Chicken Marsala

[elleng]

http://www.cookingwithnonna.com/italian-cuisine/chicken-marsala.html

[GreatGazoo]

1. step 9 is wrong

Never add raw flour at the end of sauce making. Never ever.

And no garlic ?!

My favorite version:

sliced onion in olive oil, med heat
add sliced or quarter cremini mushrooms
saute for 2 mins, add 4 oz of dry marsala (not sweet marsala)
saute until liquid is evap or absorbed
spat the mush and onion mix to a bowl

chicken thighs, off the bone, no skin, pound out a little
dust in flour that has pepper and salt mixed in

Start olive oil in the now empty mush skillet, low
add 6 cloves of garlic peeled
after 3 min pull the garlic (keep) and turn up the heat
saute the dusted chicken in the olive oil, fairly high until you get color, about 2 mins
flip, cover with a lid and take the heat down to med/low
add a shot of marsala and 2 shots of chicken stock, put the lid back on and cook
another 5 minutes

remove the lid, add the mush onion mix back, add the garlic back
saute until all combined and warm
serve
garnish with chopped ital parsley and or grated parm

[rusty quoin]

2. I've never added raw flour as a thickener to a sauce, but her result looked good.

Why is it never ever to use it?

[GreatGazoo]

3. If the liquid the flour is going into is all fat, like butter or oil, then the flour

will break up and incorporate with the fat. For example a roux.

But if the flour is going into a liquid which is not fat, such as stock or wine reduction, then the flour will lump and you get little balls of raw flour.

Beyond the lumping thing, you also don't want the taste or texture of raw flour in the finished sauce/meal. For the marsala sauce, she could have made a roux out of flour and olive oil (equal parts, stirred cooked together at least until it starts to smell like nuts or you see a color change) at the beginning and put it aside to add as needed at the end.

This is a good overview on how to make and use roux:

One caveat on the equal parts thing -- if you are cooking a really dark roux you should increase the amount of flour because the thickened power of the roux goes down as it gets darker.

A little roux can really improve many dishes because when your sauce is thick more of it sticks to each bite of food. More sauce, more flavor. And you can keep extra roux in the fridge or freezer for future use; some people use an ice cube tray so they can add it in equal increments.

[rusty quoin]

4. But her stew did not have lumps, or did it and she skimmed them out.

I know about rouxs and use to do them. I mostly use potato starch at the end now for more control unless I'm following a recipe.

I'm sure you are right about taste and texture of raw flour. Like I said before, I never tried it.

Thanks for the tips.