Season 1, Week 3

NYC's best tacos; restaurant-quality pan sauces

🗽 What I’m Ordering

Becky and I were down in Chelsea, so we had dinner at our favorite New York food hall, Chelsea Market. While this Meatpacking District gem contains several great options, I never turn down the opportunity to indulge in my favorite tacos in New York City, courtesy of Los Tacos No. 1.

🔪 What I’m Cooking

My recent dinner party trick is pan sauce, which is straightforward but probably sounds intimidating because it’s part of classic French haute cuisine. Ultimately, pan sauce is just a way to maximize what’s left in your pan after searing a piece of meat or fish. It’s technical but simple: deglaze with liquid (stock, wine, etc.) to lift up the leftover fond, reduce the liquid, and add a form of fat (like these butter recs) to emulsify. I made one this week with some crispy skin chicken thighs for another sub-$10 dinner.

✔️ Tip of the Week

Let’s talk stock for a second. Stocks are the backbone of professional kitchens and can be used in so many ways to enhance your home-cooked meals. The problem is boxed chicken stock/broth tastes like, well, nothing really. Get yourself a jar of Better than Bouillon from the supermarket and use it to cook soups, stocks, and grains. It’s like tasting in HD for the first time.

👇 More Details Below

Keep reading for:

• My order at Los Tacos No. 1

• My full chicken thigh & pan sauce recipe

• Loads of ideas for pan sauce modifications

Los Tacos No. 1

Number one for a reason, this authentically Mexican taqueria fortunately now boasts nine locations across Manhattan, but the flagship store is in Chelsea Market, where a decently sized line usually awaits. After ordering your preferred protein and number of tacos from the cashier, you hand your ticket to the chef and request corn or flour tortillas, as well as your toppings of choice. I’d recommend “con todo” — onion, cilantro, salsa, and guac.

This menu is lean in the best way, and while you could dabble with quesadillas or chips, real fans know to order tacos. I wouldn’t fault you for ordering pollo asado, carne asada, or nopal, but their pièce de résistance is adobada, marinated pork cooked on a vertical rotisserie beneath a dripping pineapple and shaved off the wheel for your taco. My typical order is three Adobada Tacos (2 corn, 1 flour) con todo and a Horchata. Just typing this out is making me hungry for more.

Chicken Thighs & Pan Sauce

This one tastes like it came right out of a French bistro. It’s technical but not difficult. Here’s my full original recipe:

• 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

• Salt & pepper

• 1 small shallot, very finely diced

• 1/4 cup white wine

• 1/2 cup chicken stock (1/2 tsp. Better than Bouillon + 1/2 cup boiling water)

• 2 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cubed

• 1/2 lemon

• Chopped parsley, for garnish

Serves 2

1. Pat chicken dry and season generously with salt and pepper on both sides.

2. Place chicken skin-side down in a cold stainless steel pan. (No need for butter or oil — the chicken will cook in its own rendered fat.) Then turn heat to medium and sear until the skin is deeply golden and releases easily from the pan, about 10 minutes. Flip and cook another 5-7 minutes. Make sure not to flip until the chicken is easily lifted from the pan without the skin sticking.

3. Set chicken aside and discard all but a tablespoon or two of the rendered chicken fat if necessary. Add the shallot and sauté for about 30 seconds, or until soft but not caramelized. Deglaze with wine and cook until mostly reduced, scraping up bits of fond from the pan as it cooks. Then do the same with chicken stock until your pan looks like this:

   

4. Turn off heat. One by one, add cubes of butter and stir until emulsified.

5. Squeeze in lemon juice and add parsley. Taste and adjust seasoning.

6. Serve: Spoon the sauce all around the chicken. (Spooning it over the chicken would make the crispy skin soggy.)

Notes:

• If you have time in advance, season your chicken early and pat dry with paper towel once more before cooking as the salt will draw out more moisture. If you have even more time, pat your chicken dry and leave uncovered skin side up in the fridge, even overnight. The more water you can extract before cooking, the crispier the skin will be.

• If your chicken skin still isn’t crispy after cooking, blast it under the broiler for a minute.

• You can easily make this pan sauce with even fewer ingredients. All you really need is butter and either wine or stock. If you’re short on time or groceries, feel free to omit any or all of the shallot, lemon, and parsley.

Stocks on the Rise

Chefs love pan sauce because the “fond” left over in the pan after searing a meat or fish is packed with flavor. Once you know the basic technique of pan sauces (deglaze, reduce, emulsify, season), there are endless variants you can make. What follows is a collection of sauce ingredients you see all the time on menus.

• Aromatics: Shallots, garlic, and onion are great starting points to cook in the leftover browned bits.

• Deglazing Liquid: White wine (poultry / seafood), red wine (red meat / mushrooms), and stock (anything) can all act as the backbone.

• Emulsifying Fats: Cold butter, heavy cream, and grated parmesan can all bind your sauce.

• Seasonings: Herbs like thyme, tarragon, rosemary, parsley, and chives will keep your sauce fresh. Dijon mustard, capers, or olives can add a nice tang or brininess to your dish. Citrus juice will brighten your dish. Crushed peppercorns add sharpness.

Classic examples of these variations include chicken piccata (white wine, butter, lemon, and capers) and steak au poivre (shallots, brandy, beef stock, heavy cream, and peppercorns). Great news: it’s not too late for you to invent the next great pan sauce combo.