French · Lyon · main

Poulet au Vinaigre

Poulet au Vinaigre reads richness 7.3, umami 6.9 and salinity 4.7 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a French · Lyon main, about 1 hr 30 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 7.6 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 3.0 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 5.1 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 1.2 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 8.1 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 4.2 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Richness 7.3 · Umami 6.9 · Salinity 4.7 · Sourness 4.4 · Allium 3.8 · Herbaceous 2.6 · Fruity 2.5 · Nutty 2.5 · Citrus 2.3 · Funk & Ferment 2.3 · Sweetness 1.7 · Floral 1.5 · Warm Spice 1.4 · Earthy 1.0 · Bitterness 0.8 · Heat 0.5

What's in it (15)

• chicken — 1800 g
• unsalted butter — 40 g
• peanut oil — 27 g
• garlic — 60 g
• wine vinegar — 150 g
• tomatoes — 250 g
• tomato paste — 15 g
• dry white wine — 150 g
• chicken stock — 200 g
• heavy cream — 150 g
• cold unsalted butter — 60 g
• dijon mustard — 15 g
• salt — 10 g
• freshly ground black pepper — 5 g
• tarragon — 7 g

Time & effort: about 1 hr 30 min · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 119.5 kcal, 11.2 g protein, 9.7 g fat, 1.9 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains dairy — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (8 steps)

1. Season the chicken pieces on both sides and leave them out of the fridge for 30 minutes; cold meat browns unevenly.
2. Heat the 40 g of butter with the oil in a wide sauté pan over medium-high heat until the foam subsides. Lay the pieces skin down and leave them alone for 8 minutes — no moving, no peeking — then turn and give them 5 minutes on the other side. You want an even hazelnut brown, not a patchy dark one.
3. Throw in the unpeeled garlic cloves, lower the heat to medium and cook 5 minutes more, rolling them in the fat. Left in their skins they steam themselves sweet and mild; peeled, they would scorch in this pan and turn the sauce bitter.
4. Take the pan off the heat, stand back and pour in the vinegar — the fumes are fierce. Return it to medium heat and reduce until only about 3 tablespoons of a syrupy glaze remain, roughly 5 minutes, scraping the base as you go. Taste it: the raw sharpness must have cooked off and left something round and fruity. If it still stings, reduce further.
5. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, white wine and stock. Cover and simmer very gently for 25 minutes, until the juices from a thigh run clear.
6. Lift the chicken onto a warm dish. Squeeze the softened garlic cloves out of their skins back into the sauce and crush them in. Add the cream and boil hard for 5 to 8 minutes until the sauce is nappe — thick enough that a line drawn through it on the back of a spoon stays open.
7. Now the mounting, which is where this sauce is made or lost. Off the heat, whisk in the mustard, then the cold diced butter two or three pieces at a time, swirling the pan continuously so each addition melts into an emulsion rather than into a slick of oil. Never let it return to the boil after this — the emulsion breaks above about 90°C and no amount of whisking brings it back.
8. Pour the sauce over the chicken, scatter the tarragon and serve at once, with bread rather than potatoes; the sauce is the reason for the dish.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Cochinillo Asado de Segovia — Spanish · Castile
• Diots au Vin Blanc — French · Savoy
• Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken Pasta — Italian-American
• Albóndigas en Salsa — Spanish
• Tarhana Çorbası (Fermented Wheat and Yoghurt Soup) — Turkish

Keep reading: what richness, umami, salinity mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.