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The Picatta pan sauce framework

The Picatta pan sauce framework

+ milk bread french toast, brazilian lemonade, & using up herbs

Ethan Chlebowski & Keith McBrayer
May 21, 2023

Understanding Picatta

In This Week’s Edition:

Try Something New 🤯 — Picatta Framework

Throwback Time 🍳 — Shokupan (Milk Bread)

The Leftover Shelf 🥡 — Extra Fluffy French Toast

Extra Helpings 🤤 — Brazilian Lemonade, Using up Herbs, & More

Shopping List ✅ — Sorted ingredients for easy shopping!

Try Something New 🤯

Learn this flavor profile.

Picatta Framework

Picatta is a bright and salty pan sauce usually served over chicken cutlets, but it works over any protein.

The following amounts will make enough sauce to cover 2-4 cutlets of protein (1-2 servings).

Picatta Sauce Components

15 ml (1 tbsp) cooking oil
10 g (2 tsp) flour*
1-3 cloves sliced garlic
120 ml (1/2 cup) white wine, plus extra water to thin the sauce
15ml (1 tbsp) lemon juice + zest from 1/2 the lemon
30 g (2 tbsp) capers, drained
45 g (3 tbsp) cold butter, chopped into smaller cubes
Kosher salt & black pepper to taste
15g (1-3 tbsp) chopped herbs to finish & garnish (like parsley or dill)

Serve Over

Your protein of choice: chicken, pork chops, or fish.

Instructions:

Cook the protein: Cook your protein of choice in a pan, and set aside. Leave any fond in the pan.

Make sauce base: Add cooking oil to the pan, unless there is an excess of rendered fat. Add flour and garlic, and toast over medium heat until fragrant but no color develops. Before the garlic or flour browns, deglaze with white wine. Add capers, lemon juice & zest. If the sauce is already thick at this point, add a bit of water to thin it out.

Adjust sauce & serve: Turn off the heat. Stir in one cube of cold butter at a time to emulsify into the sauce and thicken it into a loose glaze. Stir in chopped herbs, and adjust with salt & pepper. Serve immediately over the cooked protein.

Throwback Time 🍳

Shokupan is a Japanese milk bread with a fluffy and soft interior. The bread uses a technique called tangzhong, which allows the gluten to bake into a more pillowy texture

For a full tangzhong science explanation, check out the video, or just bake with the recipe here.

A loaf of this milk bread sets you up for the best sandwiches all week. If you end up with extra, here’s what to do:

The Leftover Shelf 🥡

Leftovers are back in style…if you know how to use them.

This week’s move:

Leftover Shokupan → Extra Fluffy French Toast

There’s arguably no better bread for French toast anyways. Slice into wide sticks for a restaurant-level presentation:

French Toast Components

Leftover shokupan, sliced

Custard Mix

2 parts milk or cream
1 part eggs (by volume)
1/8 part sugar
Seasonings: Splash of vanilla, a pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg, a pinch of salt

Serve With

Syrup, powdered sugar, or whipped cream
Optional extra toppings (fruit, nuts, chocolate chips, etc)

To assemble:

Combine all Custard Mix components until smooth. Soak each piece of bread in the custard mix, and then toast on a pan over medium heat until golden brown on all sides. Serve with toppings of choice.

Extra Helpings 🤤

🚀 Viral Eats

Food trends explained.

Q: What is Brazilian lemonade? Worth trying?

A: Brazilian lemonade is a creamy and tangy drink made by blending limes with cold water and sugar, straining, and then blending again with sweetened condensed milk and a handful of ice.

Why does it work?

Blending the whole citrus imparts the full flavor of the peel — essential oils and a light bitterness from the pith are released into the drink.
These added flavors balance the richness of the sweetened condensed milk, and make for a more complex, nuanced lemonade.

Shouldn’t it be called Brazilian limeade?

In Portuguese, limão is the same word for both lemons and limes and the translation to “lemonade” stuck.
But pretty much any citrus can work. Meyer lemons, for example, are great for blending because their peel isn’t overly bitter.

It’s a deservingly viral recipe and worth making this summer.

Know of a trend we should cover? Reply to this email with your thoughts!

🧠 Reader Q&A

Q: How does one use up fresh greens before they go bad? “Even the smallest package I only get through maybe 1/4th the mix by the end of the week, at which point it is turning brown and soggy. The same issue goes with lots of other veggies or fresh herbs.” - Zach B

A: Here are a few solutions (other than making more salads):

1) Wilt greens down. If you can’t finish a package raw, use it in a cooked application.

Raw greens, like spinach, cook down significantly in volume. You’ll be surprised how much raw spinach it takes to make one portion of cooked spinach (delicious with garlic, salt, and lemon)
Similarly, cook down any leftover greens into pasta or stir-fry. You can sneak in a lot of them in and they’ll cook down and add color and freshness too.

2) Make a green sauce.

Turn them into a pesto, green goddess dressing, or chimichurri-style sauce. These can also be frozen for later use.
These sauces are more easily used up than bulk, raw greens — simply add over a protein or dress a pasta salad.

3) Freeze or dehydrate once they are about to go bad.

Once you freeze greens they can’t be used for fresh applications anymore, but they’ll be perfect for any of the blended sauce examples above, or in smoothies.
Dry them out in the oven to make herb powder. Alternatively, make herb oil.