1. This is a chaud-froid, which means “hot-cold”. The name does not refer, as one might imagine, to the sorts of shivers one might experience on being confronted with such a dish, but to its preparation: cooked hot and served cold. It is a very old dish, rarely seen today, except at banquets planned by culinary students who happen to be both masochists and Carême enthusiasts. The technique adapts itself to all cuts of chicken and all types of flavored aspic, but here, a whole poached chicken has been covered with a gelatinized white sauce and decorated with leek ribbons and tomato skins.
To see the bird in its fully-accessorized glory, and some additional feathered fiends, read on.
Tastes change over time. The 1880s are to food styling what the 1980s are to hair and makeup: what was appealing then is garish now. As hard as it is to believe, shimmering ice rinks of aspic and rococo vegetable curls were once de rigueur on the best tables in France.
I am ashamed to admit that I played a big part in assembling this edible tableau:
2. History will not excuse this next aberration, which is a Thanksgiving cake baked to resemble a turkey, with some anatomical liberties taken in the icing. Compare with the manufacturer’s serving suggestion. If there was ever any doubt over whether I was a born cake decorator, my part in this travesty should put it swiftly to rest.
3. I don’t hate chicken feet, but neither do I really get them. Does anyone actually like these things enough to devote ten minutes’ gnawing to half an ounce of gristle? One popular Chinese school of thought holds that the more painstaking the extraction, the tastier the delicacy. I am about as sympathetic to this view as I am to the Chinese belief (by no means universal, but certainly not uncommon) that everything from snake’s blood to deer’s antlers is an aphrodisiac.
Chicken feet: do you like them?
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COMMENTS / 7 COMMENTS
I laughed out loud when I saw the turkey cake. You set that one up well.Megan added this comment on August 25 2008 at 1:55 pm
The chicken looks amazing though! I didn’t know such a thing was possible.
I have never eaten a chicken foot. I don’t really regret this oversight.
When I lived in a vegetarian cooperative and we belonged to a CSA, a hubbard squash replaced the Thanksgiving turkey.
I like the turkey’s lips.Kat added this comment on August 25 2008 at 4:50 pm
And yes to chicken feet, and while not a fan of the “meat”, I’d order it again for the sauce.
Oh, this post did make me giggle! I could do the aspic slices–there is a certain retro prettiness to it, though I’m not a big fan of the entire bird. At first I thought it was a cake baked to resemble a chicken.Amanda added this comment on August 25 2008 at 7:46 pm
The turkey is hilarious!
I’ve never tried a chicken foot, though I can’t imagine I’d like it. Looks yucky. Does that make me a prude?
For some reason I loved chicken’s feet when I was a kid. Now the claw shape seems pretty vulgar to me, though the taste is still okay, depending on the sauce.Diana added this comment on August 25 2008 at 7:54 pm
Megan, your hubbard squash story is kind of depressing. Of all the stand-ins…Michele Humes added this comment on August 29 2008 at 8:21 am
Amanda, the little white lobes are medallions of chicken breast covered in the same gelatinized sauce as the whole chicken. I really can’t say I recommend them.
Prude? No. But Jeffrey Steingarten would scold you for not being a perfect omnivore.
hi michele,monika added this comment on August 29 2008 at 1:51 pm
i know this is off topic of this post but i read your blog a lot and i know your passion for chinese food- so i was wondering if you could reccoment a good dim sum restaurant in NYC? i’d really appreciate it! thanks!
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