Chicken A La King

Why This Chicken A La King Works

Butter goes into the pan first and coats everything that follows. As the mushrooms and green pepper cook in that butter, they soften and shrink, so they blend into the sauce instead of staying crunchy. After a few minutes, flour goes in and sticks to the melted butter and vegetables. With the heat, that flour-butter mix starts to bubble and lose its raw taste, so the sauce later on won’t taste like paste.

Once the chicken broth and cream are whisked in, the flour swells up and thickens the liquid. In a few minutes, the pan goes from thin and soupy to a smooth, creamy sauce that can actually hold the chicken and vegetables instead of letting them sink to the bottom. As everything simmers, the chicken warms through without drying out, and the peas and pimientos soften but don’t fall apart. Near the end, the sherry and lemon juice loosen the heavy creaminess just a bit, so the sauce stays rich but not dull, and it coats the rice or puff pastry in a thick, velvety layer.

Mistakes To Avoid

Letting the flour cook for only a few seconds before adding the liquids leaves it raw. The flour doesn’t blend smoothly into the butter, so when the broth and cream go in, the sauce turns grainy and can taste pasty instead of silky.

When the broth and cream are dumped in all at once instead of whisked in gradually, the mixture often forms lumps. The flour clumps stay thick while the rest of the sauce stays thin, so the final Chicken A La King has a bumpy, uneven texture instead of a smooth, creamy one.

Using high heat once the liquids are in the pan makes the cream bubble too hard. The sauce can split, with oily butter separating out and the rest turning curdled and slightly rubbery, so it won’t coat the chicken and rice nicely.

Adding the peas and cooked chicken too early and simmering them on higher heat for a long time dries the chicken and makes the peas shrivel. The meat ends up tough and stringy, and the peas lose their soft bite.