Chef Thomas Keller’s Chicken Paillard Recipe

Paillard is a French term for a boneless piece of meat that has been pounded thin or butterflied. Pounding the meat has the dual benefit of tenderizing the meat and creating a thinner cut that cooks faster with less moisture loss.

Traditionally, a paillard is made with chicken or veal.

Paillard is a technique that can be applied to other proteins, such as monkfish, beef, and pork. The technique for pounding and cooking doesn’t change.

Choose other proteins with tender cuts like beef tenderloin and pork loin—a tough brisket or short rib will never break down through pounding. Try sautéing with different fats like clarified butter instead of oil for monkfish.

Michelin-starred Chef Thomas Keller of Bouchon, Ad Hoc, and The French Laundry shares seven tips for getting a perfect paillard.

1. 1. Pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts to uniform thinness. It’s not necessary to pound forcefully— a gentle, repeated tapping motion will do.
2. 2. To properly season the meat, shower it from high up with kosher salt.
3. 3. Chef Keller now advocates adding black pepper only when the flavor of pepper is actually desired. He also recommends adding it only at the finishing stage, so as not to diminish the flavor of pepper with high heat.
4. 4. Lay the chicken in the pan working away from you—this will protect you from getting splattered with hot oil.
5. 5. For sautéing, use high-quality cookware that conducts heat evenly and recovers its heat quickly.
6. 6. If your pan is large enough, you may be able to cook more than one paillard at a time.
7. 7. Chef Keller recommends sautéing with vegetable oil, not olive oil, because vegetable oil has a higher smoke point. In this recipe, he cooks with canola oil and uses olive oil as finishing condiment.