How do you thicken picatta sauce?

Question

http://www.e-rcps.com/pasta/main/fowl/chick_piccata.shtml

The link above is to the recipe. Did what it said but sauce is still watery. Thanks.

first answerer: yeah, no sh*t it's a pan sauce. Do you want to tell me how to thicken it or not?

sorry, didn't realize you were going to ad more. my bad.

Answer 1

It's a pan sauce so there is a little degree of difficulty involved. There are no exact measurements to use. It depends on the size of the chicken breast, and the pan, and the heat, etc. etc.

The recipe you show above looks pretty good, but perhaps a little too much wine. The easy way to correct this is to simply reduce (boil) the sauce until it starts getting thick.

Take the chicken out of the pan when it is cooked so that you don't overcook it, and then increase the heat to a boil and evaporate the liquid. When it looks just right, add the chicken back to the pan to get a little heat on it and to coat it in the sauce. If it thickens too much, add a little more wine to thin it out again. (not too much, just enough to thin.)

The key to how thick the sauce will get is how much flour is on the chicken when you start cooking it. That is the only thing that really thickens the sauce. It's called a "pan roux" You want to keep it moving around in the pan as it cooks because if the flour in the pan gets too dark, it will taste bitter and a little bit nasty.

It's all about the timing. You want the sauce to be just the right consistency when everything else is ready to go. You don't want to overcook the chicken, so be sure to take it out of the pan if the sauce is too thin, then add it back in when it's right.

You don't necessarily want to thicken the sauce with additional flour or corn starch. That will just dilute the flavor and make a pasty sauce. The best way to achieve flavor is to concentrate it by reduction. (boil)

Hope that helps.

Answer 2

I just made a picatta sauce a couple nights ago. It always seems to take more flour. Just whisk whisk whisk, a tablespoon at a time until it's as thick as you want.

Answer 3

Flour or cornstarch, though flour thickens at a ore even pace.

Answer 4

Add a pinch of flour, that's what I do and it doesn't harm the taste.