Help please for my chicken marsala

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

I make a mean chicken marsala and I will be making it later today. But, there is one thing I have never been satisfied about. I flour then egg my cutlets before sauteeeing and then I take them out, then make my sauce and then put them briefly back in the sauce before I serve. That's when my beautiful crust will sog up and some will fall away. What will keep it from doing that? I have had great chicken marsala that doesn't sog up like mine does. Help!

[The empressof all]

1. I don't know if this will help but

Adding corn starch to the flour will make a crispier crust. When I use to make General Chicken at home I used pure corn starch seasoned with salt and pepper before the egg wash. The corn starch will not brown the meat so you will lose color factor if you go with the pure starch.

For Chicken Marsala you won't want a crispy crust so maybe try just a teaspoon or two in your flour mixture. I think it's somewhat normal though to lose some of that brown crust in the sauce as it helps to thicken it.

[hippywife]

2. Maybe try

plating the chicken and then spooning the sauce over it? :shrug:

[kcass1954]

3. Flour, egg, then flour again, and stick 'em in the fridge for a half hour before cooking.

Don't cover them while you make the sauce - they'll just sweat and get soggy. Then put them on the plate a spoon a little sauce over them.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

4. Thanks so much to all .

I thought cornstarch might be a remedy, but not sure how to work it in. I think for tonight I will go with the extra flour and set time and I bet that will do the trick. Thanks again!

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

5. Fantastic! My new Marsala

OK, here's how I used to make chicken marsala:

dredge chicken in flour, then egg, sautee in some butter and oil til done. Keep warm in oven. Saute mushrooms in some more butter and oil in same pan. Add a little chopped onion and minced garlic. Deglaze with Marsala. Add a some chicken stock and a tiny bit of rosemary and some baby peas. Thicken sauce with a little cornstarch and water.ut chicken back in sauce just to reheat through and then serve over pasta.

That method basically came from a Mama Leone's cookbook from the 40's that my husband's uncle ( a chef) gave to him (also a chef) The only thing I added was the cornstarch for thickening the sauce, because otherwise, it was always too liquidy. Everyone always loved this dish , and it was different from other Marsalas notably because of the addition of the peas and the rosemary.

Tonight I tried a somewhat different version from America's Test Kitchen. Basic differences: they said just dredge in flour period. Also much more Marsala and no chicken stock. No peas, no rosemary. Added a little bit of lemon juice. (Note, I knew I wanted something with more body than just a simple flour dredge- so I rejected that out of hand)

My new PERFECT chicken Marsala:
the flour, egg, flour, let rest method posted above in this thread by kcass1954 works beautifully. Saute those thin breasts filets about 2-3 minutes a side and keep warm uncovered in low oven. Saute mushrooms, then add a little chopped shallot, garlic and tomato paste and saute a bit more. Add 1 1/2 - 2 cups marsala and let reduce. Add 1 and 1/2 T of lemon juice. Add 3-4 T of butter one at a time to incorporate into sauce and thicken. I've done this before, but it just remained too liquidy for me and I had to rely on the old cornstarch/water thickening routine which once again pulled a save on this sauce. Add chopped parsley and threw in a handful of thawed baby peas out of habit and because I love they way they look in the finished dish. Serve over linguine (Linguini, topped with sauteed breasts and then napped with a generous portion of the sauce)

This dish was just about a perfect version of chicken Marsala to me. Better than my old renowned version. Which just goes to show, even if you have a great version of a dish that people love, it's entirely possible that you could make it even better.