Probably many heard the mysterious and interesting name of the dish "Cordon Blue", but few decided to cook it, but in vain.
Recipe History
It may seem that it is quite difficult to prepare the food, but, having studied the recipe, you understand that creating a Cordon Blue dish is very simple. It impresses not only with a simple recipe, but primarily with its excellent taste. In addition, the result obtained looks very impressive on a plate with vegetable salad and herbs.
Translated from French, the name of the dish means "blue ribbon". It is not known for certain who and when assigned this name to a schnitzel stuffed with cheese and ham. At the moment, there are several official versions of the origin of the surprisingly beautiful and attractive name for this piquant dish.
According to one of them, the head of France - Louis XV - awarded his cook a distinctive sign - a blue ribbon. She was awarded such an honorable award for surprising the taste of the head of state, sophisticated in sophistication. She cooked a meat delicacy, stuffed with cheese and ham.
According to another version, the schnitzel with cheese and ham won the culinary art competition and was awarded the Blue Ribbon for its excellent taste.
Historians who have been studying the origin and formation of world culinary art for a long time claim that the cook who first prepared this dish, when served to the table, decorated it with a blue ribbon.
Of the many versions still have not been allocated one confirmed historically. Therefore, today every representative of culinary art has the right to choose the one he likes best. One thing is certain with certainty: the dish has exactly French roots. Well, now we find out what kind of food.
Cordon Bleu is a schnitzel breaded in breadcrumbs stuffed with ham and cheese, fried to a golden crust in oil. Meat for it can be used in different varieties: pork, beef, veal, chicken. But only chicken fillet can be used to prepare very juicy, aromatic schnitzels, since only this meat has a delicate and mild taste and does not require long heat treatment. Consider how to cook "Cordon Blue" at home.
Ingredients for cooking
Schnitzel with an aristocratic name has a very simple recipe, where all the main ingredients can often be seen in almost every home. So, here is an example of a phased preparation of Cordon Blue from chicken. The recipe includes the following main ingredients:
- broiler chicken breast fillet;
- smoked ham;
- hard cheese;
- breadcrumbs;
- flour (for breading);
- egg (for breading);
- salt and pepper;
- butter (butter or vegetable) for frying.
Cooking steps
First, prepare the filling. Hard cheese and ham are cut into thin slices of such a size that you can place them in a pocket of chicken fillet. Beat the egg for breading in a deep plate with a whisk or mixer, pour the flour into a bowl, breadcrumbs can be used from the store, or you can cook yourself (wrap dried bread in a towel and make a crumb with a rolling pin).
Schnitzel preparation
Wash and dry the chicken breast fillet (boneless). Then we cut the breast along, but not to the very end, thus forming a pocket that we will stuff. Before the formation of the schnitzel, it will be necessary to beat the chicken fillet well with a kitchen hammer, and this should be done with great care, since a very tender chicken fillet for Cordon Blue is used. The photos presented in the article show what you will get as the final result.
When the meat is ready, pepper and salt to taste on both sides. In the resulting fillet pocket, put the stuffing from cheese and ham, form a schnitzel and fix the edges with toothpicks so that the cheese does not leak during the frying process. If the edges are uneven, you can carefully trim the excess. Then schnitzel breaded in three products in the following sequence: flour - egg - breadcrumbs.
Cooking mode
Fry the fillet until golden brown in a deep, well-heated pan with butter or vegetable oil.
After that, professional chefs recommend putting Cordon Blue from chicken into the oven, preheated to 200 degrees. There, the dish can still be swept for about 7 minutes. Thus, "Cordon Blue" in the oven will reach readiness and will acquire an even more intense taste.
Final touches before serving
Serving French schnitzels to the table is better than hot, because only in this case you can truly appreciate the aroma of this gourmet dish. Before that, we take out toothpicks and decorate the treat with greens. The fillet is so satisfying that you can not serve it with a side dish, but confine yourself to a vegetable salad and greens.
Mistresses note
Any housewife has her culinary secrets in cooking this or that dish, and in this case, Cordon Blue is no exception.
Let's start with the filling. During cooking, to achieve the greatest flavor of the dish, it is necessary to use hard cheeses, ideally Raclette, Emmental, Grüger. It is known that chicken breast itself does not have a pronounced taste, and cheese can give a spicy taste to the food. Grueger is a light cheese with a pronounced nutty flavor. Emmental - spicy, slightly sweet. Raclette has a rather specific taste (it is washed off with white wine). Ham, like cheese, is designed to enhance the taste and aroma of chicken, so the smoked and aromatic it is, the richer the taste of the finished schnitzels will be.
Often during a procedure such as beating meat fillet, a lot of spray is formed. In order not to get dirty yourself and not to splatter everything around, when you beat the chicken breast, use a plastic bag or cling film. Just cover the meat on top and everything will be clean.
If it is not possible to put the schnitzels in a preheated oven, then when frying from the second side, reduce the heat and cover the pan with a lid. In this case, the meat will be fried and the cheese will become viscous.
In order for the crackers to not fall off when frying, and the crust is uniform, you need to put the schnitzels in the freezer for about 20 minutes before placing them in the pan.
The right size - spicy taste
If you create a schnitzel from one fillet of chicken breast, the portion will be very large. You can do so, but for a banquet it would be more appropriate to prepare products of a much smaller size. In this case, the fillet will need to be divided into 2 parts. That is, from 1 whole chicken breast, 4 very tasty tender schnitzels are obtained.
Apply culinary magic
Cordon Bleu is a finished dish in itself. But you can experiment and surprise your household with the original fillings of French schnitzels.
For example, basil leaves, sun-dried tomatoes and Parmesan cheese are very well combined. Apples cut into thin slices or pre-soaked prunes will add a little piquancy to the schnitzel with ham and cheese.
Cordon Blue goes well with various sauces. For example, one of them can be cooked quickly - in just a few minutes. In boiling cream, add diced tomatoes and grated Parmesan cheese. To prepare such a sauce should be on low heat for only a couple of minutes and serve in a saucepan. "Cordon Blue" - it's simple and very tasty!