Tip - Wrap It Up And Poach It

Wrap It Up and Poach It
A restaurant trick: plastic wrap roulade.

By THOMAS KELLER and MICHAEL RUHLMAN, Special To The Times

Thomas Keller is probably the hottest chef in America. His Napa Valley
restaurant, The French Laundry, has won every award possible. Today he and
co-writer Michael Fuhlman begin an exclusive monthly column for The Times
Food section dedicated to teaching restaurant techniques to home cooks.

In the real world, manipulation is bad, but in the professional
kitchen--honest as it may be--manipulation is everything. A good example of
this is cooking poultry in plastic wrap (a.k.a. bird-in-a-bag). Its
ingenious mechanics give you a combination of flavorful, fat-free cooking
and elegant final presentation.

It's a method used in restaurants everywhere, but not nearly enough at
home. The concept is simple: Tightly wrap fish or fowl in plastic
wrap--typically into a cylindrical shape--and drop it into simmering water.
The result can be extraordinary when the meat being cooked is bundled in a
colorful sweet wrapper or stuffed with juicy aromatic vegetables.

For example, spread a layer of thinly sliced zucchini, eggplant and roasted
red pepper onto a piece of plastic wrap and lay a seasoned chicken breast
on the vegetables. Roll this package carefully into a cylinder and poach it
in simmering water for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove it from the water, let it
rest to finish cooking through, and then remove the wrapper and cut the
meat into 1-inch slices. You've got a gorgeous, healthful roulade of chicken.

You can take that idea a step further and roll the breast around a few
spoonfuls of ratatouille, for a unique Provenc¸al interpretation of the
overworked chicken breast.

Thinly sliced mushrooms such as cepes (porcini) or even portabellos also
work well as a wrapper, or you can use them as a stuffing, turned into
duxelles (finely chopped mushrooms sautéed with shallots).

Duck wrapped in cabbage is extraordinary. Fish, likewise, is excellent to
stuff and wrap and serve with a simple butter or wine sauce.

Bird-in-a-bag is a great method either for entertaining or to have ready
after work because the items can be prepared days ahead of time. You don't
need to watch them or turn them to keep them from scorching. They will cook
perfectly uniformly because they are surrounded by simmering water.

Outer wrappers are simply a matter of imagination--savoy cabbage or romaine
lettuce, for example. Some of the tougher ones, such as chard or leeks,
should be cooked ahead of time.

Other than that, the main tips are:

Salt the meat aggressively because it will not pick up additional flavor
from added fat or searing. The only flavors you will end up with are the
ones contained in the plastic.

Make sure all of the vegetable wrappers are patted dry before using.

Most important: Roll each item tightly. This is easy if you have a
stainless steel surface, but because plastic wrap won't stick to most
kitchen counters, you may want to have someone hold one end to create the
proper tension.

Use an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the package to
check doneness (a chicken breast should read 160 degrees). Let the packages
rest for several minutes after cooking.

Some of our most satisfying work as cooks and chefs is manipulation. A
simple idea--cooking in plastic wrap--can lead the imagination to endless
variations, transforming even the honorable but boring chicken breast into
something visually dynamic and exciting to eat.