Chicken Dijonnaise
Bringing the Classics Back to Life, One Dish at A Time
This past weekend I decided to cook Chicken Dijonnaise, a bastion of classical French cuisine. It’s a simple preparation whereby the chicken is sautéed then served in a creamy Dijon mustard sauce with onions and bacon. Chicken Dijonnaise is one of those dishes that became so popular in its heydey, that it spawned horrible imitations. You probably ate a bastardized version at a wedding or buffet in the 1980s. It is a simple dish that requires nothing more than patience to get right.
NAMING FRENCH DISHES
French dishes are the sum of the land where they originate. The French love to name their dishes after the cities and regions that inspired their creation. Think Mayonnaise (originally named Mahonnaise), named after 1757 victory over Spain in Mahon. Or even Béarnaise named for the city of Béarn. When I went to cooking school in the early 1980s, we were taught the geography of France. We learned what grows in each region and what the famous dishes were. This simple lesson acted as a decoder ring for French cooking that has benefitted me since.
In the case of chicken Dijonnaise, I learned this. The city of Dijon is very fortunate to sit at the crossroads of one of the great breadbasket regions of France. The neighboring farms raise…
