If proverbs guided the culinary world all diners would appreciate that tamales and tacos are best from a street vendor, fried chicken at a church basement pot luck and — well, ordering chicken from just about any restaurant menu sets one up for disappointment.
Commercially raised birds not only lack personality, they are also skittish over heat. The meat cowers, gasps for moisture and finally collapses into a parched, indolent mass.
“Overcook it, that’s what happens,” observed chef Mario Monroy. “But everyone knows the time here.”
By here he means Chic Le Chef, the restaurant and catering operation in Hidden Valley Lake. “Everyone” refers to his talented kitchen crew. And time is that calibrated point at which chicken breast ascends from the indifference of the ordinary to a radiant, celestial space.
The meat is juicy and redolent of spring buds, creamy and calm in temperament. Monroy and his staff marinate the chicken with garlic and herbs for 24 hours before readying it for the oven, conferring a richness to the breast that belies its lean stature.
It arrives on a cushion of mashed potatoes of mellow, buttery repose. A tumble of mushrooms on top provides a fusty bed that calls to a trace of earthiness in the potatoes and lends depth to the meat. The homey savor of the mushrooms also calms the glaze.
Ah, the glaze.
Distilled from soy sauce, brown sugar, Dijon mustard, spices and a belt of bourbon, it drapes the dish with a serene hue and comforting cask aroma. Bitter and sweet is balanced by a smoldering earthiness that glows to life, sparking an unexpected flame that seems to justify the smoky streak hovering over the sauce.
It’s a gorgeous thing — burnt umber of Kentucky barrels, blistering caramel on a cast iron skillet, burning leaves from a Norman Rockwell memory and the beginnings of a sweltering southern morning all in one.
Cayenne and smoked paprika improve on the bourbon’s acrid nature. The spice also perks up the earthy gloom of mushrooms. Meanwhile the dense sugar and fermented soy joust for attention in between.
“It’s a nice glaze — sweet, but with a kick,” Monroy said. “We just played around and found it,” he added, describing the process that led them to the recipe. “People like it.”
Indeed. The bourbon glazed chicken breast at Chic le Chef absolves the sins of so many other restaurants. It is a dish to behold.
Dave Faries can be reached at 900-2016
