French meat is an amazing dish. It's easy to cook and very satisfying. There are many different cooking options for this dish, including with chicken meat.
Where did the name "In French" come from?
It is logical to assume that the name of the dish is so, because its homeland is France. But this is not entirely true. The French do not cook meat and cheese at all. As, by the way, mayonnaise is not used for baking potatoes. The French usually bake meat with vegetables, use wine to prepare it. But potatoes are cooked with béchamel sauce and sprinkled with grated cheese - this dish is called gratin.
However, the inventor of French meat still had corresponding roots. It was gratin that was taken as the basis. But to make it more satisfying, he added chopped meat, onions and tomatoes. By the way, initially exclusively veal was used - pork and chicken appeared later.
Secrets of French Chicken Cooking
It is advisable to use fresh chicken meat - chilled or steamed. If you take a frozen piece, it can get tough. There are no special requirements for the part of the carcass - choose according to your taste. If we consider cooking chicken, then keep in mind that if you choose breast, then the dish will be less high in calories than, for example, with a thigh.
To make the chicken juicier - put the pieces closer to each other and do not spare the onion - it is he who gives the meat juiciness. The layer next to the onion is potatoes. For potatoes - mayonnaise. You can apply a solid layer or mesh to your liking. And sprinkle with grated cheese on top. By the way, so that the cheese does not burn, you can add it at the end of cooking, and bake the meat, slightly covering it with foil.
For extra zest, pickle the onions in vinegar. Cut the onion into rings, fill with marinade: water, vinegar, salt, sugar. Let sit for half an hour, then squeeze out gently or let drain.
Be sure to use potato spices. If you put a little spice, then it will turn out bland, and the taste of the whole dish will be like that. Take condiments like oregano, paprika, nutmeg, marjoram. They go well with both chicken and potatoes and cheese.
If you want to reduce the calorie content, then use feta cheese instead of hard cheese - this will make the crust thinner and softer. If you want a dense crust, then grated cheese should be chosen hard and, as it were, pressed down with your hands.
Cut potatoes as thin as possible. For this, you can use a cabbage shredder. Place the circles overlapping. You should not experiment with grated potatoes - it will cook, of course, faster, but the appearance of the dish will be completely spoiled, and the potato itself will look like porridge.
