Brined airline chicken breast with butter pan sauce and champ

Remove the wishbone: make a few small cuts and peel the bone out with the fingers.

Flip the bird spine toward you; cut the skin at the elbow joint, dislocate it, and cut through to remove the wing tip section.

Cut around the humerus down to the bone, scrape the meat toward the elbow and cut it off.

Breast side up, cut the skin to the leg quarters, then slice beside the breast bone and peel the breast meat off the bones in small strokes.

Cut through the shoulder joint and down through the skin to free the airline breast.

Pull off the tenderloin for another use; cut off legs and thighs; freeze the carcass for stock.

Brine in enough water to submerge, about 10% salt by weight with a little sugar; stir and let sit one to two hours.

After about an hour and a half, blot the meat dry; season with pepper only.

Put the breasts skin side down in a cold pan with a little olive oil, then turn the heat to medium to render the fat slowly.

If the pan is not non-stick, scrape under the skin with a rigid spatula before flipping; brown the other side.

Add crushed unpeeled garlic cloves and sage, melt in a big knob of butter and baste the skin.

Insert a probe thermometer into the coldest, deepest part and move the pan to a 400F / 200C oven, about 10 minutes, to 160F / 71C.

Pour off excess grease and spent solids.

Deglaze with a little wine or water, add the resting juices, reduce until almost dry, turn off the heat.

When the bubbling stops, stir in cold butter briskly to emulsify; taste for seasoning.

Carve with a freshly sharpened knife, not too thin, keeping the slices together; transfer with a knife under the breast and fan out slightly.

For the mash: cut unpeeled Yukon gold potatoes small, rinse and drain to wash away free starch.

Cover with fresh water, hold on low heat for about an hour, then boil until fork tender.

Reserve a cup of the boil water, drain, melt in butter, whip or mash, loosen with boil water, season with salt and pepper.

Stir in lots of sliced green onions at the last minute for champ.

Pour the sauce over the chicken and mash.