter and cream or milk so it makes a white gravy. As you see on the photo peas and carrots had been added to the sauce. It’s a delicious, colorful dish. Happy Cooking!

Ingredients Chicken Fricassee

(serves 4-5)
For the Broth
1 small whole chicken or alternatively chicken drums, fresh or frozen (weight 1-3 pounds)
1/2 celery root, 2 carrots, 2 celery sticks, 1 leek
1 onion
2 bay leaves
2-3 cloves
2 liter purified water
some black pepper corns

For the Fricassee
100 g butter
3 tbsp flour
1 small jar white asparagus, whole or in pieces, 10 thin green asparagus, frozen or jar (optional, the traditional german recipe is using only white asparagus)
250 g frozen peas (or fresh)
2 small cans mushrooms
1 splash lemon juice
2 egg yolks
100 ml heavy cream
salt, pepper, nutmeg to taste

Cooking Instructions Chicken Fricassee

Make the Soup
– Wash chicken, dry it with kitchen paper; place it in a pan that is big enough for 2-3 liter liquid.
– Add 2 liter cold water and bring to a boil.
– Cut celery root in cubes, carrots in 2-3 pieces.
– Add the celery, the root, carrots, bay leaves to the broth.
– Cut onion in 2 pieces, in every piece stick a clove, add it to the soup.
– Let simmer for 1-2 hours or until chicken meat is tender (cooking time depends on the size of the chicken).

Make the Fricassee
– Remove cooked chicken from broth, drain liquid through a sieve.
– Keep 1 liter broth for the fricassee.
– Remove all the nice looking meat from the bones (don’t use the skin, or dark brown meat pieces); cut bigger pieces into smaller pieces.
– Drain mushrooms and asparagus.
– Add butter in an extra pan and on reduced heat, mix in the flour while stirring until the flour has a golden yellow color.
The butter should not become brown. We call this in german a “Mehlschwitze”.
– Very slowly add the chicken broth, first a little bit, then more and more while whisking it. You want to avoid clumping.
– Let simmer for 10 minutes on low heat while stirring frequently.
– Add chicken meat, asparagus, peas and mushrooms to the sauce.
– Now add the yolk into the milk, and mix it carefully into the fricassee mix.
Don’t bring it to a boil!

Important: The sauce should not be boiling hot. Let it cool off a bit before adding the yolk/milk mix, and don’t bring it to a boil again.

– Squeeze the lemon and and add the juice to the sauce. Spice it with salt and pepper and nutmeg to taste. You can also add additional lemon juice if you think it needs more. You should taste the juice a bit.

Classic side dish: White rice.

TIPS

• Keep the remaining broth, this makes a delicious soup: Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to the broth. Boil some thin egg noodles and add to the broth with some chopped parsley.
• Boil water and add thin soup pasta or pasta of your choice (you can also boil dried tortellini, boil them and add them to the broth), boil them for 3-4 minutes, filter them and add it to the broth.
• Add fresh chopped parsley.
• Don’t use instant broth for the fricassee.
• Don’t use packaged broth.
• You also can use a combination of chicken legs and wings or some chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken.
  

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Recipe photo/Source