Richard Olney's Chicken Gratin

Really good. Served with a side of rice and Ina Garten's Parmesan Roasted Broccoli.

This was an absolute hit, served with roasted endive with walnut vinaigrette (also on this site). A simple tomato salad would have rounded it out beautifully. Next time!

I've been making this once a month now. I love the smell and the taste of the curdled sauce. When I first tried, I thought it would be a heavy dish but nooooo... My husband who doesn't like any dish with heavy cream or cheese loved it. He said "whoa, this has really deep and wonderful flavor. Tonight I just made (carefully made my bread crumbs with french loaf bread and carefully cooked!) this dish with mixed thigh & breast and serve to our guest and I received amazing compliment. Definitely doubled the crumbs and almost doubled the amount of the cheese, so good!.

Made this last night - really adored the curdled sauce. Definitely keeping this recipe to make again soon! Turned out exactly as recipe specified and sooo delicious. Doubled up on bread crumbs as well (highly recommend).

Made this as directed and it was great. I don't know if my sauce "broke" or not, but it was delicious. Made it with all thighs, and I'd probably do a mix next time. Also, the cheese custard and the bread crumbs cooked in the chicken fat were so good I'm gonna try doubling up on both of those parts next time to see how it goes. We thought it was almost like a stuffing, so there's always room for more of that!

I just made this a couple weeks ago with chicken thighs. We thought the flavor was absolutely to die for! My sauce was a hot mess, though; I'm SO glad I didn't make it for company. I definitely want to try it again, though. Is it pretty much a consensus that the lemon juice was what made the sauce break? And adding it at the end remedies that?

As I don't use wine, is it OK to leave it out altogether or is there a substitute I could use?

After reviewing all the comments, I'm surprised that nobody thought of doing the custard with a half and half rather than 35% cream. For this dish I would use both whole eggs AND 10% to reduce the caloric content. Forty years ago and in rural France where this dish originated, people probably cooked with a lot more fat than they do today.

I had bookmarked this recipe and decided to make it last night. Boy, was I ever disappointed! I followed the recipe almost exactly with the exception of the lemon juice b/c I didn't want a curdled custard sauce. However, I didn't note that the wine could contribute to that also. YUCK! It looked like vomit, and was most unappetizing. If this is a Community Pick, I'd better move! : )))

Now THAT was delicious. Chicken legs, and exactly as written (except pecorino in place of gruyere.) Served with bulgur, sliced tomatos and green beans. Sauce is rich, creamy and perfect!

Very good, but I over salted...my fault. Even though I used unsalted butter, I think the cheese must have added some salt...I'd recommend adding it later, if needed.

I was a little hesitant to make this recipe after reading some of the comments about curdling, but I am so very happy that I disregarded my hesitation!

I followed this recipe exactly and my goodness, it was truly amazing.
If you were to consider this recipe less as containing a custard, and more about creating a beautifully decadent sauce that alternates between spoons of rich cheesy creaminess to buttery lemony smoothness. This is a beautifully broken sauce which gives a diversity of flavors.
If you read the note from Richard Olney, the original author of this recipe in his book, 'Simple French Food', a plain homogeneous sauce was not what this recipe was intended or created to produce.

We used a plump, corn fed French hen which I trimmed the excess fat and skin from, some nutty Gruyere cheese from Switzerland and made the breadcrumbs from a French country style loaf of bread which I dried slightly in the oven to 'stale it'. The homemade breadcrumbs from a fresh loaf are larger and softer than than store bought crumbs and they fried nicely in the chicken juices, and browned perfectly on the finished dish and are definitely worth taking the extra couple of minutes to make.
I did need to bake this dish a little longer to reach the correct internal temperature for the chicken as it was quite plump.

My partner was so very delighted with this dish that he insisted that I must make this again for a dinner party that we are hosting this week. I highly recommend this recipe if you are looking for a show stopping main course that is very simple to prepare with quality ingredients and is delightfully French.

I made this pretty much as written but added the lemon juice at the end, just before serving and it was perfect. The lemon flavor is essential but by adding the juice at the end you avoid curdling the custard.

In response to gingerroot's suggestion for partially cooking the chicken and finishing the dish the following night, see link on food safety: http://www.livestrong.com/article/543621-can-you-partially-cook-a-chicken-then-finish-cooking-it-later/

If you used lemon zest for flavor would that eliminate the custard curdle?

This was such a great recipe tonight, I didn't have a huge amount of cooking energy, so I am delighted with how easy this was! My custard curdled, but the lemony taste was *delicious* with everything. Will definitely make this again! I served it with Buttered Saffron Rice with Parsley, and steam-fried greens.

I adore this dish and have made it on numerous occasions. I always omit the lemon as I prefer an uncurled sauce. The results are always amazing, smooth silky custard and I don't think the flavour of the custard is in any way diminished by omitting the lemon. So for all the reviewers below who don't like the texture of the curdled sauce I highly recommend making it again and leaving out the lemon - this is what causes the sauce to break.

Wow, I made this last night with a wild turkey breast. Delicious.

I think the flavor outweighs the curdle texture of the sauce. Made just a couple of adjustments to the recipe as written - added fresh thyme, teaspoon of Coleman's mustard powder and used zest of one lemon instead of the juice. I also used panko instead of bread. I used skinless, bone-in chicken breasts, thighs and legs (made a double recipe and put the breasts in a separate gratin dish from the legs). I also found the chicken needed about 40 minutes to cook through (maybe because I had the two gratin dishes in the oven). Next time I will make sure to cook the pieces more thoroughly on the stove top in step 1. Overall, delicious and special chicken dish. I served it with roasted asparagus sprinkled with salt and red pepper flakes.

Made this tonight, and while the sauce "broke", I found it to be delicious. Kids really enjoyed it and the Mrs. thought it was "good". We used all chicken thighs, and found it fattier than I think the recipe intended, but that was expected and I didn't mind it at all. Will try this at a lower temp next time to see if we can keep the custard from breaking, but it won't be a deal breaker if it happens again.

Kristin, I loved this dish, curdle and all!

I made this last night to celebrate my husband's 40th birthday. It was divine! Yes, my sauce split, but the chicken was so delicious we have renamed it Birthday Chicken. In order to get everything on the table on a weeknight, I did step 1 the night before and finished the recipe last night. I did cook the chicken a bit longer since it was in the fridge overnight - probably 35 minutes instead of 20-25.

Kristen, thanks for your reply, but I have to say that a recipe that needs a caveat that the texture may be unpleasant does not qualify as "genius." For me it wasn't so much the texture as the appearance of the curdled sauce -- nowhere near a "custard." Would never serve to guests, and in fact had to cajole my family to try it.

I made the recipe as written. The taste was very good but the curdled sauce was not. Won't make this again. It could be done much faster and better with a simple pan sauce over sautéed boneless chicken breasts.

I made this last night with thighs. So delicious. I really loved the curds. I did end up pouring off some of the fat before browning my bread crumbs. And I had extra large eggs so only used 2 egg yolks.

This was easy and amazing. Quick for the decadent results. Legs were our fave to grab and have bite fulls of the crisp crumb topping.

Delicious! Although next time I would make it with skinless chicken. The skin was kind of flabby but the delicious crispy breadcrumbs stuck to it at the same time.

We made this over the weekend, followed the recipe exactly. It turned out well and we enjoyed it, but not so much that we will make it again. It just didn't "wow" us enough, considering all of the decadent ingredients.

PABLO = Panko stupid auto correct, if I had "used Pablo" I would have kept that part to myself. :)

Made this tonight, with a few adjustments 1) used an enormous chicken that didn't have a lot of fat but gave off too much "juice" 2) used asiago instead of gruyere because the mediocre gruyere at my supermarket was $11 for 8oz and that's crazy, 3) added fresh thyme, nutmeg & a bit of mustard to the custard.4) I used Pablo .

It was pretty delicious, it would be better with a smaller more flavorful chicken, this was a massive mass market with more liquid than flavor so the custard held but had about 2 cups juice hanging under the custard layer which made things soggy.

All in all glad I read all the comments, food52 wins again!

Made this tonight and it was amazing. Rich & comforting & delicious and so quick & easy to make. I used Akmak cracker crumbs since I didn't have bread,

i used 2 larger chicken breasts and cooked longer than 10 minutes in the first phase. I chilled the chicken and custard mixture so that I could finish baking later. 30 minutes at 400 didn't cook them through. 20 more minutes covered with foil did it. I guess I should have checked that they were nearly cooked in the first step. Sauce broke too, but the flavor was wonderful. Some thyme would be a nice addition. I'll try again maybe with a layer of potatoes and herbs.

Folks, something to keep in mind here: Richard Olney wrote this recipe about 40 years ago, and used a farm-raised chicken, as he cooked in his home in the South of France. His chicken was surely not as fatty as our current chicken, which explains the excessive amount of fat in the skillet. For those of you with split sauce, I have to wonder about the temperature in the recipe, because a custard will separate above 325F. The cheese would act as a binder, though. It is possible that your ovens are higher than 400F. I have a friend who made this the other night, and while it didn't look curdled or as deeply browned as the photo with the recipe, it worked.

Why did the cheese sauce split? It tasted great but looked horrible

I was so intrigued with this recipe, had no Gruyere, but had roasted poblano peppers and ordinary cheddar cheese. I resisted the urge to add spices to the custard and the result was subtle southwest. I removed most of the fat before crisping the bread crumbs which were my home made Portuguese mountain rye. I used about 1 cup of crumbs. I will increase the sauce slightly next time for the gratin dish I used. I will do this one again!

I should note, I drained the pan I cooked the chicken in, way to much grease, so my breadcrumbs were not "drowned" in the chicken grease. I left just a tablespoon or less in the fry pan. Also, as noted by FavourFlavor, trimmed the excess skin and fat from the thighs mostly. Chicken was very moist, tender and delicious

I love the idea of using potatoes under the chicken. What do you think?

I found this to be a very easy dinner dish - pantry staples, simple steps, and on the table in less than an hour. As others have, I used chicken thighs (with skin and bone, but most of the fat trimmed off) and about 1/2 cup panko crumbs. The chicken was moist, and the flavor was good. I have made pork cooked in milk before, so thanks for this new variation on a great theme!

While I thought the finished dish was good, I found the directions for the breadcrumbs impossible to follow as written. My chicken (I used thighs) rendered almost a half cup of fat, and between the milk solids in the butter and the fond in the pan, it was browned. A "handful" (1/3 cup? 1/2?) of breadcrumbs was going to drown in that much fat, and there was no way they'd stay "blond." I poured off the fat through a strainer, returned the browned bits to my pan and used a little of the strained fat to saute the crumbs in a different pan.

Same thing happened to me Anne. I emailed Kristin, but haven't heard back yet.

This tasted delicious but I didn't have a custard so much as an (unfortunately) separated sauce - not so lovely looking - any idea what I did wrong?

Thank you Marshacb! found it! :)

Made this dish this afternoon. Only variations, used Panko breadcrumbs and legs and thighs. Unfortunately my wife came home before I could clean the stove after cooking the chicken. Her complaining went to exhalations in a half hour after just one bite. Served with Farro Salad with Roasted Mushrooms and Parmesan. My all time favorite. Also some broccoli rabe sautéed in garlic and oil. BTW, the custard was delicious. Will definitely make again, suitable for sharing with guests

I was thinking of slicing some russet potatoes very thin, par boiling them, put them on the bottom with chicken on top with egg, cream mixture. What do ya'll think?

I second JulieS's question - how could one make this gluten-free on the breadcrumbs? Would gluten-free breadcrumbs work or could crushed rice cereal achieve same results?

Can i substitute white wine with something else? I don't want to cook with wine

I tried to find the Julia Child rice and haricot vert vinaigrette recipe mentioned in the text and had no luck. I wondered if anyone knew where I could find it. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Do you think I could use gluten free bread crumbs? My daughter has an allergy. I also would have to bake it in a quiche pan or cast iron pan (of which I'd brown the chicken in) as I don't have a gratin pan.

This looks delicious. Do you think this would turn out OK if I used (1) boneless skinless thighs or breasts (I hate chicken skin), (2) 1 or 2 whole eggs rather than just yolks, (3) wheat germ rather than bread crumbs?

Sounds so good...would be fun to make with someone and have the meal together.

Do you think this could be assembled earlier in the day, then baked in the evening?