Burnt Offerings

Griddled Chicken Breast

It seemed at the time like the most bizarre cookery advice ever: 'Use your nose and you'll know!' The subject was griddled chicken, and we students were wondering how to decide when to turn the chicken cutlet over in the pan. If you lift the breast to check, then you run the danger of not putting it back quite right and therefore spoiling the neat charring pattern. The answer is deceptively simple: smell for that distinctive barbecue odour of burning flesh.

We had been learning about fresh, quality locally-sourced produce. The chickens were from a nearby farm and we had butchered them ourselves into a tray of delights. These were chickens with giblets (remember them?) and we had prepared the cutlets with both wing bone and skin in place: hardly what you'd find in an average supermarket.

Having been charred to perfection in the pan, the dish is finished in a hot oven. It can be tested for doneness with a prodding finger in just the same way as a steak, and needs resting too albeit not for as long (the breast pictured has not yet been roasted, in case you're wondering).

Back from the course, I replaced my original griddle pan with one that matched the school's pans with their slightly less severe ridges. My butchery skills are in need of some practice, though, since I never seem to be able to replicate the neatness of the skin or the cleanness of the bone cut that I achieved at school. Nevertheless, this is one of those easy dishes that is firmly on the household menu. I tend to put the griddle pan into the oven, rather than transferring the chicken to a roasting dish, as it's difficult to make a pan sauce in such a pan anyway. Make a compound butter in advance instead, and place a slice of it on the chicken when plating.

Not every chef agrees about using your nose for char-grilling, I find, even at the same school: I have had some sceptical looks when mentioning it. All the senses are there for a purpose though, so why not?