Today’s recipe, Garlic Truffle Chicken au Jus, is an homage to my brother. It’s his favorite dish, and one I hadn’t tried until recently. I didn’t make it quite the way he does, but it’s super tasty nonetheless.
I didn’t ask my brother to share his recipe with me as I wanted to solve a problem I hear quite often. Many of my friends tell me that they cannot create a tasty gravy or sauce to go with their chicken. I have friends from all over the world, from varying cultures, and for some, it is usual to serve meat with a sauce or gravy.
Admittedly, gravies and sauces can be rather intimidating, in particular when you need to whip them up quickly. So I thought I should share my version of Garlic Truffle Chicken au Jus. The creation of the jus commences at the time you pop the chicken in the oven. The flavors meld together to create depth and distinction.
The process for creating Garlic Truffle Chicken au Jus is simple. The chicken in seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic and then placed into a roasting pan filled with chicken broth. To allow the flavors to come together the chicken is cooked slowly. The broth is then set aside and the chicken is basted with truffle oil until golden. Finally, the broth is finished off on the stove with some fresh thyme to create the jus.
I came up with the idea for creating the jus and the chicken together after watching an episode of Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown. He was in Lyon, the culinary mecca, many would say. He met with Daniel Boulud who was cooking a chicken a dish cooked in broth, encased in a pigs bladder. They did much more than I could ever do to a chicken, and make it look good. However, the idea of poaching chicken and then baking it and using the poaching liquid to add more flavor was a Diverse Dinners’ recipe dream.
Garlic Truffle Chicken au Jus
Ingredients
- 3 lb whole chicken
- 2 tbsp garlic minced or grated
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 3 cups unsalted chicken broth
- 1 chicken bouillon cube
- 3 tbsp white truffle oil
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme removed from stalk
Equipment & Utensils
- Small saucepan
- Medium-sized roasting pan
- Foil
Instructions
- Remove excess fat and innards from chicken and rinse thoroughly with cool water.
- Pat chicken dry with paper towels.
- Push your fingers between the breast skin and flesh of the chicken to separate them.
- With your fingers, or a small spatula, spread the garlic all over the breast of the chicken under the skin and inside the cavity of the chicken.
- Season exterior of chicken with salt and pepper.
- Pour chicken broth into saucepan and add bouillon cube and heat and stir until cube has dissolved.
- Transfer chicken broth to roasting pan, then carefully place chicken, breast down, into broth.
- Brush foil with a little oil so that it doesn't stick to the skin of the chicken, and cover chicken and roasting pan with foil and seal around the pan.
- Place in preheated oven at 385 and cook for 30 mins.
- Remove chicken from oven and turn chicken over - breast side up and cook for 20 mins.
- Remove chicken from oven again and raise oven to 425.
- Set chicken stock and juices aside until needed.
- Transfer chicken to shallow baking tray and drizzle chicken with 1 tbsp of truffle oil and return to oven.
- Allow to cook for 10 minutes and then drizzle another tbsp of truffle oil over the chicken.
- After another 10 mins repeat basting, and drizzle another tbsp of truffle oil over the chicken and allow to cook for a final 10 minutes.
- Remove chicken from oven and tip chicken juices and truffle oil into set aside chicken broth, and allow chicken to rest.
- Place roasting pan with chicken broth and juices on high heat, or if you prefer, transfer to a saucepan and place on a high heat.
- Add thyme and season with salt and pepper if needed.
- Reduce by 1/3 until a little thickened to create jus.
- To serve, cut chicken into quarters, and serve with a side of jus
