Recipe Chicken Cordon Bleu

[Morning Glory]

Well darn it. This really bothers me, and Im sorry.
It might be the vinegar. Half and half should be no problem, just longer to thicken.
Ive made this many times.
I reduce the acid with the shallots to almost dry. I add in the cream, and start reducing.
I do know if the acid reduction is left too thin, it can curdle, it needs to be au sec, almost dry.
Theres so little liquid left it should not curdle or separate.
The wine reduction can be done over medium high heat-- after the cream is added, no more
than a medium heat--too high a heat can separate cream sauces.
It browns a bit while the cream reduces, giving it the tan gold color.
What exact acids etc did you use?
I need to get some ingreds togther before i can make it again. And I'll use half n half.
I feel awful yours didnt turn out, LNG. We'll solve it.
If you do try it again sometime, use Cream Sherry only and no vinegar.
Did you make the chicken, or just try the sauce?

I will have a go at making the sauce to see how it works for me. I just need to get some cream - although I do have vegan cream so could use that. But then I wouldn't be replicating the recipe...

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I decided to give a go at the sauce by itself last night. I was thinking of trying it on a leftover omelette that I had. I will give it a try though, this time as you suggested. I don't think it should've mattered, but I used brandy instead of sherry. i'll be picking up a good quality sherry this time around.

 

[Slumgullioneer]

Well ok, but you guys have me concerned now. Im trying to remember if I said Shazam or sommat to unlock the magics. lol I just hate seing wasted ingredients. I really want this to work for you guys, the taste is really something.
LNG, I'Ve never made this with 80proof distilled spirits. As there is going to be no body, or not much left in residual, the entire sauce is going to be changed. Like making hollandaise with egg whites or Chicken Marsala with Chenin Blanc.
But it does shed some light on your "almost watery" comment. Theres nothing left in brandy or even say, Chardonnay after reducing to combine with cream and concentrate flavors.
However....I still dont see how the use of bandy would make it separate. In fact I would expect the acid level to be lower than in wine. (And im sure its lower in cream sherry than in white wine.) So im currently puzzled on that one.
By the way, if you guys try this again, you can make half the quantity.
Itll yield about 3/4 of a cup or so.(6-8 fl oz)


.

 

[Elawin]

Well of course theyre different. In the States pounds are a weight measurement, while in UK pounds are much more fun because you can buy things. lol
Seriously though the general rule is, if ounces are referring to liquids, we use fluid ounces (fl oz) a volume measurement.
(8 fl oz per cup) Liquids also use 1/2, 1/4 cup etc., and teaspoons/table spoons. Dry ingredients, flour, cinnamon, etc, use 1/2 cup, or tsp/tbsp.
Things you buy by weight are measured by weight like meats. Usually in pounds sometimes ounces.
There is not a volume measurement here by pounds so far as I know.


.

I always use this site http://www.cookitsimply.com/measurements/ for conversions. The only recipe I use cups for is when I make whey pancakes, because it uses one cup of flour and one of whey, plus one large egg, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and a pinch of bicarbonate of soda. I use an ordinary mug for measuring (it holds about 300 ml), and the recipe is pretty fool proof.

 

[Elawin]

Did you really mean "simmer over medium high heat?" Or just "bring to a simmer?" That's quite a difference in the amount of heat that brought to bear.....I added the half-and-half mixture and it immediately curdled.

It was probably too hot. I use yoghurt quite often instead of cream and particularly in curries. The last curry I made which included yoghurt was nearly a disaster. The pan was too hot and the yoghurt separated out disastrously. It took a lot of whipping to get it to look anything like it should, and even then you could see tiny bits of yoghurt in the sauce where it hadn't mixed properly. It tasted fine, but that wasn't the point.

 

[Slumgullioneer]

That's very true Elawin, too much heat commonly separates cream and emusion sauces. But in the case of this sauce that I've made several times once I get that cream in there and going after the wine reduction I bring it to a real healthy simmer and it Bubbles and spits and all that and it does not separate. Well rarely. However, ive never deviated from the booze type either.

 

[Morning Glory]

By the way, if you guys try this again, you can make half the quantity.
Itll yield about 3/4 of a cup or so.(6-8 fl oz)

This is what I intend to do in case it doesn't work out. I will be having a try at this tomorrow (the sauce) and I promise to report back. I'll be using sherry!

 

[Slumgullioneer]

ok then, well hopefully I wont get my membership revoked if it doesnt turn out.

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

This time, I used sherry. It reduced down the way it should, into a syrup. But, after heating up the half-and-half with the reduction, this is what happened. I'm not sure if you can tell, but it's separating around the shallots as it's cooking. It's not as horrifying as when I tried yesterday (where did curdle) so I'm going to keep heating it, and maybe will turn into something good.

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

Well, I'm glad I decided to stick with it. This is the end result, on the leftover omelette that I was talking about earlier. And, it's delicious! I decided to add a teaspoon of salt, but it worked. Bravo, @Slumgullioneer!

 

[Slumgullioneer]

Bravo back Chef. Your omelette looks very happy! You had me worried again when I first started reading your post, yet when I looked at the picture I thought well, that looks fairly normal. lol
And the color is perfect, right where it's supposed to be.
It's a funny thing this sauce isnt it, the way it reduces down, bubbles and gets all brown around the edges....and what it turns into?
So now that you've seen it in action I have two funny stories about this sauce. The first one takes place in the banquet room when I first started making it, we had a girl in there who thought she was learning how to cook. She wasn't very adept at it... so she was cleaning up and I had that sauce on the stove, simering, reducing down, and she came this close to throwing it out...she actually took it off the burner and said you done with this? And I said what are you doing, that is my sauce. She gave me a really sour look and just put it down and walked away LOL

In the Second Story I was visiting friends back east and made them a chicken cordon bleu dinner, the wife helped me cook. We were making the sauce and about Midway through the reduction she looked at it and it was bubbling and hissing and spitting like mad and she said hey is this okay? I let my eyes get wide and said what happened! She got really worried and then I smiled and said its fine, its doing its thing. Well when she tasted that sauce, HER eyes got big, she could not believe the richness.


.

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I've done reductions before for pasta sauces and gravies, but never on this scale. Normally, it's no more than a 1/4 cup of chianti or brandy. And, I think the pan itself might have also played a role in this: it was a sauce pan, about 12" across, and everything started as a swimming pool of sherry with bits of shallot swimming in it. But, I got there, and that's what matters.

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

she was cleaning up and I had that sauce on the stove, simering, reducing down, and she came this close to throwing it out...she actually took it off the burner and said you done with this? And I said what are you doing, that is my sauce. She gave me a really sour look and just put it down and walked away LOL

This reminds me of the latest season of Food Network Star, where Jason - the eventual winner - had to have one of the previously eliminated contestants as his sous chef. He wanted her to do a bourbon flambé, in part because he didn't think he could trust her to do anything else. Her only job was to just watch it while the flames burned off the bourbon. Twice, she got nervous and said she thought it was done, but he kept telling her to keep with it because he wanted to cook the alcohol out. Then, when he wasn't looking, she took it off the heat. The judges commented that they liked the sauce, but they could taste the alcohol (!!) Fortunately for him, that wasn't enough to get him eliminated.

 

[Morning Glory]

OK - I made the sauce today as promised. It worked out perfectly! I will post pictures so you can see, shortly.

 

[Morning Glory]

I halved the recipe. Here is the sherry and the white wine vinegar I used:

I used a stainless steel saucepan. Here the white wine, sherry and shallots before reduction:

And after reduction - apologies for the out of focus image:

I strained out the shallots shortly before the mixture got syrupy as I was concerned the reduction might be to sticky to strain properly otherwise. The reduction process took around 18 minutes. I took it rather slowly to start with so I think next time it will be a bit quicker.

Here is the mixture bubbling away. I found that it wwas the bottom of the pan which turned brown rather than the edges. I stirred frequently to amalgamate the caramelised parts into the cream.

I forgot to time how long this second reduction took. Maybe about 8 minutes? The result is beautiful. The colour of pale butterscotch:


Here in a white 'spoon':

Here in a dark blue ramekin: